The 1960S Essay, Research Paper
The 1960s
It may have been a decade of a myriad of effulgent paintings and intrepid
space excursions, but for most people, resplendent canvases don t come near
the mind when someone mentions the 1960s. So just what do we associate the
decade with? The most intriguing part of our prior erudition: hippies, flower
power, peace, love, drugs, and Woodstock! All of the preceding are the very
essence of the 60s in America; all of them had a distinct impact on the world.
Presumably the most prominent aspect of the 60s was the evolution of
the youthful generation into a powerful strong-minded group of people known as
the hippies. Around the late 60s, there was a copious amount of young men and
women who were just reaching their late teen years, re-evaluating their
sentiment on important issues. But just what was a hippie? Hippies were mostly
young people who were often characterized by long hair and flowing skirts. They
had very confident convictions, particularly in regard to the Vietnam War.
Because this new generation possessed a blatant loathing for the affect of
Vietnam on the country, they rebelled against everything the war was about.
This resulted in a shared conception of love, peace, and happiness. They held
protests and anti-war love-ins promoting their anti-violence views, unity, and,
also, drugs. Previously unmentioned, hippies were also druggies. Dr. Timothy
Leary was a drug guru who was much loved for his preaching. He said things
such as Turn on, tune in, and drop out and used new pronouns like She and
her to promote gender equality. He brought about a new philosophy that
conceived that your state of consciousness is reflected in your environment.
Leary had four exercises to a life of expanded intelligence: 1) Look at yourself in
the mirror, change your manner of dress and your behavior so that you float like
a god, not shuffle like a robot 2) Look around your home and throw out
everything that is not tuned in to your highest vision 3) Make your body a
temple and your home a shrine 4) You are a god, live like one!
As prevalent as hippies were, it astounds many people to hear that there
was a subdivision of the group. Yippies, as they were called, were much like
other hippies, only more extreme. The yippies were New Left radicals with a
no-holds barred approach contesting every custom of society. Most often, they
were hippies irate over the fact that love-ins and peaceful protests weren t
accomplishing anything. Yippies did many eccentric things whilst fighting for their
opinions so that their issues would procure media attention, thus illustrating to
America that there were indisputable quandaries occurring in the country. This
invoked more action towards the issue and, often, unprecedented controversy.
Many of the crazy occurrences once deemed hippie-actions were, unequivocally,
the work of a yippie group. One very active yippee was Jerry Rubin, who
appeared before the House American Activities Committee wearing a Santa Claus
Suit. Yippies were also pro-drug, only they vocalized their drug-related thoughts
loudly enough for the entire world to hear. There were many speeches written
advocating drug use, especially when the issue was marijuana. The authors of
such speeches said things like Marijuana makes each person God and It s
never my dope, it s our dope, everything for everybody. These words helped
illustrate how dr
ubiquitously.
One thing hippies and yippies were accountable for was Flower Power.
Flower Power was a peace movement designed to contribute to ending the
Vietnam War. Hippies, mostly young women, handed out flowers to strangers
who walked by. This unfurled the love and respect they retained for other
people. However, flowers were more frequently distributed to police officers and
pro-Vietnam demonstrators. This showed the love and respect they had for the
beliefs of others, even if they differed from their own musings. The principal
purpose of Flower Power was to help the country see that peace and unity were
more important than aggression and dominance. There was a Flower Power
love-in in the spring of 1967 in New York s Central Park. The love-in was a
gathering of 10,000 people adorned in exotic hippie costumes and face and body
paint. These people congregated for a day of music, dancing, drugs, and
celebration. The Flower Power movement was also liable for many popular
slogans, such as War Is Not Healthy For Children And Other Living Things and
the infamous Make Love Not War. In 1964, Barry Goldwater and Lyndon
Johnson were running for President. During the Presidential campaign, a very
affective commercial aired. This commercial was fashioned by part of the Flower
Power group and aired only a single time. It depicted a little girl pulling petals off
of a flower, then a mushroom cloud. The twenty-second clip was talked about
for years to follow, as were many of the Flower Power acts.
As important as hippies and flowers were, the defining event of the 60s
took place in Bethel, New York, from August 15-18, 1969. The three-day event
was held in a field owned by farmer Max Yasgur in the Catskill Mountains, just
fifty-five miles away from the city of Woodstock; the location was changed at the
last minute. There was abroad spectrum of music at the event, yet there was no
pop, such as The Beach Boys or Sonny and Cher. Joan Baez, The Paul Butterfield
Blues Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Canned Heat, Country Joe and the
Fish, The Band, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Joe Cocker, Arlo Guthrie, the Grateful
Dead, Tim Harden, Jimi Hendrix, Richie Havens, Keef Hartly, Janis Joplin, The
Jefferson Airplane, Melanie, Mountain, Quill, John Sebastion, Ravi Shankar, Sly
and the Family Stone, Santana, Sweetwater, and The Who were some of the
bands that played at the festival. Over half of a million people were in the
audience, which was the equivalent of the fourth largest city at the time. The
audience shared food, blankets, drugs, and bodies with each other. Babies were
born during the three days. Although there was skinny-dipping, pot, and acid,
there was not a single act of violence, thievery, or fighting. The stage was built
by 300 hippies in exchange for two meals a day and all of the pot they could
smoke. Hell s Angels were hired as the security, helping to portray the casual air
of freedom at the festival.
The 1960s helped define our country today. If it weren t for the bold
defiance of a violent oppressed nation, we wouldn t be able to exercise many of
the freedoms that we now deem human rights. We ve learned that through
demonstration, the people can induce changes on the national level. We can
always look back on the generation to remind us that the United States of
America is still all about We, the People.