A Country in Transition
On the surface, the first years of the 1960s were not noticeably different from the 1950s. The majority of Americans were content to be swept along by their young president's enthusiastic exhortations of possibility. But looking deeper, a number of social fissures were deepening. Dissent over issues such as civil rights, equality for women, gay rights, and concern over the conflict in Southeast Asia was still polite but becoming more vocal — especially among younger Americans. While their parents may have grown up being told children should be seen and not heard, the youth of the 1960s believed they had a right to free expression, one they would use it in an unprecedented way.
FACT
Baby boomer is a term used to describe people born between 1946 and 1965. The boom occurred in many countries following World War II. In America, live births went from 222,721 in January 1946 to 339,499 that October. By the end of the boom, four out of ten Americans were under the age of twenty.
The sixties were the age of youth, as 70 million children born in the years following World War II became teenagers and young adults. Rather than accept the status quo, they felt empowered to make a change and to leave their mark on the United States and the world. As baby boomers came of age, they questioned social attitudes their parents had accepted. Boomers had grown up in relative prosperity. The boomers were the generation of change and experimentation, both artistically and socially. Often, artists led the way in clamoring for social change or facilitated change by their very existence. Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Motown, and artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein made pop art a respectable genre.
The Kennedy White House was a bridge between the old and the new. While still holding on to many of the traditional social roles of previous generations, Jack and Jackie also exuded an individual sense of style. That individuality struck a chord with America's youth. The changes the early boomers set in motion would eventually change the very fabric of American culture. The effort to change society for the better, to make it more inclusive and more responsible to all citizens continues to this day.
FACT
The first oral contraceptive pill was approved for use in America in 1960. The availability of reliable contraception had an enormous impact on society in general and women in particular. Controlling pregnancy allowed women to be more sexually adventurous. The Pill also allowed couples to better manage the number of children they had; consequently the average size of American families decreased.
The cultural revolution was not confined to America. Countries all over the world experienced a rush of social changes. During the 1960s the British colonial empire was essentially completely dismantled; in Africa, new-found freedom frequently led to civil war; minorities the world over demanded equality. The sixties became synonymous with change, upheaval, subversiveness, independence, and passion over causes that would both unite and divide the country.
