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Of the 1960s
Thesis
During the 1960s, as a result of the Vietnam War,
rising tensions of the Cold War, and an increase in
educational awareness, a counterculture emerged in
the United States, influencing society and creating a
new social atmosphere.
What Was it?
Counterculture is a culture
with values and mores that run
counter to those of established
society . (Merriam-Webster
Dictionary)
The counterculture of the
1960s rejected the
conventional social norms of
the 1950s.
Counterculture youth rejected
the cultural standards of their
elders, especially racial
segregation and the Vietnam
War.
Who Was it?
Called Hippies
Mostly white,
middle-class youth
Had the time to turn
their attention to
social issues.
Main Events of the 1960sRelating to
the Counterculture
1960- Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) founded.
1960- Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) founded.
1960- Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
1960- Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert (advocates of psychedelic drug research) begin experimenting with
psychedelic drugs.
1961-United States Starts underground nuclear testing.
1962- SDS issues and adopts the Port Huron Statement.
1962- Timothy Leary founds International Foundation for Internal Freedom (IFIF) to promote LSD research as well
as publish The Psychedelic Review.
1963- The Battle of Ap Bac in South Vietnam .
1963- President Kennedy proposes the Civil Rights Bill
1963- The March for Jobs and Freedom or more commonly known as the March on Washington attracts over
200,000 people to Washington, D.C. With the people concentrated around the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther
King Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
1963- Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert, and other Harvard alumni LSD researchers move to the Hitchcock's estate in
Millbrook, New York to continue their research into psychedelics.
1963- President Kennedy is assassinated.
1963- President Johnson escalates American's military involvement in the Vietnam War.
1963- The Beatles release "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which becomes a huge hit and a success in America.
Main Events (Continued)
1964- Congress passes the landmark Civil Rights Act.
1964- President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, making segregation in public facilities and
discrimination in employment illegal.
1964- Free Speech Movement at the University of California in Berkley.
1964- Beatles first tour of the United States helps make them the most popular musical group in the English
speaking world.
1965- U.S. starts bombing North Vietnam.
1965- Owsley starts LSD factory, making large quantities of acid available for the first time.
1965- First American soldier officially sets foot on Vietnam battlefields, First U.S. combat troops begin fighting in
South Vietnam.
1965- Blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a
police blockade.
1965- 25,000 U.S. troops stationed in Vietnam.
1965- Congress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote.
Literacy tests and other such requirements that tended to restrict black voting become illegal.
1965- Burning draft cards becomes an illegal and punishable act. Burning draft cards had become a popular
protest method against the war.
1965- San Francisco writer Michael Fallon applies the term "hippie" to the San Francisco counterculture in an
article about the Blue Unicorn coffeehouse where LEMAR (Legalize Marijuana) & the Sexual Freedom League
meet, and hippie houses.
Main Events (Continued)
1965- 100,000 anti-war protesters nationwide in 80 cities.
1965- Timothy Leary arrested for Marijuana at the Mexican border.
1966- Anti-Vietnam war protests in NY bring out 25,000 on 5th Ave. Other protests in 7 US cities and 7
foreign cities.
1966- FBI releases file on LSD, the drug gets bad press.
1966- Sandoz stops supplying LSD to the researchers.
1966- There is an Antiwar demonstration in Washington D.C. with 10,000 protesters attending.
1966- The Walk for Love and Peace and Freedom in New York City takes place with 10,000 participants.
1967- US, USSR, UK sign treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
1967- A Scientist reports LSD causes chromosome damage however, it is never proven.
1967- Grayline starts tours of the hippie neighborhood of Haight/Ashbury.
1967- Martin Luther King Jr. begins to speak out against the war in Vietnam.
1967- Flower Power Day in NYC 1967.
1967- The number of US troops in Vietnam reaches 448,400.
1967- "Summer of Love" in San Francisco.
1967- The number of US troops in Vietnam reaches 486,000. 15,000 soldiers have been killed in the war
thus far, the majority, 60% died in 1967.
Main Events (Continued)
1967- "Stop the Draft" movement organized by 40 antiwar groups, nationwide protests ensue.
1968- Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive throughout South Vietnam turns most Americans
against Johnson's policy for war in Vietnam.
1968- Massacre of 200 - 500 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai.
1968- Robert F. Kennedy announces candidacy for President.
1968- Bombing halt in Vietnam.
1968- Martin Luther King shot and killed in Memphis at the age 39.
1968- The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs established (DEA) in response to growing drug culture
in the U.S.
1968- President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental,
and financing of housing.
1968- There is a major call-up of military reserves for duty in Vietnam.
1968- Start of Spring Mobilization against the Vietnam war.
1968- Robert Kennedy assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan moments after winning the California primary.
1968- There are 541,000 U.S. Troops in Vietnam.
1968- Richard Nixon elected President.
1969- There is a peak amount of 543,000 US troops in Vietnam.
Main Events (Continued)
1969- U.S. B-52s launch the biggest attack yet on North Vietnam. As a result there are protests around the
country.
1969- Hippies in People's Park in Berkeley attacked by police and National Guard.
1969- The Unites States' Apollo 11 lands on the moon, and Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon.
1969- WOODSTOCK Festival 500,000 people gathered for three days of music and peace that changed the
world.
1969- FBI reports 98% increase in marijuana arrests from 1966 1968.
1969- Ho Chi Min, leader of North Vietnam, dies.
1969- Declared Peace Day there are 500,000 protesters nationwide is the First Vietnam Moratorium.
1969- The Supreme Court orders desegregation nationwide
1969- The death and injury toll of US troops in Vietnam reaches over 100,000 US troops dead or injured in
Vietnam.
1969- First draft lottery since W.W.II held in NYC.
1969- Many student protests occurred during this time.
Timothy Leary
Appearance
Long hair, parted in the middle
Wire-rim color glasses
T-Shirt (with a band or tie dyed)
Small beads (Love Beads)
Headband
Worn-out jeans with patches sewn on them
Sandals or barefoot
Macram
Suede belts/purses
Fringe
Flower (in your hair)
Peace symbol
Bell-bottoms
Poncho
Halter tops (girls)
Very colorful
Resources
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009.
Merriam-Webster Online. 13 May 2009
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counterculture>
Eric Donald Hirsch. The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-
395-65597-8. (1993) p 419.
Mary Works Covington, "Rockin' At the Red Dog: The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock,"
2005.
http://www.ronaldreaganweb.com/thesixties/timeline.htm