Many social changes that were addressed in the 1960s are still the
issues being confronted today.  the '60s was a decade of social and
political upheaval.  in spite of all the turmoil, there were some positive
results:  the civil rights revolution, john f. Kennedy's bold vision of a
new frontier, and the breathtaking advances in space, helped bring about
progress and prosperity.  however, much was negative: student and anti-war
protest movements, political assassinations, and ghetto riots excited
american people and resulted in lack of respect for authority and the law.

     The decade began under the shadow of the cold war with the soviet
union, which was aggravated by the u-2 incident, the berlin wall, and the
cuban missile crisis, along with the space race with the ussr.

     The decade ended under the shadow of the viet nam war, which deeply
divided americans and their allies and damaged the country's
self-confidence and sense of purpose.

     Even if you weren't alive during the '60s, you know what they meant
when they said, "tune in, turn on, drop out."  you know why the nation
celebrates Martin luther king, jr.'s birthday.  all of the social issues
are reflected in today's society:  the civil rights movement, the student
movement, space exploration, the sexual revolution, the environment,
medicine and health, and fun and fashion.

                  The Civil Rights Movement

     The momentum of the previous decade's civil rights gains led by rev.
Martin luther king, jr.  carried over into the 1960s.  but for most blacks,
the tangible results were minimal.  only a minuscule percentage of black
children actually attended integrated schools, and in the south, "jim crow"
practices barred blacks from jobs and public places. New groups and goals
were formed, new tactics devised, to push forward for full equality.  as
often as not, white resistance resulted in violence.  this violence spilled
across tv screens nationwide.  the average, neutral american, after seeing
his/her tv screen, turned into a civil rights supporter.

     Black unity and white support continued to grow.  in 1962, with the
first large-scale public protest against racial discrimination, rev. Martin
luther king, jr. Gave a dramatic and inspirational speech in washington,
d.c. After a long march of thousands to the capital.  the possibility of
riot and bloodshed was always there, but the marchers took that chance so
that they could accept the responsibilities of first class citizens.  "the
negro," King said in this speech, "lives on a lonely island of poverty in
the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity and finds himself an exile
in his own land."  King continued stolidly:  "it would be fatal for the
nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the
determination of the negro.  this sweltering summer of the negro's
legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn
of freedom and equality."  when King came to the end of his prepared text,
he swept right on into an exhibition of impromptu oratory that was
catching, dramatic, and inspirational.

     "I have a dream," King cried out.  the crowd began cheering, but king,
never pausing, brought silence as he continued, "i have a dream that one
day on the red hills of georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of
former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of
brotherhood."

     "I have a dream," he went on, relentlessly shouting down the
thunderous swell of applause, "that even the state of mississippi, a state
sweltering with people's injustices, sweltering with the heat of
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.  i
have dream," cried King for the last time, "that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character."

     Everyone agreed the march was a success and they wanted action now!
but, now! remained a long way off.  president kennedy was never able to
mobilize sufficient support to pass a civil rights bill with teeth over the
opposition of segregationist southern members of congress.  but after his
assassination, president johnson, drawing on the kennedy legacy and on the
press coverage of civil rights marches and protests, succeeded where
kennedy had failed.

    However, by the summer of 1964, the black revolution had created its
own crisis of disappointed expectations.  rioting by urban blacks was to be
a feature of every "long, hot, summer" of the mid-1960s.

     In 1965, King and other black leaders wanted to push beyond social
integration, now guaranteed under the previous year's civil rights law, to
political rights, mainly southern blacks' rights to register and vote.
king picked a tough alabama town to tackle:  selma, where only 1% of
eligible black voters were registered to vote.  the violence, the march,
the excitement all contributed to the passage of the second landmark civil
rights act of the decade.  even though there was horrendous violence, rev.
king announced that as a "matter of conscience and in an attempt to arouse
the deepest concern of the nation," he was "compelled" to lead another
march from selma to montgomery, alabama.

     The four-day, 54-mile march started on the afternoon of sunday, march
21, 1965, with some 3500 marchers led by two nobel prizewinners, the rev.
Martin luther king, jr. And ralph bunche, then u.n. Under secretary for
special political affairs.  in the march, whites, negroes, clergymen and
beatniks, old and young, walked side by side.  president johnson made sure
they had plenty of protection this time with 1000 military police, 1900
federalized alabama national guardsmen, and platoons of u.s. Marshals and
fbi men.

     When the marchers reached the capital of alabama, they were to have
presented a petition to then governor george wallace protesting voting
discrimination.  however, when they arrived, the governor's aides came out
and said, "the capital is closed today."

     About this same time, the term, "black power" was coming into use.  it
was meant to infer long-submerged racial pride in negroes.  Martin luther
king, jr. Specifically sought to rebut the evangelists of black power.  "it
is absolutely necessary for the negro to gain power, but the term black
power is unfortunate, because it tends to give the impression of black
nationalism.  we must never seek power exclusively for the negro, but the
sharing of power with white people," he said.

     Unfortunately, the thing that really moved the civil rights movement
along significantly was the murder of rev. Martin luther king, jr. In late
1965.  cruelty replaced harmony with nightmarish suddenness.  rioting mobs
in the negro suburb of watts, california, pillaged, burned and killed,
while 500 policemen and 5000 national guardsmen struggled in vain to
contain their fury.  hour after hour, the toll mounted: 27 dead at the
week's end, nearly 600 injured, 1700 arrested, and property damage well
over $100 million.

     The good that came out of all of this, is that thousands of negroes
were flocking to register in the nine counties in alabama, louisiana, and
mississippi where the government posted federal examiners to uphold the
voting law.  in four days, 6,998 negro voters were added to the rolls in
counties where there had previously been only 3,857.

     In that time of sorrow and guilt when King was murdered, there was an
opening for peace between the races that might otherwise never have
presented itself.  president johnson pleaded, "i ask every citizen to
reject the blind violence that has struck dr. King."  he went on to say
that to bring meaning to his death, we must be determined to strike
forcefully at the consciences of all americans in order to wrest from
tragedy and trauma, the will to make a better society.

                     The Student Movement

     Americans who were young in the 1960s influenced the course of the
decade as no group had before.  the motto of the time was "don't trust
anyone over 30."  another, "tell it like it is," conveyed a real mistrust
of what they considered adult deviousness.

     Youthful americans were outraged by the intolerance of their
universities, racial inequality, social injustice, the viet nam war, and
the economic and political constraints of everyday life and work.  one
group that formed during this time was s.d.s. (students for a democratic
society).  opposed to "imperialism," racism, and oppression, the s.d.s.
found the american university guilty of all three.  they did do some good
at the beginning like organizing northern ghetto dwellers in projects such
as chicago's jobs or income, now (join).  but the viet nam war led to a
change in their tactics.  they became an independent radical force against
society.  the deluge of disorders made it harder and harder for most
americans to keep events in perspective.  they tended to forget that most
of the nation's 6,700,000 collegians were studying hard at school and not
causing trouble.  an underlying pattern emerged in the american university.
the university suddenly became a political arena.  the students wanted to
address the national problems of war, race, and poverty.  as a result, the
university lost some of its neutrality.  students created a new u.s.
institution:  the political university.

     However, another element among youths was also emerging. They were
called hippies.  this movement marked another response to the decade as the
young experimented with music, clothes, drugs, and a "counter-culture"
lifestyle.  in 1967, hippies preached altruism and mysticism, honesty, joy
and nonviolence.  they had a child-like fascination for beads, blossoms,
and bells, strobe lights, ear-shattering music, exotic clothing and erotic
slogans.  they wanted to profess "flower power" and love.  they were
predominantly white, middle-class, educated youths, ranging in age from 17
to 25. Perhaps the most striking thing about the hippie phenomenon, is the
way it touched the imagination of the "straight" society.  hippie slang
entered common usage and spiced american humor.  boutiques sprang up in
urban and suburban areas to sell the "psychedelic" color clothes and
designs that resembled art nouveau.

     A major development in the hippie world was the "rural community,"
where nature-loving hippie "tribesmen" escaped the commercialism of the
cities in an attempt to build a society outside of society.  another
development was the illicit use of drugs, creating the slogan, "tune in,
turn on, drop out."  "better living through chemistry" was another
advertising slogan that was a sly joke to the young, but a real worry to
their parents.

     Marijuana (pot, grass, mary jane, weed)  was their favorite
preparation.  however, some were smoking hash, taking mescaline, peyote,
lsd, barbiturates and sedatives. The list goes on and on.  and it was only
the beginning. Drug use was everywhere.  rock musicians used drugs
frequently and openly.  their compositions were riddled with references to
drugs, from the beatles' "i get high with a little help from my friends" to
the jefferson airplane's "white rabbit."

                      Space Exploration

     At the end of 1968, americans became the first human beings to reach
the moon.  seven months later, they were the first to actually walk on the
moon.  their telecast gave earthbound viewers an unforgettable view of the
moon. Astronaut lovell reported, "the moon is essentially grey, no color.
we can see quite a bit of detail.  the craters are all rounded off."

     On christmas eve, the astronauts of apollo 8 (borman, lovell, and
anders) gave their best description of the moon in a most impressive
telecast.  "this is apollo 8 coming to you live from the moon," reported
borman, focusing his camera on the lunar surface.  "the moon is a different
thing to each of us," said borman.  "my impression is that it's a vast,
lonely, forbidding-type existence......it certainly would not be a very
inviting place to live or work."

     Lovell agreed, but added, "the vast loneliness up here is
awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on
earth."

     In apollo 11, the astronauts landed on the moon on july 25, 1969.
astronaut neil armstrong called out the word everyone was waiting
for......."houston," he called. "tranquility base here.  the eagle has
landed."  all of america was on the edge of their seats.  it was a very
exciting time; cheers, tears and frantic applause went up around the
nation.

     "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," became
the watchword when u.s. Astronaut armstrong said this as he placed his foot
firmly on the fine-grained surface of the moon.  after centuries of dreams
and prophecies, the moment had come.  man broke his terrestrial shackles
and set foot on another world.  the new view could help man place his
problems, as well as his world, in a new perspective. The Sexual Revolution

     The medical introduction of the "pill" changed the interaction between
the sexes dramatically in 1964. Americans discovered that the freedom from
fear of unwanted pregnancy went hand in hand with other kinds of sexual
freedom.  it became an era in which morals were held to be both private and
relative, in which pleasure was being considered almost like a
constitutional right rather than a privilege, in which self-denial became
increasingly seen as foolish rather than virtuous.

     The "pill" is a tablet that contains as little as one
thirty-thousandth of an ounce of chemical.  it used to cost 1 1/4 cents to
manufacture and a month's supply sold for $2.00, retail.  yet, in a mere
six years, it changed and liberated the sex and family life of a large
segment of the u.s. Population.  did the convenient contraceptive promote
promiscuity?  are americans paying the price today for the decline in
morals and values?

                       The Environment

     A book written by rachel carson, silent spring, earned her a
reputation not only as a competent marine biologist, but as a gifted
writer.  the villains in silent spring are chemical pesticides, against
which miss carson took up her pen in alarm and anger.  many readers were
firmly convinced that most of the u.s. Was already laced with poison that
would soon start taking a dreadful toll.  the only way to fix the situation
was to stop using chemical pesticides and let the "balance of nature" take
care of the insects.

     Another "activist" of the day was lady bird johnson, president
johnson's wife.  she envisioned beautification all over america.  she is
generally credited with inspiring the highway beautification act of 1965.

     This is the decade when scientists were becoming more vocal about the
ozone layer, pollution, and smoking cigarettes.  americans became aware of
the dangers they encountered everyday and would perhaps hand down to their
children.  the federal communications commission voted 6 to 1 to ban
cigarette advertising on radio and tv.  eventually, with congressional
approval, cigarette packages had a new warning on them:  "caution:
cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health."

                     Medicine and Health

     Mistakes made in the past caused great social and health problems to
children around the world when it was discovered that using a tranquilizer
called thalidomide caused severe birth defects.  babies were born with
hands and feet like flippers, attached close to the body with little or no
arm or leg.  as results of using thalidomide became apparent, every
compound drug containing thalidomide was taken off the market.