Television in the 1960s was the average sitcoms, comedies and game shows. Some shows
that you might know were," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "The Andy Griffith Show," and "I
Dream of Jeannie".
Television in the 1960s had a light and cheery mood, the famous comedies such as
"Bewitched" and "Gilligan's Island," it was what the people wanted to see when they turned
on the television. The mixture of shows played a major role in influencing Americans, making
the mood on television bright and happy throughout the U.S. There was one exception; it
was the CBS evening news with Walter Cronkite.
The evening news showed the traumatic and horrific details of
the Vietnam War and provided the latest updates on what was
happening between the US and Vietnamese armies. Every night
in houses across America, families gathered to see what was
happening in the war and to see if they're loved ones had perished. Because the Vietnam War was the first war that had ever
been broadcast live, people were angry and fascinated with
what they saw. However, others felt that the war they saw on
television was awful and unnecessary. One of the well-known
events Americans saw were the "zippo raids" where the American soldiers were filmed as they used their Zippo cigarette lighters to set Viet Cong huts on fire. Reactions to these images caused a large amount of disagreements among US citizens and resulted in a lot of protest.
With having all this information coming from the news, the government misinformed the
public, telling the story of the war the way they wanted it to be told. The press made an effort to try to expose the war truthfully, this left people confused and produced another disagreement. To this day, people are not sure whether the war was a positive or negative
event, and it's was never clear who won.
The Vietnam War played a major role in television history. The war opened up new opportunities for television for the next generation.
News broadcasts during the Vietnam War set
the standard for the broadcasts of future wars.
This war will never be forgotten and nothing
will match the graphic detail of the Vietnam
War.
During the 1960s many young people embraced a lifestyle that was totally different from that of their conservative parents. They questioned
everything and refused to conform to
society’s standards. These baby boomers developed a distinctive style of
dress and music, as well as their own
lingo. “Far out!,” “Peace, brother,”
and “What’s happenin’?” were three
commonly heard phrases. Some
adopted a hippie look and lived in
communes while others joined radical political groups. Each of
these groups had one thing in common: they rejected all symbols of authority,
especially their parents and the government. They became known as the
“counterculture.”
For three days in August 1969, Woodstock in upstate New York became the
focus of the counterculture revolution. During the idyllic weekend
400,000 people partied peacefully and were part of one huge, loving community. Organizers Michael Lang and Artie Kornfield had spent six months
planning the show at the 600 acre farm. Richie Havens, a little known African American folk singer, opened the proceedings which were stopped
twice by rain. Musicians, including Janis Joplin; The Grateful Dead; Jimi
Hendrix; Jefferson Airplane; Bob Dylan; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young;
Joan Baez; Ravi Shankar; and Santana, entertained the crowd with their
own personal styles. From protest to
rock to psychedelic, all kinds of music
could be enjoyed there. Santana stole the
show with “Soul Sacrifice.” Jimi
Hendrix closed the adventure with an ear
-splitting version of “The Star-Spangled
Banner.” Despite the lack of sanitation
and low food and medical supplies, the
concert-goers stayed and rocked on to
the largest outdoor, overnight festival
ever held. Later that same year, the
Rolling Stones, unable to attend Woodstock, gave a free concert in Altamont,
California.
Forty two years ago tomorrow, on May 4th,
1970, students at Kent State University in
Ohio gathered to protest America's involvement in the Vietnam War. The Ohio National
Guard, in its efforts to disperse the crowd,
opened fire. When the smoke cleared, four
students were dead and nine were
wounded.
The event deeply divided the nation and
triggered a nationwide student strike,
forcing hundreds of colleges and universities to close. Ten days later, police opened fire at a group of protestors at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Two students were killed and a dozen
more injured. Today, we revisit Kent State and Jackson State, 40 years later.
President Nixon announced that the troops had invaded Cambodia, which signaled to students,
particularly students but all males who were eligible for the draft, that the war was not only
not ending, but it was spreading.
Then on Friday night, there was a protest in downtown Kent. Saturday, an ROTC building was
attacked. Sunday, there was another confrontation with the National Guard that had come on
campus when the ROTC building was attacked.
The character of the protest changed from anti-war to anti-Guard. And then about 12:00, the
Guard moved out against the students, drove students over a hill. Some of the students went
on a veranda of one of our buildings and other students went down in a parking lot, and the
National Guard went into a practice football field, where there became an exchange of tear gas
back and forth.
Then the Guard all of a sudden turned around, started heading right back up the hill where
they came from. When they got to the top of the hill, near what we call the pagoda, the right
rear echelon of Guardsman fired. A total of 28 Guardsmen fired between 61 and 67 rounds
over 13 seconds.
Shelly: I was 21, m
arried and living
in Lima, Ohio. I
saw the breaking ne
ws of the Kent Sta
te shootings
on TV at my mothe
r-in-law's home. H
er response
was, they should’v
e shot them all. Th
at was a common response hear
d in the community
at the time. I
was horrified but no
t surprised. It's an
extremely
conservative part of
the state and still
is.
Name: ______________________________________________________________
Antiwar Protests
The Living Room War
1. What was the mood of most TV shows?
2. What did the nightly news show?
3. How did people feel about what they saw on the news?
4. What role did TV play for the Vietnam war?
Kent State
1. What happened on May 4, 1970?
2. Why did the students protest?
3. How did the National Guard effect the events?
4. How did TV impact the events at Kent State?
Woodstock
1. What did the young people have in common?
2. Where is Woodstock?
3. What kind of music was played at Woodstock?
4. What did the people feel they were part of?
Period: ____________