Essay:
Tailored Pants to Bellbottoms:
The Impact of the Counterculture in the Sixties on Society
 

America had just saved the world, having defeated the Great Depression and the Axis Powers in World War II. National pride was at its peak. The Greatest Generation, born from the 1900s to the 1920s, had a heroic and honorable history, reinforcing patriotic values that swept the nation. Soldiers came home smiling with victory and many Americans found jobs again as a middle class was created. America was painting a picture of success, wealth, and pride. While America seemed to be on top of the world, something was missing. This was a success for only one demographic of people. A large portion of America’s society was left out, including women, Black Americans, and other minorities. They were not fully included in the Greatest Generation's heroic and honorable identity; if they were, no one knew. 

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The children of the Greatest Generation, as well as the silenced communities that wanted to be heard, knew that a change was necessary. The counterculture movement of the 1960s went against the social norms of the day and confronted ideas that had yet to be challenged. The counterculture was the growth of opposing values that went against conventional wisdom. In the Sixties, it manifested itself in the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam protests, the sexual revolution, the increase of drug use, and the unique music of the era. It was a movement of unpopular opinions coming into the light. The counterculture in the Sixties was a revolution of ideas that expanded the accepted concept of what it means to be American and broke away from the powerful but restrictive principles of the Greatest Generation. 

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After World War II, there was a desire to return to the old ways. The Greatest Generation celebrated America's success, but only celebrated the majority's success. Women, Black Americans, and other minorities were still being left behind. After working in factories and making money for their families, women were sent back to the kitchen once their husbands came back from the war. Racism only grew. Black soldiers came back from fighting for their country to face discrimination. 

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The counterculture took aim at “one of conservatives' favorite words: values. It was a repudiation of the blind obedience and reflexive cynicism of politics as usual” (“In Praise of the Counterculture”). There was a great deal of patriotism in the country and was almost unheard of to criticize the government. The older generation had grown up with ideas they thought of as common sense, whether they be religious ideas or family rules. Women stayed at home to take care of the children and the house. Young boys fought for their country when asked. White men were able to go more places and have nicer facilities than Black men. In the eyes of the Greatest Generation, these common ideas were not meant to be challenged. These ideas, however, left out the opinions of the minority. 

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In the mid to late 1950s, the first sparks of social justice protests started to emerge, as a desire to fight against these common ideas started to stir in Americans. Leaders like Rosa Parks, the Little Rock 9, and Martin Luther King Jr. started to create a wave of change to counter the discrimination against Black Americans. These big ideas were planted around the country and started to grow together to create a larger movement in the 1960s that ultimately made a common cause with anti-war protests and movements for gender equality. 

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The combined movements of the counterculture held a “clear, defiant voice of the dissenting citizen” (“In Praise of the Counterculture”). People knew that ideas were being suppressed. Protests snowballed against ideas that seemed at the time to be ingrained in what it meant to be an American. For example, the Greatest Generation’s victory in World War II was considered proof of America’s strength. When the potential for more war in Vietnam rose more than a decade later, a desire not to fight seemed like a lack of belief in America’s strength.  After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, there was a rush back to fight again, even if the war in Vietnam was unnecessary. Another example was the Civil Rights Movement. Black Americans were still not treated equally. There were different restrooms, water fountains, seats in restaurants, and more facilities that were segregated between White and Black. The Black facilities were in poor condition and often were broken or received no service. Martin Luther King Jr. helped spark a nationwide protest movement in response to these injustices. In 1965, the march from Selma to Montgomery was one of the most famous protests for civil rights. This protest helped register Black voters in the south so they could have a say in the country’s policies. Sadly, this peaceful protest was met with intense violence, but many proceeded to march (“Selma to Montgomery March”). 

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The protests of the Sixties were filled with many races, cultures, and ages who wanted to initiate change. Most of the counterculture protests were led by the young.  It was a “stylistic revolution accomplished by a new and younger avant-garde” (Kristol). It was mostly the younger generation who went against their parents/grandparents’ values and brought to light that not everyone's ideas were being considered. 

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The Sixties were a time of rock and roll, revolutions, and radicalized drug use.  While the older generation thought that the “hippies” were just a bunch of teenagers who were going against their parent’s values, they were actually protesting important ideas like racism and gender rights. When people describe the sixties, “words commonly used are ‘change’ and ‘revolutionary’” (“Unrest of 1960s”).  The bell-bottomed and longhaired crowd seemed to be uneducated about America’s values, but really their choice in clothes and intake of drugs symbolized something greater than just following the trends. It was breaking away from the tailored pants, crew cuts, and most importantly, the values that excluded many Americans. Young protesters knew that there were voices not being heard. The new generation was filled with “hippies, flower children, anti-war protesters, outlaws, revolutionaries, and rock stars” and they were “the counterculture era.” The Sixties were ripe with magic and young, brave, and confident people who wanted to stick up for what they believed in (“Robert Altman”). 

 

Some of the protests were regarded as disrespectful to the older generation because they were going against ideas that were thought of as values throughout the older generation’s lives. While some of these protests were coupled with the intake of new drugs, which brought a new way of thinking, the protests demonstrated free expression. The sexual revolution was perceived as a bunch of kids turning away from religion and rebelling against their parent’s values, but it was much more than that because it created a path to equality for many minorities and allowed more opinions to be heard. The sexual revolution opened up the door for women to have more control over their bodies. “The birth control pill ushered in the sexual revolution” and also gave women more rights to control their actions (“Turn on, tune in, have a bite”). The Sixties were a powerful time full of new ideas and the concept that people could think outside the box became a reality.

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The Sixties created an example of how to speak up against concepts that were ingrained in our country's history and changed some of America's exclusive core values. In the 1970s, after the impactful anti-war protests, the voting age was lowered to eighteen by constitutional amendment, in order to accommodate the young soldiers who were being drafted into wars without getting to vote on what wars the country should enter in the first place (“Voting Age Lowered”). The Vietnam War protests brought awareness to the inequality because many young people wanted to share their voices. “A New York City protest in April 1967 saw 130,000 dissenters'' ("Antiwar Movement"). The sexual revolution eventually led to big court cases like Roe v. Wade in 1973, which stated that making abortions illegal goes against women’s right to privacy ("Roe v. Wade"). While women’s right to privacy is still being fought for today, the Sixties opened up the notion that this is a critical right that should be protected. The Watergate scandal in 1972 demonstrated everything the Sixties were trying to do. President Nixon's re-election campaigning team was wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Even though Nixon tried to cover this scandal up, two young reporters for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, exposed him after they had “begun to suspect that there was a larger scheme afoot.” Nixon resigned before he could be removed from office (“Watergate Scandal”). Two ordinary reporters had the power to bring down the President of the United States. In the end this gave Americans hope that they had control over their government, and that the counterculture’s vision of “standing up to irrational authority” could be more than just a dream (“In Praise of the Counterculture''). 

 

Although the counterculture in the Sixties allowed more opinions to be heard, a single common perception of American, and a sense of shared purpose for Americans, was lost. While more people were included in the country’s decisions, there was less unity overall. The American of the Greatest Generation signified power, patriotism, and growth. There was a core to being American that, in theory if not in reality, everyone could claim. Thanks to the counterculture of the Sixties, that common center was lost.  However, it also created space for more free thought and brought new ideas to light to expand what America stood for. In the end, it brought more acceptance to ideas that challenged the status quo, even if those ideas came from women, minorities, or the young, ultimately expanding America's heroic and honorable history.  

 

 

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