Interview: Jo Anne Coupans

Where did you live/what were you doing in 1960s 1970s? In the 60’s I lived in Westminster in 61, and in 65 I moved to Tustin. In the 1970s I was still in the Tustin house, and moved out in 1984.

What kinds of clothes did you wear? Skirt and sweaters in the winter time, we didn’t wear pants much. We wore more dresses; mainly skirts and tops.

What kind of music did you listen to? I listened to Frank Sanataria, The rat pack, Dean Martin, and more of the 1940s music.

What do you remember about president Kennedy and his assassination? Everything, it was my first election I could vote, I had never heard of him. I had a lady friend from work going to the democratic convention and I went along with her. I went and met all the candidates and Kennedy in particular. I shook his hand and everything. My friend was very involved in politics so she would talk to everyone political. On top of everything she got us tickets to go see President Kennedy’s acceptance speech at the colosseum. The tickets were from the golden horse shoe section (the best seats). I was in awe of him from that convention on. He was so witty and thats why I was so drawn to him. He was very young, I think 43. Maybe thats when he was assassinated. He changed everything. He got people excited, and the youth were anxious to join different programs he was starting. His domestic and foreign policies were both great. When he would go to Europe and foreign countries people would get so excited and loved him. I was a registered republican for that election but changed my registration the night before the election. As for his assassination I won’t ever forget how tragic it was. I was dropping the kids off at daycare, and was going to work and I just happened to hear something as I was going out the door, and I went to my neighbors house where I told her “I think the presidents been shot.” We turned on the TV and watched it all afternoon everyone was a mess. Balling and crying their eyes out. I left and went down to my office next door and everyone was still crying. It was just unbelievable. It was all over the TV for 4 days, so much activity was going on. We just sat in front of the TV for the massive coverage around the whole nation. Jackie Kennedy was so elegant, she had so much class. She got out all the bad stuff and put the white house back together to the way it was originally. She decorated so much of the white house it was amazing.

What do you remember about president Johnson and the Vietnam War? He was a big Texas cattleman and was very devastated after the assassination of JFK. I will never forget his picture taking the office on the airplane with Jackie Kennedy standing beside him. It was a pretty tough time for him as well. I wasn’t too familiar with President Johnson’s foreign policy at the time, except the Vietnam war. There was so much opposition to the Vietnam War with so many young people dodging the draft by going to Canada and doing whatever it took to not go to Vietnam. The war took its toll on Johnson but he didn’t stop it. He didn’t stop sending the troops over there. It was not a war it was an action, no one was fighting to win. A lot of bad things happened in Vietnam but it wasn’t a war. People in the US hated the conflict, It was just a bad era. As the Vietnam soldiers came home people never gave them credit for fighting for our country like they did in WWI. The whole country was behind WWI, not Vietnam because Vietnam was not a war.

What do you remember about the Civil Rights Movement? I just remember being a young mother and having a different life. I remember MLK and the Alabama lady on the bus. And then later on when they integrated the schools. I didn’t really have an opinion, I was a bit prejudice but I thought they should all be able to go to school together. The generations all before me were all racist and then as time went on people started to be accepting.

What do you remember about president Nixon and the Watergate Scandal? Nixon I had a bad view on him from the start. Mainly from things I read about the way he treated his mother bothered me and some of his dishonest actions. He was raised here in Southern California and I didn’t trust him. He was highly praised for his foreign policy, which I don’t know much about. All he cared about was his foreign policy. Then suddenly they were gonna impeach him which was shocking.

What lessons did you learn during the 1960s and 1970s? I learned how to raise children’s in the 60s, so I wasn’t in the teenage lifestyle anymore like smoking pot and all of that. I was just past that era. My life was busy and I always worked. I was into politics a lot more in the late 60s and 70s.