Let us think back for a moment, what things were like thirty to forty years ago, the period we call the sixties. In the international sphere, we were faced with the cold war. In 1961, the communists built the Berlin Wall, to squelch the exodus of Germans from East Germany. Although this became a symbol of the threat of communism, it was seen by some as a tacit admission its of failure: people had been "voting with their feet". In addition to things like ICBMs, bombers, and nuclear submarines, there was also the space race. The United States had been embarrassed by the Soviet’s launch of Sputnik. This triggered an emphasis on science in our schools and universities. Also in 1961, President Kennedy challenged the United States to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. This, of course, was accomplished in July, 1969 when Apollo 11 reached the moon.
In 1960, British prime minister Macmillan gave his "Wind of Change" speech to the Parliament of South Africa, heralding Britain's decolononization from Africa and Asia, but leading to South Africa's retrenchment into apartheid and withdrawal from the Commonwealth.
In the domestic sphere, there were numerous social changes at work. On the high end of course was the Civil Rights movement, which began as a movement for equal rights in the South, and other areas where racial segregation was legal and enforced by law. In 1961 there were lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro, NC; in 1963 came the march on Washington, where Martin Luther King delivered his "I have a dream" speech; in 1964 Congress passed the first major Civil Rights Act. On the low end were such things as the so-called sexual revolution and experimentation with drugs. What others referred to as "mind-altering", Timothy Leary called "mind-expanding". In between were the beginnings of the environmental movement (called the "ecology" movement back then), inaugurated by Rachel Carson’s 1962 book Silent Spring, the feminist movement (called "women’s lib" then), inaugurated by Betty Friedan’s publication in 1963 of The Feminine Mystique, and the "gay rights" movement, heralded by the Stonewall riot in New York in 1969.
There were also massive public works programs, the largest being the Interstate Highway System. Although this was seen as a boon by most, many urban neighborhoods were bisected, and homes and farms were taken by the government "for the public good", but with what many saw as inadequate compensation.
In 1963 President Kennedy was assassinated, which was a shock to the whole nation. Lyndon Johnson became president, and then easily won reelection in 1964.
This would have been an interesting decade with all that. But into the mix was also the war in Vietnam. American young men were being drafted daily to fight in a conflict which was not perceived as a direct threat to the United States, and protests began, becoming larger and sometimes violent as the decade wore on.
In the cultural sphere we saw the end to the Hays system in movies, triggered partially by films from abroad, such as Ingmar Bergman’s Sweden. Films now showed what they had previously not dared to.
Perhaps the pivotal year of the decade was 1968. Early in the year students occupied three buildings at Columbia University, in some cases trashing professors’ offices; after over a week, this was brutally put down by the police. President Johnson made what was perceived as a poor showing in the New Hampshire democratic primary, and withdrew from the race. At the end of January the Viet Cong began their "Tet offensive". They attacked simultaneously nearly every major city in South Vietnam. Although the Viet Cong lost huge numbers, there grew a perception in the United States that the war was not "winnable". Later that year was the "My Lai" incident, which contributed to a perception that the Americans were at least as brutal as the Vietnamese communists. The Soviet Union sent tanks and brutally put down the "Prague Spring", giving a feeling that communism could not be reformed or defeated peacefully. In April, Martin Luther King was assassinated. In June, Robert Kennedy was assassinated after winning the California Democratic primary. During the summer, the Republican convention met peacefully in Miami Beach, but the Democratic convention in Chicago was met with riots in the streets, including the arrest and trial of the "Chicago 8". In the cultural arena, the musical Hair opened, seen by many as a celebration of the age.
Televison at the beginning of the decade was largely black and white. NBC started their color programs with the opening peacock, as a way to promote the sale of RCA color televisions. Spy shows had been popular at mid-decade. CBS imported a British show called "Danger Man", but retitled it "Secret Agent" for the United States. But by 1968 spy shows were on the wane. In mid-season, NBC canceled "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" replacing it with a new program called "Laugh In".
Last updated: October 15, 2006
Copyright, © Tony McQuilkin.