Transcript 1960s Counterculture

Unit 9 Lecture 4: Chapter 16
1960s
Counterculture
& the Anti-War Movement
Lecture Review Questions
1) How did people start to form a movement to protest against
the Vietnam war?
2) What was the counterculture?
3) What factors influenced the rise of counterculture?
4) What characteristics define the counterculture?
5) What impact did the counterculture have on the USA?
6) Why did the Counter Culture fall apart?
7) Who led the Antiwar movement?
8) What were some reasons why people were against the War in
Vietnam?
9) What piece of Technology had a major impact on American’s
attitude towards the Vietnam War?
10) How did the Draft affect minorities and the poor?
11)Where did the movement turn bloody & why?
The Anti-War Movement
When the war in Vietnam began, many Americans
believed that defending South Vietnam from
communist aggression was in the national interest.
Communism was threatening free governments across
the globe. Any sign of non-intervention from the
United States might encourage revolutions elsewhere.
As the war dragged on, more and more Americans
grew weary of mounting casualties and escalating
costs. The small antiwar movement grew into an
unstoppable force, pressuring American leaders to
reconsider its commitment
The Cold War turned hot in Vietnam, and it along with
a conservative U.S. government represented something
that America’s youth was ready to let go of.
Combined with the changing counterculture America’s
values were shifting into something new.
What was the Counterculture

The 1960s were a period when long‐held values and norms of
behavior seemed to break down, particularly among the young.
Many college‐age men and women became political activists and
were the driving force behind the civil rights and antiwar
movements. Other young people simply “dropped out” and
separated themselves from mainstream culture through their
appearance and lifestyle. Attitudes toward sexuality appeared to
loosen, and women began to openly protest the traditional roles of
housewife and mother that society had assigned to them.
How did it start?


The post WWII Baby Boomers filled College Campuses and
questioned the traditional ideas about American culture from fashion
to politics to relationships.
Inspired by the beat movement emphasizing freedom from
materialism, the Civil Rights Movement pushed idea of social &
political protest, & the Vietnam Anti-War movement united a
generation of young Americans
Who were the hippies and what did they want?
 The term “hippy” comes from being hip

You were either hip and broke traditional ways of living in
American or you were a “square” =conservative American,
or a “pig”=police.
A generation of Americans who rejected established
institutions, criticized middle class values, opposed nuclear
weapons and the Vietnam War, embraced aspects of Eastern
philosophy, championed sexual liberation, were often
vegetarian and eco-friendly, promoted the use of
psychedelic drugs which they believed expanded one's mind.
 Hippies wanted to distance themselves from
mainstream ways of life.
 They discarded possessions and often lived in
parks or campsites in the woods.
 Living like this made them feel free

Nudity was another form of freedom
What did people experience if they
were apart of the counterculture?
Communes
Shared
responsibility
Rural living
Free Love +Birth
Control Pill
No STDs
What were the negative or
dangerous aspects of C.C.?
 Drugs like marijuana and LSD were a
big part of the hippy/counterculture
movement.
 Using drugs made hippies feel like the were
rebelling from mainstream society.
 People thought drugs were a way to expand the
potential of the human mind to see the world in
a new way.
 Americans did not know that drugs were
physically damaging, literally frying their brains.
What were the negative or
dangerous aspects of C.C.?
 LSD “Acid” was created by a Swiss scientist, to
be used as a blood stimulant, it was found to
produce intense hallucinations. Psychiatrists
thought the drug could be used to treat people
with anxiety or depression.
 Timothy Leary (a Harvard professor of
psychology) was an advocate of LSD.
 turn on to our way of living, tune in to what we’re
saying and drop out of what society says you should
be doing.
 The CIA also experimented with the drug to
test its use as a weapon before it became illegal.
The Place to be & the Thing to do

Hippies distanced
themselves from mainstream
culture by their dress.

Colorful, flowing clothing,
beads, headbands
bellbottoms, and tie-dye
were popular.

Men wore their hair and
beards long or in afros.

Hippies were often called
“longhairs”
 San Francisco was the birthplace of the
counterculture/hippy movement.
 By 1965 hippies had taken over the
Haight Ashbury district.
 Haight Ashbury district contains Golden
Gate Park home of the Trips Festival and
“be-ins.”
 The most popular music
of the time was
psychedelic rock
Hippie Music
Bands like Jefferson
Airplane, Quicksilver
Messenger Service, the Jimi
Hendrix Experience and the
Grateful Dead played free
concerts at Golden Gate
Park.
 Concerts and be-ins were
places for hippies to
 Woodstock was not just a
protest, socialize, dance, or
music concert. “For
thousands who couldn’t even
take drugs.
 At Woodstock over
250,000 hippies showed up
to hear artists like Janis
Joplin, The Who, Canned
Heat, The Allman Brothers,
and County Joe and the
Fish.
hear the music” it was a
“profound religious
experience.”
 Meager resources were shared
with everyone.
 Many people at Woodstock
used illegal drugs
How did the counterculture
become political?
• Youth International Party=
Yippies
– encouraged young people to get involved and
influence politics, not just complain about it.
– Founded by Abbie Hoffman & Jerry Rubin
– A Yippie flag was designed and was frequently
seen at anti-war demonstrations
– Not taken seriously
– Most ignored the Yippies for their street theater
press conferences and politically themes pranks
designed solely to gather publicity.
Legacy of the counterculture
How did the counter culture impact
Americans in the 1960s?
It was a failed cultural experiment,
which left an entire generation
proud of the social changes they
accomplish & scarred by effects of
drugs & war.
Why did the Counter Culture fall apart?
The self destructive excesses of the
counter culture and its lack of
focus on a common vision led to its
disintegration
Who led the Anti-War Movement?
Peace Movement mainly attracted middle‐class
college students.
However, people were against the war for a
variety of reasons.
Chemicals used in Saturation bombing was harmful to the
Environment
Some believe the U.S. was being hypocritical not letting a
Communist leader Ho Chi Minh be elected by the people
of Vietnam.
Some disagreed with the government spending money to
support a War instead of further Great Society programs
that could have helped Americans.
PEACE MOVEMENT leaders opposed the
war on moral and economic grounds. The
North Vietnamese, they argued, were fighting a
patriotic war to rid themselves of foreign
aggressors. Innocent Vietnamese peasants were
being killed in the crossfire. American planes
wrought environmental damage by dropping
their defoliating chemicals.
How did the War become such a bitter issue
that divided the nation?
The Draft another major source of resentment among college
students. The age of the average American soldier serving in
Vietnam was 19, seven years younger than its World War II
counterpart. Students observed that young Americans were
legally old enough to fight and die, but were not permitted to vote
or drink alcohol. Such criticism led to the 26TH AMENDMENT,
which granted suffrage to 18-year-olds.
Because DRAFT DEFERMENTS were granted to college
students, meaning you would not be drafted if you could afford to
go to college.
About 80 percent of American ground troops in Vietnam
came from the lower classes. Latino and African American
males were assigned to combat more regularly than drafted
white Americans.
Protest for Peace
Antiwar demonstrations were few at first,
As the Johnson Administration escalated the
commitment, the peace movement grew.
Television changed many minds.
Millions of Americans watched body
bags leave the Asian rice paddies
every night in their living rooms.
The late 1960s became increasingly radical
as the activists felt their demands were
ignored. Peaceful demonstrations turned
violent. When the police arrived to arrest
protesters, the crowds often retaliated.
Students occupied buildings across college
campuses forcing many schools to cancel
classes. Roads were blocked and ROTC
buildings were burned.
Give Peace a Chance
At KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, students rioted
in protest. The burned down the ROTC building
located on campus, and destroyed local property. The
governor of Ohio sent the National Guard to maintain
order. A state of high tension and confusion hung
between the Guard and the students. Several soldiers
fired their rifles, leading to deaths of four students and
the wounding of several others. This became known as
the Kent State massacre.
Despite the growing antiwar movement, a
silent majority of Americans still supported
the Vietnam effort. Many admitted that
involvement was a mistake, but military
defeat was unthinkable.