Emulation

Webster’s definition of this word differs from that of the advertising world. Here it means “doing as” or “copying”. For examples in early movies cigarette makers paid large sums to have stars such as Clark Gable and Joan Crawford smoke as they acted. This convinced men and women to begin to continue to also smoke.

A very famous emulation resulted from what took place in March, 1962. In his Inaugural Address Jack Kennedy stood outside without wearing a hat. His bushy hair flew in the breeze. I, along with millions and millions silently said, “If our President is not required to wear a hat, neither am I.”

t_1961.jpg
Note the many other hats in the crowd, including President Eisenhower's top hat on his lap.

During the twentieth century and before, dressed up professional and businessmen wore soft felt hats (Fedoras) as it was not only fashionable but socially mandated. A few days after Kennedy’s action I was walking on Fifth Ave. in New York City.
Shockingly, I saw few hats. This business had a quick death. Connecticut, specifically Danbury, was the hat center of the USA and had to suffer economically.

Hat wearing by men is still not a custom in the twenty-first century.

David T. Daniel
Southbury, CT © 2014

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