re: 1960s history question

never seen a source LBJ said that. why not stick to the things he has been confirmed to say, which are WAAAAAAY worse than that.

Hard to say, but I would think that a lot of what happened was as a result of and response to the sleepy time after WWII and the Eisenhower administration that accomplished much but was very low key.

I turned 9 in 1960 and 18 in 1969, so I remember the times. As a kid it was scary. We had the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962 and thought that we would be involved in a nuclear war. I remember as a kid at Our Lady of Good Counsel elementary school on Staten Island listening to transistor radio during lunch wondering if the Soviets were going to try to run the blockade JFK had ordered. We had Khrushchev telling us "We will bury you!". We had the assassinations of JFK, RFK, MLK. We watched people being shot as they tried to scale the Berlin Wall. We had numerous hijackings of airliners to Cuba. We started sending more "advisors" to a far away land called Viet Nam, which would result in the death of more than 50,000 young American soldiers, sailors, marines and air force service members and injuries to countless more - a conflict that still divides much of the country.

The drug culture came into vogue in the mid to late 60s. A lot of this went hand in hand with the political culture in the country. Young people were in open revolt against the establishment. There were not just the hippies who wanted to "turn on, tune in, and drop out", there were the radicals such as the SDS and others who rioted at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago (leading to a great song by CSN, Chicago that starts, "This is a song for Mayor Daley"). Those same people (or their ilk) were at Kent State University a couple of years later.

The music was the best. I still listen to it. I love the Beatles and MoTown. The British Invasion and MoTown, along with American groups such as The Beach Boys, were the mark of our music. Of course ones taste in music is subjective, but for my money, the music of the mid 60s through the mid 70s is the best. Like them or not, the Beatles revolutionized the sound and the performance.

The 60s saw the growth of the Civil Rights movement. It was revolutionary.

Even in the Roman Catholic Church there was change. Vatican II came to pass in the 60s.

I do not think that we can point to one incident or event when we talk about change in the 60s, it was a change in everything.

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American society underwent a change in the 60s. The changes are well known and some of the same forces are still at play. You can easily see a reflection of these changes in, for example,the way the Beatles looked in the early 60s and the way they looked later in the decade (fashion in general), and on and on. Many say "Vietnam" and "baby boom." What do you think was the most significant force that caused the change that characterizes the 1960s?

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This is the most general statement and question I think I've ever read. It sounds like something I would write on an exam if I didn't know a fricking thing that I studied and was trying to bullshite something.

Either that, or it is an essay question and the professor is leaving it up to interpretation

I just want to hear people's thoughts on what made the 60s the 60s. If you don't like it, kindly frick off. And at the same time, I don't care what you think.

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So many factors: civil rights, rock and roll music, JFK, threat of nuclear war, technological advances (many making the world seem smaller, such as the airline industry), etc.

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You're on the right track here. Don't forget the late 50's and 60's Space Race technology "boom".

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But I think the number one underrated cause was the addition of television to the vast majority of homes. Yes, that started in the 1950's, but the medium took some time to develop and get enmeshed in society. The teenagers of late 1960's had been watching tv since they were born - the first generation to do so.

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Still on the right track. TV was 2 factors in 1 really.

1) Widespread Information nearly instantly with the addition of TV satellites.

2) Couple the availability of information televised across the nation as it was happening with a previously foreign concept to most of America: Leisure Time.

Without the time to take in all the information available through technology, the info would be wasted. Prior to WWII there was very little leisure time. The technology of and after the war brought about free time where people could pursue activities on a regular basis that appealed to their individual natures. Labor saving devices/tech brought about a "personal enlightenment" if you will.

This is somewhat similar to what is happening now with the internet at everyone's fingertips with cell phones coupled with the decade long economic downturn. Teenagers still really cannot get stable jobs due to adults having to take "starter" jobs leaving both teens and young adults the time to take in information, process it, and then have the time on their hands to act.

Fact: The civil rights movement and hippie counterculture was the result of deliberate communist/soviet subversion exercises.

American law recognized black people were human beings?

2 pages in and no mention of LSD?

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Leisure Time.

Without the time to take in all the information available through technology, the info would be wasted. Prior to WWII there was very little leisure time. The technology of and after the war brought about free time where people could pursue activities on a regular basis that appealed to their individual natures. Labor saving devices/tech brought about a "personal enlightenment" if you will.

This is somewhat similar to what is happening now with the internet at everyone's fingertips with cell phones coupled with the decade long economic downturn. Teenagers still really cannot get stable jobs due to adults having to take "starter" jobs leaving both teens and young adults the time to take in information, process it, and then have the time on their hands to act.

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I think this is a big part of it. By the late 50's and into the 60's, nearly every home had a TV, electric or gas washer and dryer, and many had electric dishwashers, coffee makers, blenders, stoves and ovens, etc.

Most of these appliances came as a result of research / manufacturing during WWII. After the war ended, the manufacturers had to turn to the domestic market, since the military was downsizing.

This perceived need for these consumer goods is what got people back to work (like Don Draper, LOL).

The resulting leisure time is what gave us many of our social problems. People now had time to drink, do drugs, have more sex, and be dissatisfied with the news coming over the radio or TV.

Very interesting time, indeed.

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So many factors: civil rights, rock and roll music, JFK, threat of nuclear war, technological advances (many making the world seem smaller, such as the airline industry), etc.

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...and more. I was there. To pick out one is impossible.