1. THE NEW LEFT AND THE COUNTERCULTURE

2. The New Left
The New Left : Left wing movements in the 1960s and 1970s.
Demanded changes in American society
Social Activism
"New Left" :: anti-war/college protests, Hippie Movement, Peace movement

3. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Founded by Tom Hayden & Al Haber at University of Michigan
corporations have too much power in government
Port Huron Statement, Dedicated to “Participatory Democracy”
Major protest years:
"We would replace power rooted in possession, privilege, or circumstance, with power rooted in love, reflectiveness, reason, and creativity." -SDS, "Port Huron Statement“

4. Free Speech Movement
Seeks to reform campus life. Pursues free speech on campus
Centred in California at the University of California - Berkeley

5. Opposition to Vietnam Saw war as… Having no strategic goal
Morally unjust
Draining American resources
1968 US spent
$322,000 for every 1 communist killed
$53 per person in poverty programs in the US

6. 1968: Year of Rage Columbia University: student protest.
Chicago Democratic Convention: Anti-war demonstrations. Clashed with police all around the convention center
Battle of the streets- television redirected attention away from the convention to the protests outside

7. 1968: Year of Rage
CBS News Anchorman Walter Cronkite goes to Vietnam – Reports that the war is unwinnable; “Honorable Peace”
Known as the “most trusted man in America.”

8. Assassinations: King & Kennedy
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968,  Robert Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan
James Earl Ray shot King on April 4th, 1968

9. The Nation Divides Who is fighting?
80% from lower economic levels - DRAFT
Hawks & Doves
Hawks: more force to win the war – stop Com
Doves: US should withdraw
Students for a Democratic Society
Tom Hayden – teach-ins
Demonstrations – burn draft cards
New Left – liberals who want to
reform society. . . Election of 1968???

10. Kent State Massacre
Kent State University (Ohio) – May 4, 1970 – The Ohio National Guard clashed with student protesters on campus.
The Ntn’l Guard shot at protesters, killing 4 and wounding 9.

11. The New Left Radicalizes
The Weather Underground or the Weathermen.– split off from the SDS
Advocated violence, even bombings
Bombed mainly government buildings.

12. Other Movements: Feminism
Women’s Rights Movement was called Feminism
Demands "women's liberation." :equal pay, equal rights, freedom to plan their families
Betty Friedan -- The Feminine Mystique (1957)
Addressed dissatisfaction with the status quo of the 1950s
“the problem that has no name”

13. Feminism & Sexual Revolution
An important aspect of Feminism for women was control of their sexuality and reproduction.
The Birth Control Pill -1960
Revolutionary change for women’s sexuality
Women could own their sexuality because they could control reproduction for the first time
Griswold v. Connecticut – Overturned Connecticut law that prohibited use of contraceptives.
Roe v. Wade – 1973 –Supreme Court found that women had the right to choose to have an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.
States could not prevent this practice.

14. Gay Rights/Liberation Movement
Starting point is the Stonewall Riots 1969
Transgender, lesbian and gay male patrons at the Stonewall Inn (bar) resisted a police raid on June 28, 1969.
The riots that Stonewall provided a rallying point for the movement

15. Significance of The New Left
The antiwar protest led to the abolishment of the military draft.
The War Powers Act of 1973 that curbed the President’s power
Contributed to the public’s suspicious view of the government

16. The Counterculture Counterculture-
made up of mostly white, middle-class college youths
Wanted to establish a new culture based on love and peace.
Throughout the mid- and late sixties tens of thousands of idealistic youth left school, work, or home  seeking a perfect community of ‘love, peace, and harmony’

17. Counterculture Counterculture
A. Pursuit of altered states of consciousness and unconventional lifestyles

18. “Turn on, Tune in, Drop out”
The Hippie Movement, most commonly associated with the counter culture was less politically engaged and less activist than the New Left.

19. Counterculture Drugs were central to the counterculture
1. Influenced by the Beat movement
2. Timothy Leary encouraged experimentation with LSD. Famous for saying “turn on, tune itn, drop out”

20. Summer of Love 1967
100,000 people converged in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco
cultural and political rebellion
A social experiment due to alternative lifestyles
Communal living
Communal sharing of resources (even among strangers)
Free love

21. Woodstock and Altamont
Woodstock: August 1969.
Exemplified the counterculture
Thirty-two of the best-known musicians of the day appeared
500,000 attended
No major incidents of crime or violence.
victory for peace and love.

22. Altamont Altamont: December 1969
300,000 people attended
“Woodstock West."
marred by considerable violence, including one homicide and three accidental deaths

23. Music
Music played an important role in the youth movements of the 1960s.
Bands and artists style varied from
Early folk of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Phil Ochs
Blues Rock & Roll of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Rolling Stones, the Who, to the harder edge of the MC5 (Motor City 5).

24. Music . Shifts in popular music mirror shifts in 1960s youth culture
1. Early-decade social engagement (Bob Dylan, "Blowin' in the Wind")
2. To the pop oriented Beatlemania in 1964
3. Finally to "sex and drugs and rock'n'roll” of Joplin, Rolling Stones, etc.

25. Music The music reflected and projected the values of the era.
Often based in the blues tradition
Lyrically many bands described open lifestyles (Rolling Stones, Joplin, Hendrix)
Others had clear political and social messages (Dylan, Baez, Ochs, MC5).

26. Legacy?
As the “Sixties” ended the youth movements left America with what some would call more social freedom.
Dress, appearance, lifestyle, and social behavior all changed.
While some Americans found it liberating, others, particularly on the political Right view(ed) the 1960s movements as the beginning of moral decay in the country

27. Blowin in the Wind
YES, 'N' HOW MANY YEARS CAN SOME PEOPLE EXIST BEFORE THEY'RE ALLOWED TO BE FREE? YES, 'N' HOW MANY TIMES CAN A MAN TURN HIS HEAD, PRETENDING HE JUST DOESN'T SEE? THE ANSWER, MY FRIEND, IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND, THE ANSWER IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND.
HOW MANY TIMES MUST A MAN LOOK UP BEFORE HE CAN SEE THE SKY? YES, 'N' HOW MANY EARS MUST ONE MAN HAVE BEFORE HE CAN HEAR PEOPLE CRY? YES, 'N' HOW MANY DEATHS WILL IT TAKE TILL HE KNOWS THAT TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED? THE ANSWER, MY FRIEND, IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND
HOW MANY ROADS MUST A MAN WALK DOWN BEFORE YOU CALL HIM A MAN? YES, 'N' HOW MANY SEAS MUST A WHITE DOVE SAIL BEFORE SHE SLEEPS IN THE SAND? YES, 'N' HOW MANY TIMES MUST THE CANNON BALLS FLY BEFORE THEY'RE FOREVER BANNED? THE ANSWER, MY FRIEND, IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND, THE ANSWER IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND.
HOW MANY YEARS CAN A MOUNTAIN EXIST BEFORE IT'S WASHED TO THE SEA? WIND, THE ANSWER IS BLOWIN' IN THE WIND.

28. The Times They Are-A Changin’
Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin'. For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don't criticize What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin'. Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin'. And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'

29. American Indian Movement (AIM)
Indian activists sought to show the oppression
Native American unemployment was 10 times the national average
1969 – Activists occupied Alcatraz Island for 18 months.