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1960s counterculture, a broad-ranging social movement in the United States, Canada, and western Europe that rejected conventional mores and traditional authorities and whose members variously advocated peace, love, social justice, and revolution. The 1960s counterculture movement, which generally extended into the early 1970s, was an alternative approach to life that manifested itself in a variety of activities, lifestyles, and artistic expressions, including recreational drug use, communal living, political protests, casual sex, and folk and rock music.

The movement was perhaps best encapsulated by the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out," coined by the American psychologist Timothy Leary, who demonstrated contempt for authority and championed the use of LSD and other psychoactive drugs. U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon famously called Leary "the most dangerous man in America." The counterculture movement featured artists such as Andy Warhol, who was famous for his Pop art works. Adherents advocated freedom of expression and a distrust of those in power.

The movement ranged from nonviolent "peaceniks" to revolutionaries who engaged in armed resistance. Fueled by college students, it included protests of the Vietnam War and racial injustice and struggles for women's rights, gay rights, and sexual freedom. It led to mass demonstrations, such as a 1969 antiwar protest in Washington, D.C., that drew as many as 500,000 people, and a "national teach-in on the environment" in 1970 called Earth Day, which is still commemorated annually.

Hippie lifestyle

One enduring image of the counterculture movement is that of " hippies," who were mostly white, middle-class, young Americans. Many felt alienated from their parents' lifestyles, which they viewed as too focused on material goods and consumerism. That tension drove a "generation gap" that became a hallmark of the 1960s. Hippies often let their hair grow long, and many men had facial hair. The title track of the musical Hair, first performed in 1967, captures this style with the lyrics:

My hair like Jesus wore it
Hallelujah, I adore it
Hallelujah, Mary loved her son,
Why don't my mother love me?

Hippies wore colourful clothes and typically donned sandals. They eschewed regular jobs, many had vegetarian diets, and some engaged in "free love." Hippies often traveled the country, sometimes in Volkswagen Microbuses, dubbed "hippie buses," adorned with peace signs. One of their most famous slogans was "Make love, not war."

The movement's soundtrack

Rock music was an important part of the counterculture movement. Bands like the Grateful Dead-whose fans are known as "Deadheads"-had a strong influence on 1960s counterculture. The Beatles, the most influential band of the era, "helped make rock music a battering ram for the youth culture's assault on the mainstream," according to a New York Times article in 1975. The folk music icon Bob Dylan spoke for many alienated youth when in 1965 he sang, "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more." Other artists and bands associated with the counterculture movement included Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, the Velvet Underground and the Rolling Stones. A powerful counterculture song was "Almost Cut My Hair" (1970) by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. A song by the Who, "My Generation" (1965)-with its line "I hope I die before I get old"-practically became an anthem of 1960s youth. The era also produced rock musicals, including (in addition to Hair), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968), and Jesus Christ Superstar (1971).

Music festivals helped fuel the counterculture movement, most famously Woodstock, a three-day 1969 extravaganza in upstate New York that featured bands and artists such as the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Santana. An estimated 400,000 people attended the event. In December 1969, the Altamont festival in Livermore, California, resulted in tragedy. Organizers made the fateful decision to hire the Hells Angels, a motorcycle gang, to provide security, and one of its members fatally stabbed a Black teenager who had drawn a gun as the Rolling Stones were performing. The Associated Press reflected two decades later that this moment "shattered the dream of a utopian counterculture for the '60s generation."

Militant resistance

The 1960s counterculture was also marked by armed protest groups. The Black Panther Party, for example, a group founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in California, sought to protect Black neighbourhoods from police brutality and declared, "The time has come for Black people to arm themselves." That prompted the state to pass legislation dubbed "the Panther Bill," signed into law by Gov. Ronald Reagan, which banned the open carrying of loaded firearms. Another organization, Weatherman, later known as Weather Underground, made up of young white militants, advocated communism and the overthrow of the U.S. government through violent revolution. The group, which grew out of Students for a Democratic Society, used a 1969 position paper called "You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows" as its founding statement. The group engaged in bombings into the early 1970s.

Fred Frommer

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1960s counterculture | Definition, Hippies, Music, Protests, & Facts

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1960s counterculture, a broad-ranging social movement in the United States, Canada, and western Europe that rejected conventional mores and traditional authorities and whose members variously advocated peace, love, social justice, and revolution. The 1960s counterculture movement, which generally

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EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | www.ebsco.com

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The Draft Lottery of 1969 was a significant event in the United States concerning military conscription during the Vietnam War. On December 1, 1969, the Selective Service System (SSS) held a draft lottery that determined which men born between 1944 and 1950 would be called to serve in the military for the following year. This lottery was the first of its kind since 1942 and marked a shift from the previous draft system, which prioritized older men. President Richard Nixon implemented this new system in response to criticisms that the existing draft disproportionately affected low-income and uneducated men, as college students had been able to defer service. The lottery involved drawing capsules representing each birthdate, which were then assigned rankings for induction. This process was televised, drawing attention both for its randomness and the public’s mixed perceptions of fairness. Despite the intention for a fair selection, the lottery faced criticism for alleged biases in the drawing process, with some arguing that it was not truly random. Additionally, the 1960s saw a growing anti-war movement, with many young people protesting against U.S. involvement in Vietnam, leading to significant numbers of draft evaders who either fled the country or faced imprisonment. Over one million individuals avoided the draft during this period, reflecting the era’s widespread dissent against the war.

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On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. He was the first African American President in U.S. history.

Obama emerged as an unlikely candidate during the 2008 presidential campaign. He was born and raised in Hawaii. His mother, a white American from Kansas, and his father, a black Kenyan studying in the United States, met as students at the University of Hawaii. After attending school in Hawaii, Obama moved to the mainland for college-first attending Occidental College in Los Angeles, California, and then graduating from Columbia University in New York City.

Obama then moved to Chicago, Illinois, and began working as a community organizer, helping low-income residents improve their public housing conditions. In 1988, he enrolled at Harvard Law School. During the 1990-1991 academic year, he was president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, the first African American elected to the position. Returning to Chicago, Obama worked in a civil rights law firm and as a lecturer at the University of Chicago.

He first entered public office as a state senator in 1997. Obama attracted national attention in the summer of 2004 when he gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America," he declared. "There's a United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America. There's a United States of America."

After serving as a state legislator for eight years, Obama ran for the U.S. Senate and won the election in 2004 by the largest margin in the history of Senate elections in Illinois. As a first-term Senator, he launched his presidential campaign in February 2007. After a hard-fought Democratic primary against Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Obama secured the Democratic Party nomination in June 2008. Two days before the Democratic National Convention, he picked Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate.

The 2008 presidential campaign featured the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden against the Republican ticket of Senator John McCain of Arizona and his vice presidential running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Obama and Biden won the election handily, 53 percent of the popular vote to 46 percent and 365 Electoral College votes to 173.

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Barack Obama - Key Events | Miller Center

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On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. He was the first African American President in U.S. history. Obama emerged as an unlikely candidate during the 2008 presidential campaign. He was born and raised in Hawaii.