01-23-2017, 06:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-23-2017, 06:49 PM by Eric the Green.)
(01-23-2017, 06:30 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:(01-23-2017, 05:03 PM)flbones too Wrote: Don't Hero genertions take over during the 1T? And the Idealists in the 2T? Might be wrong.
Kennedy was the first GI President, and ushered in the Consciousness Revolution. There was little overlap with the postwar High.
If you identify the Consciousness Revolution with the civil rights movement, then you have a point. But culturally, things were still very traditional and conformist during his term. The youth and pop music styles of the 1T continued, although 1963 was a good transitional year. The JFK era had a strongly-humanitarian bent, but was very optimistic, consensus-driven and not yet rebellious, and did not question authority much. The JFK years were the highest of the post-war high, in fact; easily. The early part was much more unstable, as early 1Ts tend to be, although the controversy (as in other early 1Ts) surrounded the persecution of dissidents tolerated during the 4T.
Of course, in many ways the early 2T (the mid-sixties, the "summer solstice" of the saeculum) were "higher," not the least of which was because young people in droves started getting "high." (now THAT was the real "consciousness revolution"). The humanitarian bent of the "To Kill a Mockingbird" era got more militant with the advent of Malcolm X and the first riots and Freedom Summer. But the passage of the civil rights bill in 1964 was followed by LBJ's massive victory over the cynic Goldwater, and on new years day 1965 LBJ remarked about how wonderful and potentially-great this moment was, just after his landslide election that carried the congress as his great society beckoned ahead of him. The shadow of Vietnam was already there, but the shadows weren't long until over a month later. Nor was the movement Goldwater and Reagan had re-mobilized in 1964 strong enough yet to block him and those of us who honor social justice and prosperity for all.