The student movement of the 1960s sought greater involvement in university governance and protested social injustices. Inspired by the civil rights movement, students organized around issues like racism, the Vietnam War, and sexism. Protests grew increasingly radical and widespread, with over 100,000 students involved across more than 150 campuses by the mid-1960s. The Vietnam War became a major rallying issue, sparking large demonstrations that sometimes turned violent as the decade progressed.

1. The Student Movement

2. Getting Involved - Student Radicalism Students for Democratic Society One of main student protest orgs Founded in 1959 Original goal was to gain more say in course selection & university gov’t By mid-’60s over 100,000 students on over 150 campuses were involved, expanded goals Student movements join CRM & WM Idealistic youth appalled at injustices Encouraged by strength found in unity By 1964 student movements radicalized (remember SNCC?) Alice Cooper’s School’s Out

3. 1960s 1964: student CRM marches organized Tried to expose racism on campus Some schools tried to ban protests Students responded w/ ‘free speech’ protests and sit-ins demanding right to protest 1/2 of Berkeley’s 27,500 students involved Campuses across USA erupt Values & society of parents rejected Any individual/group seen as victim of society could count on student support Sexism, racism, nuclear weapons, draft, involvement in South America’s politics, Vietnam War all protested Society called ‘the system’ or ‘the machine’ Critics claimed students were ‘rebels without a cause’, protesting for radical causes w/o really understanding them One issue united all student protestors: Vietnam War Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are Changin’

4. The Vietnam War Vietnam War very unpopular w/ students Protests reached height from 1968-70 First six months of ’68 over 100 demonstrations w/ 40,000 students Often burned the American flag Often ended in clashes w/ police Berkeley, Yale, Stanford: bombs were set off May 4, 1970: Kent State, Ohio Students protested Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia Panicked National guard troops fired 4 killed, 11 wounded Press in US & abroad horrified 400 colleges closed 2,000,000 students went on strike to protest Neil Young’s Ohio , a salute to the students slain at Kent State

5. Hippies ‘dropped out’ of society Rejected society parents had created Chose to not work or study Let their hair grow long Traveled country in flower-painted vans Spoke of peace and love Experimented w/ sex, drugs, rock & roll Woodstock was all three rolled into one Hippies disturbed most Americans more than student radicalism Parents of hippies were mostly middle-class Brought children up to believe in virtues of education, hard work, home ownership (American dream) Had fought in WWII to preserve way of life Their children rejected all this In many ways, people thought USA was in crisis Dropping Out – The Hippie Movement Doors … People Are Strange

6. Links Too easy to see history in isolated patches Movements in history are often linked 1960s protests a good example People were not just members of one group A radical student might at different times have taken part in: CRM freedom ride Feminist consciousness-raising group Free speech sit-in Anti-Vietnam War march Woodstock music festival Youngbloods, Get Together

7. Focus Task: Student Protest Sound Bite In 1966 Ronald Reagan, running for Governor of California, described the student protest movement as all about ‘sex, drugs and treason’ . Write your own phrase to sum up the student movement. It should be no more than five words long. Explain fully why you think your phrase effectively sums up the movement (100 words)

8. Fin

9. PSDs on Student Movement There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus and you’ve got to make it stop. Mario Savio, a Berkeley student radical in the 1960s. Berkeley University, California, was one of the centers of student radicalism Come mothers and fathers throughout the land. And don’t criticize what you can’t understand. Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command. Your old road is rapidly aging. Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand, for the times they are a-changin’. From the Song ‘The Times They Are A-changin’ by Bob Dylan, written in 1963 And it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for? Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn. Next stop is Vietnam. And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates. Well, I ain’t got time to wonder why. Whoopie! We all gonna die! Country Jo and the Fish singing at the Woodstock Festival in 1968