Ali A. answered • 05/04/20
Harvard Graduate Experienced Tutor
To begin, let's look at some historical context:
The 1960's were defined by protest on many fronts, principally with the civil rights movement. The decade also featured historic moments in politics from the the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, to the Stonewall Rebellion, and the Vietnam War. The transition between the two decades was highlighted by the emergence of the “peace-and-love” generation during the 1969 “Summer of Love,” which was characterized by the Woodstock music festival. The 1970s saw the antiwar movement as well as the Nixon presidency--adorned with the inflection point of the Watergate scandal. While some suggest the most significant moment of these two decades must be political or representative of major social movements—one must not forget the radical shifts in youth culture from the British Invasion to the popularization of Rock and Roll in the U.S. to the free love movement and beyond.
This is a long way of saying: In order to answer this question, you have to pick which aspect of American life you feel is most important to you.
For Example:
If that area is politics, the choice could be Nixon’s rise from Vice President to failed presidential nominee to president to reelection to Watergate disgrace. One might also select Martin Luther King Jr. because even though his death in 1968 may have physically removed him from the social climate, his impact was substantial in the 1970s and beyond. Another choice could be President John F. Kennedy—one could argue that his death was a defining moment in American history and the fallout from his assassination characterized much of the next twenty years.
If the area you feel is most important is pop culture, you might choose the Beatles (or John Lennon)—charting the British Invasion and their musical transitions from 1960-1970 as well as his cultural impact on the world through peaceful protests as the Beatles broke up and his life after the Beatles from 1969 to his death in 1980.
One could even explore the radical change in hairstyles via celebrities like Farrah Fawcett—from the beehive to the hippie look to the feathered look—citing how her hairstyles influenced the youth of the day and how the tension of each hairstyle mirrored the tensions of the times. The reformed and well kept beehive gave way to the rebellious chaos of the hippie look and finally to the outward bending freedom of the feathered look. A bit of a stretch? Perhaps, but an argument is there to be made from any viewpoint, no matter how unique. The sky is the limit!
As you can see, there are many possible routes for this paragraph to take—so many right answers to be explored.
The first question to answer is: what part of society most interests you—pop culture, politics, fashion?
Once you have answered that question, we can easily work from there.
