The American Counterculture Movement

Many of the anti-war groups that formed were ones with college students and young adults. One of the largest student anti-war groups was the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The SDS believed that “It is the responsibility of the city administration to see that an effective agency is created to handle the problems of the poor. Such service is becoming increasingly essential to the city of this size [New York].” The Kent State protests, later called the Kent State Massacre, took place on May 4, 1970, “when twenty-eight guardsmen opened fire on a crowd, killing four students and wounding nine… Almost five hundred colleges were shut down or disrupted by protest in result.” The shooting took place during an anti-war rally that was organized in response to President Nixon announcing that the United States had invaded Cambodia, trying to defeat the Viet

The counterculture and hippies are becoming extremely popular in our society today. The hippie culture focused on outward signs of nonconformity. The counterculture promoted rock music, free love, and the use of psychedelic drugs. Haight-Ashbury is the place is if you want to be a part of the culture, and go to San Francisco and be a part of love. The counterculture is about new ideas, and going against the social norms. The bright colors, feathers, leather, and hair. There are pop art and rock music. Go have fun, and be a part of the

This is best described as a movement that included middle class, young college kids who were in a state of illusion due to the Vietnam War and all the violent protests breaking out during this time era.

When writing the Port Huron Statement, its authors explicitly mentioned two key features of American society that they found troubling. First, they considered the presence of racism and overall bigotry in the American South as "…the permeating and victimizing fact of human degradation" (Foner 283). The authors acknowledged the presence of practices that essentially dehumanized African Americans in the South, claiming that its existence is what "…compelled most of us from silence to activism" (Foner 283). In addition to this, the authors of the Port Huron Statement were also troubled by the existence of the atom bomb and the possibility that an all-out nuclear war could break out at any given moment. It is stated that the presence of the bomb brought awareness that "…we ourselves, and our friends, and millions of ‘abstract ' others…might die at any time" (Foner 283). While contemplating the aforementioned problems in American society, the authors of the Port Huron Statement also began to rethink the American ideal that "all men are created equal", finding paradoxes between the claim and what was really occurring in American society. They stated that the declaration "…rang hollow before the facts of Negro life in the South" (Foner 283) and was contradicted by the United States ' "…economic and military investments in the Cold War status quo" (Foner 283). These two

“Hippies were called Flower Children because they gave flowers to communicate gentleness and love” (Salge). The Hippie Movement was a popular counter culture during the 60’s-70’s. Hippies are best known for their practice of psychedelic drug use, interesting political views, where they took up living quarters, and their unique fashion sense.

Students were one of the first organizations who rallied behind ending the Vietnam war. In part because they were the most affected, especially young male college students who were targets for the draft. Although there were many student organizations like The Student Peace Union (SPU) and Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) the face of the students by 1965 would be the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)(11). Founded in 1960, the SDS began as a student branch of the League for Industrial Democracy(27). A misconception about the SDS was that they were advocates for “draft-dodging” program and that they were the leading anti-war organization(60). On the contrary, the SDS believed in a broader social change that would help end the Vietnam War.

America during the 1960s was a time of War, protests, riots and ultimately change. Groups of revolting people from African Americans to Women who wanted more rights sparked change and protest and put the American Government under pressure. With the government being under pressure the American democracy was altered and redefined by determined ethnic and other groups.

It was a white, radical, New Left organization. The group started off mainly as a white male group against communist, but it became a critical point for the student movement. The Students for a Democratic Society disapproval of the Vietnam War made it a symbol to the New Left. The New Left referred to the generation of Americans in the 1960s who were of age and opposed of the Vietnam War and wanted to make change within the civil rights movement. The New Left was largely made of college students and the Students for a Democratic Society was the first group to be established for those principles. Two years after the SDS was formed, fifty-nine members met in Michigan for a political platform that said universities should be the focus point of “participatory democracy.” That goal set in Michigan made the SDS want to help with transferring power from representatives to individuals. The SDS’s ideas got the attention of many college students, with most of them being influenced by the efforts of trying direct democracy. In 1963, the SDS established the Economic Research and Action Project to start practicing participatory democracy. The SDS then turned to be antiwar and in April of 1965 it held the first of several protests against the Vietnam War. Then in 1968, the students protested on the campus of Columbia University due to their participation in war related help. The protest was soon ended by New York police who injured over 200 students and arrested about 700. By the late 1960s SDS divided into a Marxist-Leninist group and an organization called the Weathermen who favored violence. By 1968, the SDS rapidly kept growing which created chaos and hectic for the group. Then in June of 1969, the Progressive Labor party, a small group from the Old Left which took it over and made the SDS collapse. After that only the Weatherman remained but in 1970 it disappeared as a New Left political

When one looks back on the frenetic 1960s, conservative sentiments aren’t usually the first thing to come to mind. Yet, while the New Left and the radical counterculture were reshaping cultural ideals, it was the New Right who emerged from the 1960s as a viable political force. The New Left can be categorized as a broad, largely youthful, movement with the goal to challenge various social norms and to institute a “participatory democracy”. Moreover, the New Left was “New” in a sense that they differed from the labor-centered liberal elites at the time; insisting on creating larger, more radical changes to society. On the other hand, the New Right was a largely grassroots movement aimed to restore traditionalist values from the “Eastern Establishment.” The New Right was “New” in a sense that it revitalized conservative hope at a time when those hopes looked mighty bleak. When analyzing the wildly different outcomes of the two movements, it becomes apparent that the New Right’s political-oriented manner to achieve their goals proved to be the decisive factor in maintaining long-term stability; something the confrontational New Left did not have the resources to achieve from the outset.

The 1960’s was a happening decade. It was a time when many people came together for a common good and stood against injustice. The 60’s is often recalled as the era of the peace sign, one ridden with hippies, marijuana and pacifism. While true of much of the era, some of the movements calling for immense social change began as non-violent harbingers of change and later became radicals. The reason for this turn to radicalism, as seen in the case of the Students for a Democratic Society, and as suggested by the change between this organizations earlier Port Huron statement and the later Weatherman Manifesto, is due to the gradual escalation of the Vietnam war.

During the 1960s Music was heavily influenced by the political and social events happening at the time. At this time civil rights movements were common as many people were trying to spread the emancipation of racism and segregation. As a result the music of the time tended to reflect this counterculture of peace. This “culture” encompassed civil rights, anti-establishment and, inciting revolution. This was a vital time in history for civil rights activists as well as anti-war revolutionaries and the music industry. From folk music to rock music, everyone was affected by the war and chose to express it through the most international form of art, music. Anti-war activists and counterculture enthusiast craved the music that truly expressed

The “hippies” of the 1960s had many effects on the American society. The visual appearance and lifestyle of the hippies were in sharp contrast to the conservative nature of the older generation, which defined them as a counterculture. The hippie lifestyle was based on free love, rock music, shared property, and drug experimentation. They introduced a new perspective on drugs, freedom of expression, appearance, music, attitudes toward work, and held a much more liberal political view than mainstream society.

For the first time in American history, a large population of people of all ages, classes, and races came together to challenge the traditional institutions, traditional values in society, and "the establishment" in general. Youth, women, ethnic minorities, environmentalists, migrant workers and others caused the emergence of the counter culture. This cultural movement from 1960 to 1973 was caused by many factors. This era was one that was filled with many important events that shaped the way that Americans viewed life. Those who were unhappy with what was going on around them and took part in this social phenomenon reflected and demonstrated their attitudes, values, and ideals in many ways. Various things from

From the late 1950s to the late 1970s a phenomenon erupted over the United States. A proud counter culture was born in the midst of the Vietnam War. Many people protested against the Vietnam War and the horrors that many people saw on TV because of it. Many incidents triggered the Anti-War movement and the Hippie counter culture such as the growing United States involvement in Southern Vietnam, the gruesome images that the evening news showed uncensored, the draft that caused many thousands of men to lose their lives and their minds as the end result of the war. This war triggered a great sense of what is right and wrong in specifically young people. Social justice and moral justice were some of the main focal points of the Anti-War and Hippie movements. This war allowed teenagers and young adults to have power in what they believe in and to stand up against unjust killings of our men and innocent lives in Vietnam. The eighteen-year span of the war from 1956 -1975 saw the rise and eventually the fall of the anti-war movement and the hippie movement.

The 1960's was a decade of tremendous social and political upheaval. In the United States, many movements occurred by groups of people seeking to make positive changes in society.