We Didn't Start the Fire - What I Think - Part 9

This is the ninth post in my blog series about the song We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. I am writing about the significance of each item mentioned in the song. That is, what significance I THINK they have. I am not doing any research or looking anything up, so I could be totally wrong.

More information about this blog series can be found in the series' first post.

Little Rock - This city is the capital of Arkansas. It is mentioned in the song because in the mid 1950s the Supreme Court ordered that Little Rock Central High School be integrated. Three African-American teenagers started school there in the fall of 1956.

Pasternak - Pasternak is what the people around Berkley, California called "pizza cheese." The word was ushered into the American vocabulary along with the rise in popularity of pizza.

Mickey Mantle - Mantle played professional baseball for the New York Yankees. He was the greatest player of his time and was also known for his life off the field. He dated Marilyn Monroe. An unflattering book about his life was published early 2000s.

Kerouac - Jack Kerouac was a beatnik author. His book, Dangerous at Any Speed, published in the 1960s spotlighted how the automobile industry was intentionally overlooking a variety of safety issues.

Sputnik - Sputnik was the first satellite in space. The Soviet Union launched it in 1956. This was during a time of tense relations between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The nuclear arms race was in full swing and the launch of Sputnik meant that the Soviets were winning the "Space Race." This SCARED Americans. They were fearful that the Soviets would soon use their knowledge of rocketry in conjunction with their nuclear arsenal; making it possible to launch an attack from a great distance and obliterate the U.S. before America would even have a chance to respond.

Chou En-Lai - Followed Mao as the communist leader of China.

Bridge on the River Kwai - This was a bridge in Korea that was strategically significant to America's chances of success in the Korean War. The U.S. military lost the bridge and the northern portion of Korea to communist advances as well.