1960′S Times Essay, Research Paper

The 1960?s were a time of major political and social change. These changes were primarily fuelled by the youth of the time. Their parents had come from life in both the great depression of the 1930?s as well as World War II, and were on a whole more conservative than their children, a fact the younger generation did not like. In the early 60?s the electronic media (Television and radio) became an important communication tool, as opposed to the largely print based media of previous decades. With change came a profound increase in the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and information, which in turn influenced a generation to become much more active in politics and other affairs which affected them, than what the previous generations would have been. The youth culture aimed to change all of the contradictions that remained unchanged from their parent?s culture. Examples of this move for change and progress included politics, religion, class struggle, racial issues, and the Vietnam war, but the area in which this change was most visible was in the arena of popular music, which too had become a tool for the communication of ideas.

James Douglas (Jim) Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida on December 8th, 1943. He was the son of a Rear-Admiral, who?s father, grandfather, and family all had lifetime careers in the Navy. This suggests a strict and militaristic upbringing, with the assumption being that the young Morrison would be a career Navy officer like his ancestors. Clearly Morrison came from the kind of household that the youth culture were rebelling against. Perhaps this was one of the causes of Morrison?t open rebellion. When he had finished school, he moved to California, where he enrolled in the theatre department of the University College of Los Angeles (UCLA), and hoped to become a movie director. It was here that he met Raymond (Ray) Manzarek, who was also a student of the film school. Manzarek had learned classical piano as a child, although his personal tastes led him to playing blues on the organ. In 1965 the two conceived the idea of forming a band. Morrison wanted the band to be not just a group that creates music, but a form of ?rock guerrilla theatre?- using the music as a way to communicate his ideas beliefs. He wanted the band and the audience to be connected through a colletive conciousness. This being a long way from the music of previous decades, where while the audience may dance to the music, they were not physically, or emotionally involved with the band. Manzarek saw a performance by a group called the ?Psychedelic Rangers?, and asked guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore whether they would be interested in joining the group. The two agreed, and they took the name ?The Doors? after a book called ?The Doors of Perception? by Aldous Huxley, which was in turn inspired by a quote from the poet William Blake ?If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is, infinite?. Blake was one of Morrison?s primary poetic influences. This was also the origin of Morrison?s well known phrase ?There are things known and things unknown and in between them are the doors?. The Doors primary themes were sex, violence, and politics. Morrison was also a suprisingly good poet, which is evident in the song?s lyrics, and many of his poems were published after his death.

At this time, ?rock acted as a kind of ?counter culture?, challenging the boundaries of the dominant culture where it had become hyprocritical and even unjust… The main thrust of rock music was a force for change, both on a personal level [ie. sexual morality, drug use, etc.]… and on a societal level, in opposition to the Vietnam War, [and] racial injustice… Rock and roll provided much of the communicative power of the ?counter culture,? and, as such, was a force for change.? (Macken, 1980: p23)

?Rock, the music of the Sixties, was a music of spontaneity… It came from the life experiences of the artists and their interaction with an audience that was roughly the same age.? (Frith, 1981: p41); rock was not made to be commercial, ie. it was not produced to sell records and make money. Rock music was a reflector of society, ie. rock lyrics reflected the values and ideas of the youth culture. It was also relatively structureless compaired with previous decades. The Doors epitomised this belief. Their music was never made to make a living. Furthermore, it was a rare occasion when they actually conformed to the constraints and obligations placed on them (usually by the older generation). Jim Morrison was anything but predictable and ?well behaved?- he was arrested on several occasions, for being disruptive, and on one occasion taken to court for alleged indecent exposure on stage, though it must be noted that the prosecution could produce neither witnesses nor photographic proof of the lewd behaviour, so it is entirely possible that the authorities wanted any excuse to silence this young rebel who threatened their authority by defiance. Morrison?s reasons for acting like this, were: one, he was a romantic and a rebel at heart (the struggle of the young hero against the corrupt and malevolent authorities); and two, he believed that ?External revolt is a way to bring about internal freedom? (Morrison, from the biography he provided for Elektra records, with which the Doors were signed to). Often lyrics in the Doors? songs were also rebellious and seen as anti-social. For example, in the song ?The end?, are the lyrics ?Father. Yes son? I want to kill you.?. Performing this song got them fired from their first act, which was at the Whisky-a-go-go bar in Los Angeles. Also, in their hit, ?Light my fire?, is the line ?Girl, we couldn?t get much higher.? Both relatively tame to today?s ?I wanna f*%k you like an animal?, by Nine Inch Nails, but in their day, the connotations of these lyrics were very disconcerting to record companies and venue owners, and loved by teenagers for the same reason.

Revolt was a major theme of the sixties in the USA This revolution came from the youth, and predominantly from university students. It has been said that knowledge is power, and knowledge and information gave the youth of the sixties the power to make choices about their lives and their world; many of these choices involved breaking away from the way of the older generation, and therefore rebelling. The Doors were seen as significant at the time because they too did this, and in the public arena, thereby giving the individual courage to make choices too. The main areas of conflict were politics and war, and arising from the conflicting public and private obligations, between freedom and the responsibilities of the youth. It was this conflict that rock addressed more than any other form of expression, and therefore the rock bands of the time represented a largely unified voice of the younger generation; The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Doors, and later on Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, were among these bands.

One of the major things that the Doors, along with many young people (American and Australian), were strongly opposed to was the Vietnamese war. Young Americans and Australians and were being forced to go off to Vietnam and fight a war that many believed was none of our buisness. Public protests against America?s involvement in the war were common. Several of the Doors songs were written to raise social awarness about the war; they included ?When the music?s over?, and ?The end?, which featured in the Oliver Stone film about Vietnam, ?Apocalypse Now?. This is an example of how rock music analysed and dealt with issues of the day.

Another reason for the Doors? phenominal success was their concerts. The word ?performance? is a little too tame to describe the spectacle of Manzarek?s organ solos, Krieger?s jazzy guitar, and especially Morrison?s on stage antics, which on more than one occasion resulted in a premature end to the concert. Jim Morrison died in a bath-tub in Paris July 3rd, 1971, of what appeared to be heart failure, although it was quite possibly drug related (possibly taking heroin thinking it was cocaine), aged 28. He can be summed up by the phrase ?The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.?, and Morrison burned very brightly.

The Doors? music , as well as Morrison?s refusal to conform weres influences to the groups who would make up the 1980?s punk rock genre, who in turn influenced 1990?s punk bands. After Morrison?s death, the three remaining members went on to make two more albums, with reduced success. They put some of his poems to music with excellent results, and released it as an album. Several live albums, as well as several greatest hits albums have also been released, which leads to an interesting fact about the band- they?re more popular now than when they were in the sixties. All their albums have sold more copies after Morrison?s deaThe 1960?s were a time of major political and social change. These changes were primarily fuelled by the youth of the time. Their parents had come from life in both the great depression of the 1930?s as well as World War II, and were on a whole more conservative than their children, a fact the younger generation did not like. In the early 60?s the electronic media (Television and radio) became an important communication tool, as opposed to the largely print based media of previous decades. With change came a profound increase in the exchange of knowledge, ideas, and information, which in turn influenced a generation to become much more active in politics and other affairs which affected them, than what the previous generations would have been. The youth culture aimed to change all of the contradictions that remained unchanged from their parent?s culture. Examples of this move for change and progress included politics, religion, class struggle, racial issues, and the Vietnam war, but the area in which this change was most visible was in the arena of popular music, which too had become a tool for the communication of ideas.

James Douglas (Jim) Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida on December 8th, 1943. He was the son of a Rear-Admiral, who?s father, grandfather, and family all had lifetime careers in the Navy. This suggests a strict and militaristic upbringing, with the assumption being that the young Morrison would be a career Navy officer like his ancestors. Clearly Morrison came from the kind of household that the youth culture were rebelling against. Perhaps this was one of the causes of Morrison?t open rebellion. When he had finished school, he moved to California, where he enrolled in the theatre department of the University College of Los Angeles (UCLA), and hoped to become a movie director. It was here that he met Raymond (Ray) Manzarek, who was also a student of the film school. Manzarek had learned classical piano as a child, although his personal tastes led him to playing blues on the organ. In 1965 the two conceived the idea of forming a band. Morrison wanted the band to be not just a group that creates music, but a form of ?rock guerrilla theatre?- using the music as a way to communicate his ideas beliefs. He wanted the band and the audience to be connected through a colletive conciousness. This being a long way from the music of previous decades, where while the audience may dance to the music, they were not physically, or emotionally involved with the band. Manzarek saw a performance by a group called the ?Psychedelic Rangers?, and asked guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore whether they would be interested in joining the group. The two agreed, and they took the name ?The Doors? after a book called ?The Doors of Perception? by Aldous Huxley, which was in turn inspired by a quote from the poet William Blake ?If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear as it is, infinite?. Blake was one of Morrison?s primary poetic influences. This was also the origin of Morrison?s well known phrase ?There are things known and things unknown and in between them are the doors?. The Doors primary themes were sex, violence, and politics. Morrison was also a suprisingly good poet, which is evident in the song?s lyrics, and many of his poems were published after his death.

At this time, ?rock acted as a kind of ?counter culture?, challenging the boundaries of the dominant culture where it had become hyprocritical and even unjust… The main thrust of rock music was a force for change, both on a personal level [ie. sexual morality, drug use, etc.]… and on a societal level, in opposition to the Vietnam War, [and] racial injustice… Rock and roll provided much of the communicative power of the ?counter culture,? and, as such, was a force for change.? (Macken, 1980: p23)

?Rock, the music of the Sixties, was a music of spontaneity… It came from the life experiences of the artists and their interaction with an audience that was roughly the same age.? (Frith, 1981: p41); rock was not made to be commercial, ie. it was not produced to sell records and make money. Rock music was a reflector of society, ie. rock lyrics reflected the values and ideas of the youth culture. It was also relatively structureless compaired with previous decades. The Doors epitomised this belief. Their music was never made to make a living. Furthermore, it was a rare occasion when they actually conformed to the constraints and obligations placed on them (usually by the older generation). Jim Morrison was anything but predictable and ?well behaved?- he was arrested on several occasions, for being disruptive, and on one occasion taken to court for alleged indecent exposure on stage, though it must be noted that the prosecution could produce neither witnesses nor photographic proof of the lewd behaviour, so it is entirely possible that the authorities wanted any excuse to silence this young rebel who threatened their authority by defiance. Morrison?s reasons for acting like this, were: one, he was a romantic and a rebel at heart (the struggle of the young hero against the corrupt and malevolent authorities); and two, he believed that ?External revolt is a way to bring about internal freedom? (Morrison, from the biography he provided for Elektra records, with which the Doors were signed to). Often lyrics in the Doors? songs were also rebellious and seen as anti-social. For example, in the song ?The end?, are the lyrics ?Father. Yes son? I want to kill you.?. Performing this song got them fired from their first act, which was at the Whisky-a-go-go bar in Los Angeles. Also, in their hit, ?Light my fire?, is the line ?Girl, we couldn?t get much higher.? Both relatively tame to today?s ?I wanna f*%k you like an animal?, by Nine Inch Nails, but in their day, the connotations of these lyrics were very disconcerting to record companies and venue owners, and loved by teenagers for the same reason.

Revolt was a major theme of the sixties in the USA This revolution came from the youth, and predominantly from university students. It has been said that knowledge is power, and knowledge and information gave the youth of the sixties the power to make choices about their lives and their world; many of these choices involved breaking away from the way of the older generation, and therefore rebelling. The Doors were seen as significant at the time because they too did this, and in the public arena, thereby giving the individual courage to make choices too. The main areas of conflict were politics and war, and arising from the conflicting public and private obligations, between freedom and the responsibilities of the youth. It was this conflict that rock addressed more than any other form of expression, and therefore the rock bands of the time represented a largely unified voice of the younger generation; The Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Doors, and later on Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, were among these bands.

One of the major things that the Doors, along with many young people (American and Australian), were strongly opposed to was the Vietnamese war. Young Americans and Australians and were being forced to go off to Vietnam and fight a war that many believed was none of our buisness. Public protests against America?s involvement in the war were common. Several of the Doors songs were written to raise social awarness about the war; they included ?When the music?s over?, and ?The end?, which featured in the Oliver Stone film about Vietnam, ?Apocalypse Now?. This is an example of how rock music analysed and dealt with issues of the day.

Another reason for the Doors? phenominal success was their concerts. The word ?performance? is a little too tame to describe the spectacle of Manzarek?s organ solos, Krieger?s jazzy guitar, and especially Morrison?s on stage antics, which on more than one occasion resulted in a premature end to the concert. Jim Morrison died in a bath-tub in Paris July 3rd, 1971, of what appeared to be heart failure, although it was quite possibly drug related (possibly taking heroin thinking it was cocaine), aged 28. He can be summed up by the phrase ?The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long.?, and Morrison burned very brightly.

The Doors? music , as well as Morrison?s refusal to conform weres influences to the groups who would make up the 1980?s punk rock genre, who in turn influenced 1990?s punk bands. After Morrison?s death, the three remaining members went on to make two more albums, with reduced success. They put some of his poems to music with excellent results, and released it as an album. Several live albums, as well as several greatest hits albums have also been released, which leads to an interesting fact about the band- they?re more popular now than when they were in the sixties. All their albums have sold more copies after Morrison?s death than while he was alive. When we in the 1990?s, especially the younger generation who were born in the late seventies and eighties, look back and remember the sixties, we see the Doors as one of the driving forces of the youth movement, and as one of the most significant bands of the decade, not

th than while he was alive. When we in the 1990?s, especially the younger generation who were born in the late seventies and eighties, look back and remember the sixties, we see the Doors as one of the driving forces of the youth movement, and as one of the most significant bands of the decade, not

In April 1960 the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was founded in Raleigh, North Carolina, to help organize and direct the student sit-in movement. King encouraged SNCC’s creation, but the most important early advisor to the students was Ella Baker, who had worked for both the NAACP and SCLC. She believed that SNCC should not be part of SCLC but a separate, independent organization run by the students. She also believed that civil rights activities should be based in individual black communities. SNCC adopted Baker’s approach and focused on making changes in local communities, rather than striving for national change. This goal differed from that of SCLC which worked to change national laws. During the civil rights movement, tensions occasionally arose between SCLC and SNCC because of their different methods.

Freedom Riders

After the sit-ins, some SNCC members participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides organized by CORE. The Freedom Riders, both black and white, traveled around the South in buses to test the effectiveness of a 1960 Supreme Court decision. This decision had declared that segregation was illegal in bus stations that were open to interstate travel. The Freedom Rides began in Washington, D.C. Except for some violence in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the trip southward was peaceful until they reached Alabama, where violence erupted. At Anniston one bus was burned and some riders were beaten. In Birmingham, a mob attacked the riders when they got off the bus. They suffered even more severe beatings by a mob in Montgomery, Alabama.

The violence brought national attention to the Freedom Riders and fierce condemnation of Alabama officials for allowing the violence. The administration of President John Kennedy interceded to protect the Freedom Riders when it became clear that Alabama state officials would not guarantee safe travel. The riders continued on to Jackson, Mississippi, where they were arrested and imprisoned at the state penitentiary, ending the protest. The Freedom Rides did result in the desegregation of some bus stations, but more importantly, they demonstrated to the American public how far civil rights workers would go to achieve their goals.

SCLC Campaigns

SCLC’s greatest contribution to the civil rights movement was a series of highly publicized protest campaigns in Southern cities during the early 1960s. These protests were intended to create such public disorder that local white officials and business leaders would end segregation in order to restore normal business activity. The demonstrations required the mobilization of hundreds, even thousands, of protesters who were willing to participate in protest marches as long as necessary to achieve their goal and who were also willing to be arrested and sent to jail.

The first SCLC direct-action campaign began in 1961 in Albany, Georgia, where the organization joined local demonstrations against segregated public accommodations. The presence of SCLC and King escalated the Albany protests by bringing national attention and additional people to the demonstrations, but the demonstrations did not force negotiations to end segregation. During months of protest, Albany’s police chief continued to jail demonstrators without a show of police violence. The Albany protests ended in failure.

In the spring of 1963, however, the direct-action strategy worked in Birmingham, Alabama. SCLC joined the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, a local civil rights leader, who believed that the Birmingham police commissioner, Eugene “Bull” Connor, would meet protesters with violence. In May the SCLC staff stepped up antisegregation marches by persuading teenagers and school children to join. The singing and chanting adolescents who filled the streets of Birmingham caused Connor to abandon restraint. He ordered police to attack demonstrators with dogs and firefighters to turn high-pressure water hoses on them. The ensuing scenes of violence were shown throughout the nation and the world in newspapers, magazines, and most importantly, on television. Much of the world was shocked by the events in Birmingham, and the reaction to the violence increased support for black civil rights. In Birmingham white leaders promised to negotiate an end to some segregation practices. Business leaders agreed to hire and promote more black employees and to desegregate some public accommodations. More important, however, the Birmingham demonstrations built support for national legislation against segregation.

Desegregating Southern Universities

In 1962 a black man from Mississippi, James Meredith, applied for admission to University of Mississippi. His action was an example of how the struggle for civil rights belonged to individuals acting alone as well as to organizations. The university attempted to block Meredith’s admission, and he filed suit. After working through the state courts, Meredith was successful when a federal court ordered the university to desegregate and accept Meredith as a student. The governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett, defied the court order and tried to prevent Meredith from enrolling. In response, the administration of President Kennedy intervened to uphold the court order. Kennedy sent federal marshals with Meredith when he attempted to enroll. During his first night on campus, a riot broke out when whites began to harass the federal marshals. In the end, 2 people were killed, and about 375 people were wounded.

When the governor of Alabama, George C. Wallace, threatened a similar stand, trying to block the desegregation of the University of Alabama in 1963, the Kennedy Administration responded with the full power of the federal government, including the U.S. Army, to prevent violence and enforce desegregation. The showdowns with Barnett and Wallace pushed Kennedy, whose support for civil rights up to that time had been tentative, into a full commitment to end segregation.

The March on Washington

The national civil rights leadership decided to keep pressure on both the Kennedy administration and the Congress to pass civil rights legislation by planning a March on Washington for August 1963. It was a conscious revival of A. Philip Randolph’s planned 1941 march, which had yielded a commitment to fair employment during World War II. Randolph was there in 1963, along with the leaders of the NAACP, CORE, SCLC, the Urban League, and SNCC. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered the keynote address to an audience of more than 200,000 civil rights supporters. His “I Have a Dream” speech in front of the giant sculpture of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, became famous for how it expressed the ideals of the civil rights movement.

Partly as a result of the March on Washington, President Kennedy proposed a new civil rights law. After Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, the new president, Lyndon Johnson, strongly urged its passage as a tribute to Kennedy’s memory. Over fierce opposition from Southern legislators, Johnson pushed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress. It prohibited segregation in public accommodations and discrimination in education and employment. It also gave the executive branch of government the power to enforce the act’s provisions.

Voter Registration

The year 1964 was the culmination of SNCC’s commitment to civil rights activism at the community level. Starting in 1961 SNCC and CORE organized voter registration campaigns in heavily black, rural counties of Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. SNCC concentrated on voter registration, believing that voting was a way to empower blacks so that they could change racist policies in the South. SNCC worked to register blacks to vote by teaching them the necessary skills-such as reading and writing-and the correct answers to the voter registration application. SNCC worker Robert Moses led a voter registration effort in McComb, Mississippi, in 1961, and in 1962 and 1963 SNCC worked to register voters in the Mississippi Delta, where it found local supporters like the farm-worker and activist Fannie Lou Hamer. These civil rights activities caused violent reactions from Mississippi’s white supremacists. Moses faced constant terrorism that included threats, arrests, and beatings. In June 1963 Medgar Evers, NAACP field secretary in Mississippi, was shot and killed in front of his home.

In 1964 SNCC workers organized the Mississippi Summer Project to register blacks to vote in that state. SNCC leaders also hoped to focus national attention on Mississippi’s racism. They recruited Northern college students, teachers, artists, and clergy-both black and white-to work on the project, because they believed that the participation of these people would make the country more concerned about discrimination and violence in Mississippi. The project did receive national attention, especially after three participants, two of whom were white, disappeared in June and were later found murdered and buried near Philadelphia, Mississippi. By the end of the summer, the project had helped thousands of blacks attempt to register, and about 1000 had actually become registered voters.

The Summer Project increased the number of blacks who were politically active and led to the creation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). When white Democrats in Mississippi refused to accept black members in their delegation to the Democratic National Convention of 1964, Hamer and others went to the convention to challenge the white Democrats’ right to represent Mississippi. In a televised interview, Hamer detailed the harassment and abuse experienced by black Mississippians when they tried to register to vote. Her testimony attracted much media attention, and President Johnson was upset by the disturbance at the convention where he expected to be nominated for president. National Democratic Party officials offered the black Mississippians two convention seats, but the MFDP rejected the compromise offer and went home. Later, however, the MFDP challenge did result in more support for blacks and other minorities in the Democratic Party.

In early 1965 SCLC employed its direct-action techniques in a voting-rights protest initiated by SNCC in Selma, Alabama. When protests at the local courthouse were unsuccessful, protesters began a march to Montgomery, the state capital. As the marchers were leaving Selma, mounted police beat and tear-gassed them. Televised scenes of that violence, called Bloody Sunday, s

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Massive black rebellions, constant strikes, gigantic anti-war demonstrations, draft resistance, Cuba, Vietnam, Algeria, a cultural revolution of seven hundred million Chinese, occupations, red power, the rising of women, disobedience and sabotage, communes & marijuana: amongst this chaos, there was a generation of youths looking to set their own standard – to fight against the establishment, which was oppressing them, and leave their mark on history. These kids were known as the hippies. There were many stereotypes concerning hippies; they were thought of as being pot smoking, freeloading vagabonds, who were trying to save the world. As this small pocket of teenage rebellion rose out of the suburbs, inner cities, and countryside?s, there was a general feeling that the hippies were a product of drugs, and rock music; this generalization could have never been more wrong. The hippie counterculture was more than just a product of drugs and music, but a result of the change that was sweeping the entire western world. These changes were brought about by various events in both the fifties and the sixties, such as: the end of the “Golden Years” of the fifties, the changing economical state from the fifties to the sixties, the Black Panther Party, women moving into the work force, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy Jr., the war in Vietnam, the Kent State protest, and finally the Woodstock festival.

The electric subcurrent of the fifties was, above all, rock?n?roll, the live wire that linked bedazzled teenagers around the nation, and quickly around the world, into the common enterprise of being young. Rock was rough, raw, insistent, especially by comparison with the music it replaced; it whooped and groaned, shook, rattled, and rolled. Rock was clamor, the noise of youth submerged by order and prosperity, now frantically clawing their way out.

The winds of change began to sweep across America in the late fifties. The political unrest came with fear of thermo-nuclear war and the shadow that had been cast by Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. The civil rights leaders were unhappy with President Eisenhower?s reluctance to use his powers for their cause, in spite of the fact that the nation was becoming more receptive to civil rights reforms. With black organizations becoming more militant, Eisenhower needed to acknowledge the growing movement, and govern accordingly.

World politics were still dominated by the conflict between the capitalist nations, led by the USA, and the Communist countries, led by the USSR. The bonds that were keeping people loyal to their leaders were breaking down. In 1960 there was a major split between Russia and China. The Chinese decided that the Russians were betraying Communism and set off on what they hoped would be the world revolution against capitalism.

During the fifties, the economic situation was in a constant state of growth. The United States were prospering and the government was clinging to the “golden years.” The rise of the giant corporations had a profound effect on American life. A few hundred corporations controlled much of the nation?s industrial and commercial assets and enjoyed a near monopoly in some areas. The mega corporations dominated the seats of economic and political power. They employed millions of workers, a large percentage of whom populated the suburbs that were growing across the country.

The changing American economy also experienced dramatic shifts in the composition of the work force. Fewer workers went into traditional fields such as manufacturing, agriculture, and mining, and more went into clerical, managerial, professional, and service fields. In 1956, for the first time in the nation?s history, white collar workers outnumbered blue collar ones, “and by the end of the decade blue collar workers constituted only 45 percent of the work force.” The sexual composition of the work force also changed as more and more women entered the labor market. The influx of women into the work world that had been accelerated by the Second World War continued in the postwar period.

The political groups, and the negative feelings that they harbored towards the present administration, only kindled the flames of revolution. The previous generation was clinging to the “good times” of the fifties, and the youth were looking for a niche to call their own. With the drastic change in child population after the Second World War, divorce became less taboo. As a result, single mothers were forced into the labor market, and with these jobs came independence. The 50?s and all its political, and social change, was only the breeding ground for the free thinking generation that was to follow.

In America, a group of militant blacks called the “Black Panther Party” had been dubbed “American?s Vietcong.” They were tired with the roadblocks and discrimination that were plaguing the civil rights leaders, like Dr. Martin Luther King. They decided to get equality by whatever means necessary. Their members had been involved in shoot-outs with the police, which were, by the radical community, dress rehearsals for the coming Armageddon.

The hippie movement was new in the early 60?s, the men only beginning to grow their hair long and some of them still wearing suits, the women as yet uncertain about fitting in. The introduction of the television in the 50?s brought a new information medium to the general public. With television, people became more informed, and developed individual opinions, instead of the bias opinions that were “spoon fed” to them by newspapers, radio etc.. The youth began to break free of the shackles that were the fifties. They considered their parents conformists , and they wanted a way to break free of the molds cast for them.

As a reaction to the growing violence of the 1960?s, many people turned to the ideals of peace and love. Ironically, many of those who were seen to be in favor of peace – including President John Kennedy, his brother Bobby, the black civil rights leader Martin Luther King, and many unarmed civil rights workers – were themselves murdered. The horrors of the war in Vietnam dramatized what many saw as drift towards destruction, and their reaction was to seek a genuinely peaceful way of life. Across the world, youth took up the slogan “Make Love not War”, and the Love Generation emerged. Many of these were hippies – people who dropped out of conventional society to take up a lifestyle based on peace, loving relationships and often mystical religions. Many more who were not fully hippies were influenced by their ideas and fashions, especially using the soft drug cannabis and the hallucinogenic drug LSD.

“The New Era” referred to Kennedy promising vigorous attempt to manage a world whose old stabilities had broken down. Kennedy received credit for recognizing that international and domestic crises required an active response, even if that response was “mediating, rationalizing, and managerial,” a policy of “aggressive tokenism.” Abroad, the new frontier had the virtue of working towards “political stabilization” with the Russians; it was deeply committed to avoiding nuclear war – although Kennedy showed no interested in general disarmament.

Meanwhile Black Americans took President Kennedy at his word and pressed for civil rights against racial discrimination. On 20 May, 1963 , “400 federal marshals (government policemen) had to be sent to Montgomery, Alabama, after a peaceful demonstration by black people had been attacked by a mob of 1500 whites.” Local police had refused to act, even though this was the third attack on blacks in a week. “On 21 May, 1963, 100 whites attacked the church where the black leader, Martin Luther King, was preaching. The demonstrators continued despite this when black Freedom Riders, calling for civil rights for blacks, marched through Alabama and Mississippi to New Orleans. 27 Black freedom Riders were arrested when they arrived in Jackson Mississippi.”

On 12 June 1964, the President Kennedy sent a Civil Rights Bill to Congress, which, if passed, would make equality a legal right. “On 28 August, 1964, between 100,000 and 200,000 black people, led by Martin Luther King,” marched in Washington in support of the Civil Rights Bill. But the violence still did not stop. In September, 1964, a black man was shot dead in Alabama, four blacks were killed when a church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed, Medger Evers of the Advancement of Colored People was murdered, and six black children were killed when a house was burnt down.

Kennedy had been a controversial President. Many Americans opposed his support for black people, while others were angry at his failure to kick the Communists out of Cuba. The extreme right wing had threatened to kill him, but no one took these threats seriously. Kennedy had been warned it was a dangerous to drive through the streets of Dallas in an open car. The President felt that he should be able to drive openly anywhere in the country, and few people expected trouble.

On 22 November, 1963 as Kennedy drove slowly through crowd-lined streets of Dallas in an open car, together with his wife, Jackie, and Governor Connally of Texas, three or more shots were fired at the car. Kennedy was shot through the throat and head, and Governor Connally was also hit. The President?s driver immediately raced for the Parkland Hospital, with Jackie Kennedy covered in her husbands blood cradling her husband?s head. With those fatal shots, came the end of “Camelot” as his administration was referred to as.

On April 4 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. That night, eighty riots broke out. Federal troops were dispatched into Baltimore, Chicago, Washington, and Wilmington. “Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley, ordered police to shoot to kill arsonists and the main looters.” The actions by Richard J. Daley, were a sign of respect of King. Ironically, a year before, Daley was against having King speak in the city of Chicago.

King?s following had fallen off in the years leading up to his death. His moment had passed. Since the triumph of his Slema campaign, which climaxed in the 1965 Voting Rights Act, he had turned to the urban poor, but his strategy of nonviolence, national publicity, and coalition-building seemed unavailing. Just a week before his death, his hopes for a non violence march in Memphis, in support of striking garbage workers, had been dashed by the window-smashing of a few dozen black teenagers. King had become a hero without a strategy, but a hero he undeniably was at a moment when the larger movement craved heroes and disowned them with equal passion. For liberals, even for many black militants and radicals, he was the last black hope. When he was murdered, it seemed that nonviolence went to the grave with him, and the movement was “free at last” from restraint.

There are times when an entire culture takes the shape of a single event, like rows of iron fillings lined up by the force of a magnet. What is assassination, after all, if not the ultimate reminder of the citizen?s helplessness – or even repressed murderousness? Instantly the killing creates an abrupt contest between Good and Evil, albeit with a wrong ending. With the enlightened establishment?s great men gunned down, a self-proclaimed black revolutionary gunned down, there was an eerie feeling among the common people, a democracy of sudden death. The southern civil rights movement had been deeply bloodied, of course. Dozens of blacks were killed in the urban riots of the North from 1964 on, and, as we have already seen, the riots of the North inspired the white radicals to start a movement of their own. These radicals would take the form of the “Hippy.”

In 1954 Vietnam had been divided into the Communist North, under Ho Chi Minh, and capitalist South, under Ngo Dinh Diem, after the Communists had forced the French to abandon Vietnam. Since 1954 a guerrilla force, the National Liberation Front (know as the Vietcong), backed by the North, had been gradually gaining strength. The United States had been sending arms to Diem since 1954, and in 1960 President Kennedy decided to send American military advisors to South Vietnam to train Diem?s army.

Just as the black movement was fighting for equality and civil rights, the hippie movement took on the fight against the drafting of young men to Vietnam. Many protests were staged throughout the 60?s to end the war, especially the “March to End the War in Vietnam” held at the Independence memorial in Washington, 1965.

During 1965, the Vietnam War intensified. The USA put more and more effort into it, and the South Vietnamese government?s lack of control became apparent. In August it was estimated that the Vietcong controlled a quarter of the country, the government about half and the rest was not controlled by anyone. In the Vietcong area, the Communists had taken land from the few rich landowners and given it to the many poor peasants. This obviously made them more popular with the peasants. The south Vietnamese army was now too weak to fight the Communists, and the US decided it would take over the fighting leaving the Vietnamese to defend the land they controlled.

The war in Vietnam increased trouble in America. Blacks pointed out that black soldiers in Vietnam suffered unfairly”10% of the population of the United States was Black, 12.5% of the American army was black, 14.6% of the battle dead was black. On 23 April 1967, Muhammad Ali called the war “a race war. Black men are being cut up by white men.” On 28 April 1967, Muhammad refused the call-up to the US army. The World Boxing Association stripped him of his world title, and on 21 June 1967, he was found guilty of avoiding the draft. Muhammad Ali was given a five year jail sentence, and appealed. By the first of August 1967, so many black uprisings had taken place during the ?Long Hot Summer? that a map had to be produced to show where they had taken place.

1967 had been the year of the hippies, peace and love. 1968 was a year dominated by violence and ideas of revolution and change. It was the year of New Left – socialists who rejected both capitalism and communism – whose ideas inspired students revolt throughout the world. The New Left argued that violence was caused by capitalism, and the continuing, escalating war in Vietnam, where the most powerful capitalist force was waging war on a small Asian country. As the Students moved to the Left, and the youth movement grew, so did the idea of fighting back against the State. The idea of a single world revolution, grew. On April 30, 1970, President Nixon ordered the “incursion” of Cambodia, with this announcement the students went into action. By May 4, 1970, a hundred student strikes were in progress across the country. At Kent State University in Ohio, students burned down the ROTC building. On the same day, National Guardsman at Kent State responded to taunts and a few rocks by firing their M-1 rifles into a crowd of students, killing four, wounding nine others. Kent State was a heartland school, far from elite, the very type of campus where Nixons “silent majority” was supposed to be training.

After these and many other violent incidents at protests, the intensity of the movement began to dwindle. The great changes that they were fighting for were not coming about. The protests were not getting any sympathy or support, and greater numbers of hippies left the protests and adopted a “peace and love” side of things. The climax of the hippie movement was in Woodstock, 1969. It was where all of the violence and aggression of protesting was laid aside and the true ambiance of the 60?s was expressed.

Woodstock, in June, had been the long-deferred Festival of Life. So said not only Time and Newsweek but world-weary friends who had navigated the traffic-blocked thruway and felt the new society emerging, half a million strong, stoned and happy on that muddy farm north of New York City.

Both critics and fans concede that Woodstock has become part of the mythology of the 1960s, even if the actual event did not necessarily represent the musical or political taste of most young Americans at the time. Some say it symbolized the freedom and idealism of the 1960s. Critics argue that Woodstock represented much of what was wrong with the 60?s: a glorification of drugs, a loosening of sexual morality and a socially corrosive disrespect for authority.

Whether one is a supporter or a critic, it is undeniable that Woodstock was one of the major climaxes of the hippie movement: a culmination of all of the peace and love ideals in one place. After Woodstock, the movement was on the downswing. One could argue that Woodstock was the grand finale, with the seventies arriving soon after it and there was a general “been there, done that”(interview) mentality which created the seventies, a decade of disco, and doom, never quite living up to the intensity of the sixties.

The 1960?s, then, did more than just “swing”. Many of the values and conventions of the immediate post- war world were called into question, and although many of the questions had not been satisfactorily answered by the end of the decade, society would never be the same again.

In conclusion, the hippy culture arose as a result of vast political changes occurring in North America and beyond and not as a result of drugs and music. The drugs and music were a by-product of the hippy culture, but by no means a reason for it?s occurrence. The previous pages cite the more relevant political and social milestones, which, I believe were directly responsible for the evolution of the hippy culture. These milestones affected everyone, one way or another, either directly or indirectly. They changed the way people thought. You would be hard pressed to find someone over the age of about forty-five who, to this day, cannot remember what they were doing the day Kennedy was shot, and how they were affected by it. The sixties simply evolved; a microcosm of numerous political and social change that swept the then current generation. The hippies were simply reacting to changes in society and, in reacting to these changes, left an indelible mark on the history books of our time.

How the 60’s changed our lives

When the soldiers returned from WWII, they returned to a country that was flourishing again. The Great Depression had finally come to an end, and the economy was back where it should be. “Leave it to Beaver” may have been somewhat stereotypical, but it still remains a fairly accurate portrayal of the average life in the post-war decade. Plenty of jobs for the men, and plenty of housework for the women. Life was easy, so people did what they did best, they reproduced. Because of the medical and technological breakthroughs, the infant mortality rate was greatly reduced, thus creating a “boom” of babies, aptly called the “baby boom.” This generation had one of the largest populations of any generation, ever. And, in the 1960s, This generation reached adolescence, and began adulthood, becoming the “Hippie” generation, one of the most historical, and the most influential of any generation on society.

In the slang of the time, hip meant wise, or “tuned in,” a hippie was someone who saw the truth, and knew what was really going on. The people of the hippie generation despised phoniness, dishonesty, and hypocrisy. Rather, they appealed to openness, love, honesty, freedom, and the innocence and purity of their childhood values. To themselves, they were the dawn of a new society in America. A psychedelic society, almost utopian, in which love would be everywhere and people would help each other. (O’Neill 127)

Drugs were very quickly associated with the hippies. You could often see people smoking marijuana on sidewalks, in parked cars, in doughnut shop