Super-Jumbo

The monstrous A380 Jumbo Jet is scheduled to arrive at LAX tomorrow morning. I'd like to see it up close and in person just to get a realistic grasp of its size.
According to the LA Times this morning, the A380 is "an eight-story-high behemoth with a double-decked cabin and a wingspan nearly the length of a football field."
But it was the opening sentence of the next paragraph that got my attention. It read, "We're planning for the largest turnout since the Concorde came in 1974," said Paul Haney, deputy executive director of airports and security for Los Angeles World Airports.
'Remember the Concorde?
'Remember 1974?
That was 33 years ago, when a lot of people, including me, believed we were poised on the brink of fantastic advances in aeronautical engineering and space exploration.
I remember thinking that my career as an air traffic controller was destined to include an opportunity to work in a space station before I retired 30 years later. How could it not?!! We had already put men on the moon and super-sonic passenger planes had become a reality.
Well, obviously it didn't.
For reasons that I still don't completely understand or accept, the momentum ceased.
Air traffic today has changed little. Controllers are still using 70's technology to control 70's era aircraft.
The super-sonic Concorde was retired in 2003.
Why didn't super-sonic passenger service succeed? One reason may be this: According to Wikipedia, American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated by, or at least encouraged by, the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor, despite President John F. Kennedy's impassioned 1963 statement of commitment.
Gee, I wonder which political party was in office in 1974?
Oh yeah, now I remember.
Now I understand.