The nineteen sixties were times of great change. Many people went frommoderates to radicals because of the environment around them. That environmentwas called the establishment. It included all of the events going on in the nineteensixties.
Some of the main events taking place were the Vietnam War, thegovernment, the Democratic National Convention and the culture (*). Manyprotested things that they did not believe in or thought was wrong (*). There weremany things that made the radical’s different from the moderates. They were themusic they listened to and the clothes they wore. Most obviously was the waythey acted.
In the summer of 1967, society and rock and roll were going through somemajor changes. People who listened to rock and roll wore flowers in their hair andon their clothes. They Grooved to tunes by The Grateful Dead, Cream,Jefferson Airplane, and many others (*). Radical was the name given to thesediverse cultural icons of the sixtys revolution.
These radicals were associatedwith the many of the youth parties who shared their views with the country. Themusic that the radicals listened too greatly affected the way the acted. It was themellow tune and the moving lyrics that inspired this generation of teenagers. Theystood up for what they believed in from listening to the rock and roll, which isnow, classified as classic rock.
The people who didnt listen to the new rock androll, listened to classical and jazz music. They thought the radicals who listened torock and roll were rebels. Large get togethers were common in the sixties. Atthese “be ins,” as they were called, people ate, drank, and listened to music (*). The greatest musical get-together that had the most influencing effect onthe people of the sixties was Woodstock 69.
This was the largest rock concertever and was held in Bethel, New York. It was three days long, beginning onAugust 15 and ending on August 17 in 1969. The Woodstock Ventures was thenewly founded company organizing the three-day festival. The Town of Wallkillwas the anticipated site for the music festival, but city officials and residentsprotested it.
Laws were made to make sure that Woodstock was not to be held inWallkill. The laws were passed, so the Woodstock Ventures team had to searchfor a new site. They ended up finding a 600-acre cow pasture suitable for a three-day concert in the town of Bethel, New York. The city and state officials said theyhad everything planned for and prepared before the concert. But when it camearound to the opening day, they knew what they hadnt planned for, a crowd ofmore than 500,000 people. The concert started at exactly 5:07 P.
M. on August15, 1969 (*). Around midnight on the first day, it started to rain. In as little asthree hours, five inches of rain fell. This caused the field to flood, and makingeveryone and everything a big mud puddle. Through the three days there weretwo deaths, but also two births.
Both of the deaths were by accident. At the endof the final day, people began to slowly make their way out of the once was grassfield. That barren field now has a monument remembering those three days ofmusic. It attracts visitors from all over the country, who want to see where thebiggest party of all time was once held (*). Dress in the nineteen sixties showed what kind of attitude you possessedand the views you obtained. There were two dominant groups of dress in thesixties.
One was the radical and hippie attire. It consisted of older, more raggedlooking outfits. They usually wore headbands or bandanas on their heads. Sometimes they would wear tie-dye or multicolor mixed shirts. The pants thatmost of this teenage generation would don were usually aged and battered, whichsometimes beared holes in them.
The types of shoes that they wore depended onthe individual. Some wore tall boots, short boots, and sandals. The most popularshoes were the original Converse All-Stars (*). Most people just wore whateverthey could find, and didnt care what they looked like (*). The second dominantgroup of dress was the older, non-teenage generation. The men usually woreclean, newly pressed clothes.
Some men wore suits all of the time. Men mostlywore black shiny dress shoes. The women wore clean, new clothes unlike theteenagers of the time. People of the sixties were very judgmental when it came to clothes peoplewore. When someone saw a hippie for the first time, they automatically thoughtthat they were rebels who didnt want a government (*). The older, moderatepeople looked down upon these hippies because they expressed themselvesthrough their clothes (*).
The radicals attitude toward the older, “non-hippie”generation was that they didnt know how to stand up for what they believe in (*). The government of the nineteen sixties had an enormous impact on the waypeople acted. Some agreed with the government, and some didnt. Some of thepeople even tried to change the way it worked. The presidents played a large rolein the action taken by the government. Lyndon Baines Johnson became the thirty-sixth president after theassassination of John F.
Kennedy in November 1963. A skilled promoter ofliberal domestic legislation, he was also a dedicate believer in the use of militaryforce to help achieve the country’s foreign policy objectives. His increase ofAmerican involvement in the Vietnam War decreased his popular standing and ledto his decision not to run for reelection for presidency in 1968. Johnsons attitudetoward the Vietnam War was apparent. He believed in strong military action.
Johnson had increased the number of U. S. military forces there from 16,000 at thetime of Kennedy’s assassination to nearly 25,000 a year later. Later Johnson beganto increase the United States involvement in the Vietnam. Johnson began the rapiddeepening of U.
S. involvement in Vietnam; as early as February 1965, U. S. planesbegan to bomb North Vietnam.
American troop strength in Vietnam increased tomore than 180,000 by the end of the year and to 500,000 by 1968. Johnson didnot have the same views as some of the radicals. He wanted to keep the UnitedStates in the Vietnam War, while the radicals did not. Richard Nixon was the thirty-seventh president after Lyndon Johnson. Nixon didnt believe in the Vietnam War as highly as Johnson. In 1973, after fouryears of war in Vietnam, the administration managed to arrange a cease-fire thatwould last long enough to allow U.
S. departure from Vietnam. Nixon had verydifferent views then the radicals. He thought that all of the protestors were rebelswho should have action taken against them. Even though he ordered the departureof all United States troops from Vietnam, he still believed in the war. John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the 35th president of the United States in1961 at the age of 43.
He was the youngest man and the first Roman Catholicever elected to the presidency. In 1963 Kennedy was thinking ahead to thepresidential campaign of 1964. In order to develop peace between clashingcommittees of the Democratic party in Texas, he traveled there in November 1963. While driving in a motorcade through Dallas on November 22, he was shot in thehead and died within an hour. Newly sworn in president Johnson appointed theWarren Commission to investigate the assassination.
It concluded that the killer,acting alone, was 24-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald. No motive was established. People believed over the years that Kennedy was the victim of a conspiracy (*). Martin Luther King, Jr.
devoted his life to the fight for full citizenshiprights of the poor, disadvantaged, and racially oppressed in the United States. King flew to Memphis, Tennessee to assist striking sanitation workers. There, onApril 4, 1968, King was Shot and killed. The violent death of King brought animmediate reaction of rioting in black ghettos around the country.
Although oneman, James Earl Ray, was convicted of King’s murder people suspected that hewas payed by conspirators (*). Robert Francis Kennedy was the younger brother of U. S. President John F. Kennedy.
He was a U. S. attorney general and a U. S. senator during his lifetime.
After President Lyndon B. Johnson failed to choose Kennedy as his 1964 runningmate, he resigned and won a U. S. Senate seat from New York.
He focused on theneeds of poor minorities and became a sharp critic of the Vietnam War. In March1968, Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidentialnomination. On the night of June 4, 1968 Kennedy was celebrating his victory inthe California primary. On that night, Kennedy was fatally shot. Kennedy did notdie instantly, instead, he died two days later, on June 6, 1968. His assassin was animmigrant from Jordan named Sirhan B.
Sirhan was arrested at the scene and laterconvicted of first degree murder(*). The Democratic National Convention of 1968 was planned to be a peacefulconvention of democrat views and ideas. Antiwar activists also planned for it tobe a peaceful, six day festival protesting the Vietnam War. There were no plans ofviolence in the six days. When the Chicago mayor at the time, Richard Daley,heard of the protestors coming to the convention, he ordered 7,500 U.
S. Armytroops and 6,000 National Guardsmen to back up his 12,000 police officers. Itwas held from August 26-29, 1968. Riots began to form so the law enforcementtook action. The media captured most all of the riots on camera and broadcastedthem live on television.
Daley was even caught on camera shouting obscenities atSenator Abraham Ribicoff, who accused the police of “Gestapo tactics” (*). The Vietnam War was a crucial factor in the protesting and rioting in thenineteen sixties. The war took place from the mid nineteen fifties until 1975. Thetwo sides fighting were North Vietnam versus South Vietnam aided by the UnitedStates. In 1975, North Vietnam took the victory over South Vietnam and the U.
S. This was a great shock to American self confidence. Opposition to the war grewwith increased U. S. involvement. College students, members of a traditionalpacifist religious groups, longtime peace activists, and citizens of all ages opposedthe conflict.
Some were motivated by fear of being drafted. Others out ofcommitment, and some just joined the crowd just to follow. Although the antiwarmovement was frequently associated with the young, support for the war wasactually highest in the age group 20-29. The movement probably played a role inconvincing Lyndon Johnson not to run for reelection in 1968, and an even largerrole in the victory of Richard Nixon over the Democrat Hubert Humphrey. Thewar changed Americas society.
The Civil Rights Movement changed the way people live today. In 1964,Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Law of race and sexual discrimination. If this didnt take place, people today wouldnt be able to get jobs because of thesex and race. Johnson then signed yet another Civil Rights Law that would affectpeople today if it didnt come about. It was a law on voting rights.
Many peopleprotested to make these right come about in the nineteen sixties. Contributionswere made by Martin Luther King, Jr. and all of the activists of the sixties. If theselaws were not passed then people today wouldnt be able to take an active part inthe government or get the jobs they wanted. Bibliography?BibliographyRaskin, Jonah. “Abbie Hoffman.
” 1998: 1-2. On-line. Internet. 6 Feb.
2001. Available: http://www. go. grolier. comPhinney, David.
“Rewind: 1968. ” 1998: 1-5. On-line. Internet. 5 Feb. 2001.
Available:http://www. abcnews. go. com/sections/us/1968/Rewind1968_DNC. htmlMailer, Norman.
The Best of Abbie Hoffman. New York: Four WallsEight Windows, 1989. Korcz, Keith. “Myths and Facts About the 1960’s.
” 1-4. On-line. Internet. 4 Feb. 2001.
Available:http://www. ucs. usl. edu/kak7409/groovy60s.
htmlJackson, Leslie. The Sixties. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1998Drake, Nicholas. The Sixties: A Decade in Vogue.
New York: PrenticeHall Press, 1983
