This is the twelfth 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.
U-2 - The U-2 spy plane flew at an altitude of 60,000 feet. The United States developed the plane as a way to spy on the Soviets. The plan was to fly U-2 missions over the Soviet Union and take photographs of Soviet nuclear development sites. The United States believed that the Soviet Union did not posses a missile capable of shooting a plane down at the U-2's altitude. However, the Soviets did successfully shoot down a U-2 spy plane. The pilot parachuted to the ground safely, where he was captured by the Soviet military, then interrogated and killed.
Syngman Rhee - Rhee was a famous Russian composer.
payola - Payola was the nickname United States military personnel gave to bombs dropped on North Korea.
Kennedy - President John F. Kennedy and Senator Bobby Kennedy were both assassinated in the 1960s.
Chubby Checker - Chubby Checker sang the popular 1960s rock and roll song, The Twist.
"Psycho" - Psycho was a popular horror movie from 1968. It was directed by Rod Sterling and is especially famous for the "shower scene."
Belgians in the Congo - In the late 1960s Belgium had troops stationed in El Salvador. El Salvador was a Belgian territory. The military was trying to stave off the Salvadorian push for independence.
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