By: Steven Dobbs, William Sandall, Terrie Belt and Megan Waller

It was during the 1960’s when America’s youth began to challenge and question all authority

figures and stand up for their beliefs.

They demonstrated these beliefs publicly and proudly by: protesting, rallies, marches, lyrically

through song, and many other ways.

However, to truly understand the reasoning behind the youth’s rebellion one must first understand the monumental events that occurred in those

short 10 years.

1965-1973 Vietnam War

“Fighting soldiers from the skyfearless men who jump and die men who mean just what they

say the brave men of the Green

BeretSilver wings upon their chestthese are men Americas best

one hundred men will test today but

only three win the Green Beret” Ballad of the Green Beret- SSgt. Barry Sadler (1966)

“How much do I knowTo talk out of turn

You might say that I'm young

You might say I'm unlearned

But there's one thing I know

Though I'm younger than you

Even Jesus would neverForgive what you do”

Masters of War- Bob Dylan (1963)

1965 March from Selma to Montgomery

“It's been too hard living but I'm afraid

to dieCuz I don't know what's up there beyond the sky

It's been a long, a long time coming

but I knowA change gon' come

oh yes it will”

A Change is Gonna Come- Sam Cooke (1964)

1966 National Organization for Women

“R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C-T Take care, TCB”

RESPECT- Aretha Franklin (1968)

• 1960 Students for a Democratic Society Established• 1960 John F. Kennedy elected President• 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis• 1963 MLK “I Have a Dream” speech• 1963 John F. Kennedy assassination• 1964 Lynden B. Johnson elected President• 1964 Civil Rights Act• 1964-65 Free Speech Student Movement Protest- U.C. Berkley• 1965 National Voting Rights Act• 1965 Malcolm X assassination• 1966 Black Panthers are formed• 1968 Robert F. Kennedy assassination• 1968 National Democratic Convention- Chicago 7• 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. assassination• 1968 Richard Nixon elected President• 1969 Stonewall Riots• 1969 US landed on the moon• 1969 Vietnam War Draft implemented• 1969 Woodstock

Other Important Events that Impacted the Youth

Means For An Escape

The 1960’s youth, seeking a way to escape and open doors from their

cultural confinement, often

sought refuge in the open arms of

Marijuana and LSD.

“Turn on, tune in, and drop out.”

By rejecting “the establishment” and using marijuana and LSD, many were able to unlock the “doors of perception” and suppress any feelings of confinement and resentment of a time too focused on normalcy.

A Higher Level of Understanding

In 1964, Timothy Leary’s book The Psychedelic Experience suggested

that the use of acid coincides with the Tibetan

Book of the Dead, establishing a link

between hallucinogenic drug use and Eastern

religion and philosophy. Soon after, the 1960’s

counterculture linked drug usage with not only

philosophy, but music and art as well.

“In places, small faces unbound.”

While the counter-culture was at first somewhat restricted from the public view, in 1966, The Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” hit the charts, confirming that drug use was clearly becoming a part of not only their youth, but of rock music as well.

The Science of Things

In 1943 while trying to develop the cure for

migraine headaches, Swiss scientist Albert Hoffman accidentally

synthesized the chemical compound that is lysergic acid

diethylamide (LSD).

Cause

During the 1950’s, the CIA used LSD as an aid in interrogations. Odorless, tasteless, and colorless, LSD was thought to be the holy grail of truth serums and a way to get suspects to talk.

And Effect

Through trial and error, the CIA

eventually realized the instability of the

drug when used as an interrogation method

as there is no sure fire way to bypass the

minds psyche and have immediate

access to a persons deep, dark secrets.

Perception

In addition to being used as a truth serum, LSD was believed by many psychiatrists to help bypass and unblock suppressed feelings and emotions in the subconscious, as well as to potentially aid and treat the symptoms of alcoholism.

The youth of the 60’s rebelled against the normalcy of the 50’s looking for a fresh approach and new culture to make their own.

The rebellion was met with acceptance from Dr. Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey. Adults who shared the same philosophy on life and

were instrumental in leading the younger generation to reject “the establishment” and look to psychedelic drugs to lead to a

higher consciousness.

Whether you chose to believe the drugs enhanced the music or the

music enhanced the drugs…the anti-establishment theme can be heard in the music of the era.

authored “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1962. He was inspired by his involvement in the Project Mkultra CIA study. The study

evaluated the effects of psychoactive

drugs on people.

Kesey and his followers, called The Merry Pranksters, are best known for their 1964 travels

cross country in a school bus painted in psychedelic colors and named “Further”. The trip was a drug

filled journey through America offering LSD to anyone who would try it.

Kesey frequently hosted "Acid

Tests" involving his favorite band,

The Warlocks, now known as The

Grateful Dead. Lead singer, Jerry Garcia is quoted saying "the acid

tests allowed us to play with a certain

kind of freedom that you rarely get as a musician..."

“Come Together” written by John Lennon was inspired by Leary’s catch phrase…

held a Ph.D. in Psychology and was a proponent for the use of psychedelic substances to unleash the mind. He

was a Harvard Professor who was fired, according to the University, for not showing up to his lectures. Leary

speculates that he was fired for his views on psychedelic drugs.

Leary advocated that people should turn on to their own way of thinking, tune in to themselves, and drop out of society.

Leary’s book The Psychedelic Experience

was the inspiration behind The Beatles song

“Tomorrow Never Knows” written by John Lennon.

The rebellion of the 1960’s youth and the introduction of drugs are directly tied to the growing events of the day

and a distrust of adults who could create a world in which blacks and women were lesser humans, and old people had the right to send boys to die in a war that

served no purpose other than to make money.

Out of that grew an attitude that there was a higher consciousness in which could be found the answers to societies troubles, and a deep desire to split from the thinking (adults) that brought about the problems.

It was a time of idealistic wonder where no dream was unattainable, and that together there was nothing that

couldn't be changed.

The music of the 1960’s allows us, decades later, the opportunity to listen to the lyrics and melodies of music

fueled by the passion and drive of a generation that forever changed America.

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