Well it didn’t seem like it at the time. Nothing in the 1960s seemed simple or gentle. No one knew how we got sucked into a war that was shredding society; our leaders became targets of assassination, and young men actually grew their hair long!

Simpler? Gentler? All I can say is that when Presidents lied and cheated, they did so with a subtlety and discretion that seems positively quaint now!