The Home front in the 60’s
and 70’s
Modern US History
Unit 4 Cold War
May 7-8th, 2011
 The children that grew up in the
conformist society of the 1950’s became
college students in the 1960’s. The 60’s
were a time of breaking away from the
mainstream culture and rebelling against
everything that came before.
Music & the Counterculture
 Many young people in
America during the 60’s
believed that the United
States had become a
cold and cruel place.
They decided they had
to break way from their
established worlds and
create their own idyllic
way of living in what
became known as the
Age of Aquarius.
Music & the Counterculture
 Members of this
counterculture, called
hippies, wanted to live in a
setting of peace, love and
harmony. Their existence
involved three main things
– rock’n’roll music,
outrageous clothing and
the liberal use of drugs.
Many left their homes to
live in the streets, parks or
communes.
Music & the Counterculture
 The idea behind the hippie culture was to
‘do your own thing’ and to express yourself
in new ways. In different areas around the
country, particularly Greenwich Village in
NYC and the Haight-Ashbury district in SF,
large populations of hippies lived together
in harmony – at least for a while. One of
the most common ways that they
expressed themselves was through music.
Music & the Counterculture
 The rock’n’roll of the
1950’s had melded into
the mainstream by the
1960’s, and had
become the anthem for
the 60’s generation that
would challenge “the
establishment”. Several
artists are iconic of the
1960’s including The
Beatles, The Rolling
Stones, Janis Joplin and
Jimi Hendrix.
Music & the Counterculture
Music & the Counterculture
 One of the most
dramatic examples of
rock’n’roll’s popularity
and importance in the
counterculture was a
free music festival that
took place in upstate
New York called
“Woodstock Music and
Art Fair, and Aquarian
Exposition.”
Music & the Counterculture
 At this farm nearly
400,000 young people
spent three days and
nights listening to almost
non-stop music. Artists
such as Jimi Hendrix, Joe
Cocker, The Who and
the Grateful Dead
performed. Despite the
crowd, the festival was
actually peaceful and
surprisingly well
organized.
Protest Movements
 Keep in mind that during this time, the fight
for Civil Rights for African Americans was
also occurring. College students that had
been involved in the struggle for civil rights,
returned to their campuses and began
protesting their own lack of freedom of
speech. This soon took the form of sit-ins,
where the students took over the
administration building and refused to
move until their demands were met.
Protest Movements
 The government could
not ignore what was
happening in America
and President Johnson
began a new plan to
conquer poverty, which
he named his plan for A
Great Society. Johnson
did not budge on the
issue that many young
people were protesting,
though – the Vietnam
War.
Protest Movements
 As the war
progressed, more
protesters took to the
streets and began to
burn their draft cards
in protest of the war.
These actions forever
altered the role of
America’s youth in
society.
Protest Movements
 These protests
continued
throughout the late
1960’s, until the end
of the Vietnam War
in 1971. The most
disastrous of these
protests however,
took place at Kent
State University in
Ohio.
Protest Movements
 A large student protest led to the burning
of the ROTC building on campus in protest
of the Invasion of Cambodia. In response
the mayor of the town called in the Ohio
National Guard to protect the campus.
On May 4th, 1970 the guards fired into a
crowd of protestors who were hurling rocks
at them. Nine people were injured and
four were killed.
Protest Movements
Protest Movements
 Shortly following the Kent State shootings, a
similar incident occurred at an all-black
college in Alabama, where two more
students were killed during an anti-war
demonstration. These shootings prompted a
debate amongst Americans about the use
of force in controlling such demonstrations.
Polls showed that many Americans
supported the National Guard saying that
students “got what they were asking for.”
Nixon & Watergate
 As we saw in our documentary on the
Vietnam War, Johnson was not everyone’s
favorite president. So in 1968, after a short
political hiatus, Richard Nixon was
nominated by the Republican Party as their
candidate for president. Nixon
campaigned on the promise to restore law
and order, but most importantly, to end the
Vietnam War, which led him to win the
election.
Nixon & Watergate
 Although Nixon was
very accomplished
during his time as the
President of the United
States, most remember
him not for his foreign
policy, but for the
scandal that caused
him to resign halfway
through his second
term.
Nixon & Watergate
 The Watergate Scandal
was essentially the
product of Nixon’s own
paranoia. The scandal
centers on the
administration’s attempt
to cover up a burglary at
the Democratic National
Committee
headquarters at the
Watergate apartment
complex in DC.
Nixon & Watergate
 Five men were arrested in connection to
the burglary. These men were part of a
group called the plumbers – these men
were charged with ensuring that there
were no political leaks to the media. At
this point the cover up begins – including
asking the FBI to stop their investigation
and paying nearly half a million dollars to
the Watergate burglars for their silence.
Nixon & Watergate
 The burglars went to trial and were convicted.
After only three months in prison however the
first man broke and confessed that others in
the Nixon administration were involved. At this
point the Senate convenes their own
investigation of the matter, which yields some
startling revelations.
Nixon & Watergate
 The most important
was the existence of
tape recordings of
almost all of Nixon’s
conversations within
the Oval Office. It was
not until a year
following this
revelation that the
tapes were released –
they were however
edited.
Nixon & Watergate
 Despite the missing
sections, the House
Judiciary Committee
determined their was
enough evidence to
impeach the
president. On August
8th, 1974, Nixon
announced his
resignation from office.
The Feminist Movement
 Unlike the protest
movement of the
1960’s, the Women’s
Liberation Movement
lasted well into the
1970’s. The theory
behind the movement
was feminism, which is
the belief that women
should have economic,
political and social
equality with men.
The Feminist Movement
 By the middle of the 1960’s nearly
40% of women worked outside the
home and represented nearly 1/3 of
the work force. They were however
experiencing extreme job and wage
discrimination. Many jobs were
considered ‘men’s work’ and so
women were not allowed to apply.
The Feminist Movement
 Women were expected to
work primarily as teachers,
secretaries, social workers,
nurses or in retail. President
Kennedy appointed a
special commission to
report on women in the
workplace – only to find
that women were paid far
less than men for the same
jobs, and were often not
promoted to management
positions.
The Feminist Movement
 In the organization of
antiwar and civil
rights protests,
women also felt their
inferior status, as it
was predominately
men who organized
these events and
would assign women
to lesser roles
The Feminist Movement
 These issues caused
women to form small
groups to discuss their
concerns. Through these
meetings, women
realized that their
experiences were not
unique, but rather
reflected a pattern of
sexism and
discrimination against
women in the United
States.
The Feminist Movement
 One of the most influential texts of the
early onset of the movement was The
Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. This
book set out the discontent of women
across the country and feelings of being
unfulfilled that were experienced by many
housewives. As the movement began to
grow, leaders realized that they must first
gain constitutional equality before
attacking the social injustices.
The Feminist Movement
 In 1966, several
women, including
Friedan,
established the
National
Organization for
Women (NOW), in
order to more
actively advocate
for women’s rights.
The Feminist Movement
 NOW pushed for less
discrimination in the
workforce, an increase
in educational
opportunities for
women and resources
for mothers such as
childcare. Within the
first three years the
membership of NOW
went from 300 to
175,000.
The Feminist Movement
 Journalist Gloria Steinem,
also helped to establish a
group called the National
Women’s Political Caucus,
which encouraged
women to enter politics.
Steinem became a
prominent figure in the
feminist movement, most
notably for creating the
feminist publication Ms.
Magazine.
The Feminist Movement
 The women’s liberation
movement helped to
push legislation
through congress that
banned gender
discrimination in any
educational program
or activities receiving
federal financial
assistance – this is
known as Title IX.
The Feminist Movement
 One issue that
created a great
amount of
controversy during
the movement
however was a
women’s right to
have an abortion.
The Feminist Movement
 NOW and other feminist groups
supported Jane Roe in her claim
that a woman’s right to an abortion
is protected under the 14th
amendment. In the landmark case,
Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court
ruled that women had the right to
choose an abortion during the first
three months of pregnancy.