1968: Counterculture Movement & Protests
OVERVIEW: 1968 is often described as one of the most eventful years in modern history. Over the course of this one
year the Vietnam War was at its height, protests and assassinations were on the news, peace signs, love-ins and
psychedelic rock were on the scene.
Vietnam War- Tet Offensive is launched
• The year 1968 began with a surprise attack by the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese army on numerous cities.
• Vietcong launched major attacks on over 100 cities and 12 U.S. air bases that lasted 1 month
• Militarily it was a defeat for the Vietcong by psychologically it was a defeat for the US
• The credibility gap increased as the US continued to lose.
• The American public was stunned
Credibility Gap
• When American troops first entered the Vietnam War, many Americans supported the military effort.
• As the war drag on, public support decreased.
• Americans began to question the government and believed a credibility gap had developed, making it difficult
to believe what the Johnson administration said about the war.
Doves vs Hawks
 By 1968 the nation seemed divided into two camps—the doves and the hawks.
 The doves wanted the United States to withdraw from the war
 Hawks felt the United States should stay and fight.
Tim Leary
 Dr. Timothy Leary was an early advocate of LSD experimentation. He taught psychology at Harvard university,
and by 1960 was experimenting with LSD and other hallucinogens. He coined the phrase "Turn On, Tune In,
and Drop Out," and formed the "League of Spiritual Discovery," an LSD advocacy group. In the mid sixties, he
began attending numerous musical events and public forums that promoted the use of LSD.
Hippie Commune
 Communes or group living arrangements in which members shared everything and worked together, were
formed as hippies dropped out of society.
Counterculture
 The counterculture, or hippies, were mostly white youths from middle- and upper-class backgrounds.
 lived a life that promoted flamboyant dress, rock music, drug use, and free and independent living.
 wanted to create their own society.
Hippies
• a society that was free, closer to nature
• rejected materialism, many embraced
•
full of love, empathy, tolerance, and
spirituality
cooperation.
• Long hair, Native American headbands, shabby
jeans, and drugs were common.
Haight & Ashbury
 One of the most popular hippie destinations was the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco.
Drug Use
• Drugs like marijuana and LSD were a big part of the hippie/counterculture movement.
• Using drugs made hippies feel like the were rebelling from mainstream society.
Hippie Decline
• The counterculture will eventually declined, as some hippie communities became a place where criminal activity
was common.
• Drug use declined as the excitement faded and as more young people became addicted or died from overdoses.
Johnson announced he will not run for re-election
 The antiwar movement gained momentum in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered massive U.S.
military intervention and the sustained bombing of North Vietnam.
The Youth Movement of the 1960s
Young activists began to challenged the American political and social system and conventional middle class values.
• 1.Peace and Prosperity
• 3.Civil Rights Movement
• 5.College Enrollment
• 2.Fear of Nuclear War
• 4.Baby Boom
King Assassinated
April 4 th Martin Luther King Jr is assassinated in Memphis Tennessee
• Shock and distress over the news of King’s death sparked rioting in more than 100 cities around the country,
including burning and looting.
• On April 11, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act.
Vietnam Veterans against the war
 Many of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, were in wheelchairs and on crutches and often participated in
anti-war rallies.
 The sight of these men on television throwing away the medals they had won during the war did much to win
people over to the anti-war cause.
The Draft
• Young protestors focused their attention on what they felt was an unfair draft system.
• Voting age was 21 but draft age was 18
• While college students could delay military service until graduation, those with low income and limited
education were called to serve.
• As a result, minorities, especially African Americans, were called to war.
•
Many draftees refused to serve. Others moved to Canada and other nations.
Draft by the Numbers
 1.85 million men were drafted for the Vietnam Conflict
th
26 Amendment
 In 1971 the 26 amendment to will be ratified which will lower the national voting age to 18 years old.
June 1968
 American Pop Artist Andy Warhol is shot
 James Earl Ray suspected MLK assassin is
arrested
 June 19868 Senator Robert Kennedy is shot
 Earl Warren Resigns
Berkeley has a history of being a campus of protest
• In the spring of 1965, "teach-ins" against the war were held on many college campuses.
• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized the first national antiwar demonstration in Washington;
20,000 people, mainly students, attended.
Origins of the Student Movement
• The economic boom of the 1950s led to a dramatic increase in college enrollment.
• College gave young people the opportunity to share their feelings and fears about the future with others.
UC Berkeley
• A group of activists at the University of California at Berkeley began the Free Speech Movement.
• The group, disgruntled by several practices at the university, staged a sit-in at the administration building
Freedom of Speech
• After some 700 protesters were arrested, a campus-wide strike stopped classes for two days.
• The administration gave in to the student’s demands, and the Supreme Court validated the student’s rights to
freedom of speech and assembly on campus.
The Berkeley revolt became the model for college demonstrations around the country.--Mario Savio
Nixon Nominated
• Richard M. Nixon is nominated for president on the first ballot of the Republican National Convention, beating
out California governor Ronald Reagan and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller.
• Later that day, Nixon chooses Maryland governor Spiro Agnew as his running mate.
• Nixon will also win the presidency during the 1968 November election
1968: Democratic National Convention in Chicago
• The Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago.
• In the days that follow, thousands of demonstrators take to the streets to protest the Vietnam War.
• Violent clashes occur between protesters and police.
Feminists protest Miss America pageant
• Outside the Miss America pageant on the Atlantic City boardwalk, feminist protesters crown a live sheep "Miss
America" and toss "instruments of female torture," such as bras, girdles, false eyelashes, and hair curlers, into a
"Freedom Trash Can."
Black Power salute at Olympic Games
• Tommie "Jet" Smith and John Carlos, medalists in the 200-meter sprint at the Olympic Games in Mexico City,
lower their heads and raise black-gloved fists during the playing of the national anthem, in protest of racism in
the United States. The gesture leads to them being stripped of their medals.
Year-end death toll in Vietnam
• By the year's end, the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam has reached the all-time peak of 549,000. The U.S. death
toll for 1968 is the highest yearly total in the war's history--nearly 17,000 soldiers killed in action.