Joann N.

asked • 05/01/20

A Time of Upheaval

Some historians have defined the historical period of the 1960s and 1970s as a watershed moment in US history because it represents critical change. The emergence of movements for equality, well-organized political activist youth culture, and a counterculture that rebelled against established norms in society are all factors that highlight this change. Is there a single person or event you think exemplifies the changing US society of the 1960s and 1970s?Explain your choice and why you chose it. or. explain why you think no single person or event exemplifies this period. Then, name an event that you think illustrates the changing perceptions of authority within the United States in the 1960s and 1970s and explain your reasoning.

Ron L.

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Joann, the 1960s followed a decade of men returning in victory from two theaters of war, marrying and raising families in a relatively peaceful and prosperous time in the 50s. As the resultant progeny came of age in the 60s, they faced one trauma after another beginning with the Cuban missile crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy and then the subsequent assassinations of Robert Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King and others national figures causing social upheaval. Permeating through all of this domestic violence and disillusionment with government and its authority was our involvement with the Vietnam conflict. Never officially declared a “war”, Vietnam revealed how the political/industrial complex, what we now call the “swamp”, engineered an ongoing war that began with the proper intention of defending ourselves and the world from Communist Imperialism. Taking decisive power from the military, It degenerated into a politically controlled controversy, drafting the already traumatized youth of the Baby Boomer generation into a mismanaged fighting fiasco. This generated much anti-war sentiment in the youthful compatriots still at home and going to universities, which erupted in violent demonstrations against governmental authorities, and the police taking orders from them. In this cauldron of disillusionment and fear there developed a new escapist trend of drugs, protest music, and sexual licentious that changed the culture as it was known. But a spiritual revolution was also happening concurrently to this social upheaval with a new relevance brought to Christianity through the Jesus People movement and believers rediscovering the Gospel and subsequent power gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. More than any spiritual revelation, this turn of events brought more hope and life to this confusing and violent trend of American society and acted as a kind of positive leaven to the zeitgeist of this era into the 70s and beyond.
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05/20/20

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Michael G. answered • 05/20/20

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Interesting essay question. You will want to look into the Civil Rights era and who is most remembered. Civil Rights leaders such as Dr Martin Luther King were the most far-reaching. So look into MLK and his major speeches and “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. You can write something around those

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