"When did the sixties happen?" searching for new directions

Journal of Social History

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 146-161

  Hunt, Andrew ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0040113657     PISSN: 00224529     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jsh.1999.0016     Document Type: Review

References (68)

1. James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets: From Port Huron to the Siege at Chicago (New York, 1987), 317.
2. Terry H. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee (Oxford, 1994), xvi.
3. Irwin Unger, The Movement: A History of the American New Left, 1959-1972 (New York, 1974), 59.
4. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
5. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
6. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
7. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
8. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
9. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
10. A few examples: Claybourne Carson, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s (New York, 1981); Doug McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford, 1988); David Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1955-1968 (New York, 1986); Harvard Sitkoff, The Struggle for Black Equality, 1954-1992 (New York, 1992); Vicki L. Crawford, Jacqueline Anne Rouse, and Barbara Woods, Women in the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers and Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (Indiana, 1993); and Taylor Branch's sweeping Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963 (New York, 1988) and its equally sprawling sequel, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-1964 (New York, 1998).
11. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
12. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
13. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
14. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
15. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
16. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
17. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
18. To name a few: James Miller, Democracy is in the Streets, Wini Breines, Community and Organization in the New Left, 1962-1968: The Great Refusal (New York, 1982), Allen Matusow, The Unraveling of America (New York, 1984), Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, Douglas T. Miller, On Our Own: Americans in the Sixties (Massachusetts, 1996), Sara Evans, Personal Politics (New York, 1979), Alice Echols, Daring to Be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minnesota, 1987). Alan Adelson's SDS: A Profile (New York, 1971) is a lesser-known volume.
19. Kirkpatrick Sale, SDS (New York, 1973), 3-5.
20. Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (New York, 1987), 420.
21. Ibid.
22. Matusow, The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in America, 343. David Farber, of one mind with Matusow on this matter, stated the problem even more emphatically: "In a world divided between those who spoke and those who were silent, many protesters in the sixties shouted and claimed the right to speak for all. They often revealed contempt for working people and showed much ignorance about those people who still wondered if it was not what you said that counted but what you did." David Farber, "The Silent Majority and Talk about Revolution," from David Farber, ed., The Sixties: From Memory to History (Chapel Hill, 1994), 309.
23. Matusow, The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in America, 343. David Farber, of one mind with Matusow on this matter, stated the problem even more emphatically: "In a world divided between those who spoke and those who were silent, many protesters in the sixties shouted and claimed the right to speak for all. They often revealed contempt for working people and showed much ignorance about those people who still wondered if it was not what you said that counted but what you did." David Farber, "The Silent Majority and Talk about Revolution," from David Farber, ed., The Sixties: From Memory to History (Chapel Hill, 1994), 309.
24. David Caute, The Year of the Barricades: A Journey Through 1968 (New York, 1988), 442-443, 449.
25. Some examples are Frank J. Donner, The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America's Political Intelligence System (New York, 1981), Nelson Blackstock, COINTELPRO: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom (New York, 1989), Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall, COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent (Boston, 1990), and, most recently, James Kirkpatrick Davis, Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement (New York, 1997).
26. Some examples are Frank J. Donner, The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America's Political Intelligence System (New York, 1981), Nelson Blackstock, COINTELPRO: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom (New York, 1989), Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall, COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent (Boston, 1990), and, most recently, James Kirkpatrick Davis, Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement (New York, 1997).
27. Some examples are Frank J. Donner, The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America's Political Intelligence System (New York, 1981), Nelson Blackstock, COINTELPRO: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom (New York, 1989), Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall, COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent (Boston, 1990), and, most recently, James Kirkpatrick Davis, Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement (New York, 1997).
28. Some examples are Frank J. Donner, The Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America's Political Intelligence System (New York, 1981), Nelson Blackstock, COINTELPRO: The FBI's Secret War on Political Freedom (New York, 1989), Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall, COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Domestic Dissent (Boston, 1990), and, most recently, James Kirkpatrick Davis, Assault on the Left: The FBI and the Sixties Antiwar Movement (New York, 1997).
29. Jack Whalen and Richard Flacks, Beyond the Barricades: The Sixties Generation Grows Up (Philadelphia, 1989), 115.
30. For example, Douglas C. Rossinow's, Politics of Authenticity: Liberalism, Christianity, and the New Left in America (New York, 1998) is a long awaited and highly anticipated account of the SDS chapter at Austin, Texas.
31. After the publication of Powers' book in 1973, other titles arrived sporadically. Among the entries: Fred Halstead, Out Now! A Participants Account of the American Movement Against the Vietnam War (New York, 1978); Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan, Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam (Garden City, 1984); Charles DeBenedetti and Charles Chatfield, An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era (Syracuse, 1990); and Tom Wells, The War Within: America's Battle Over Vietnam (Berkeley, 1994).
32. After the publication of Powers' book in 1973, other titles arrived sporadically. Among the entries: Fred Halstead, Out Now! A Participants Account of the American Movement Against the Vietnam War (New York, 1978); Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan, Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam (Garden City, 1984); Charles DeBenedetti and Charles Chatfield, An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era (Syracuse, 1990); and Tom Wells, The War Within: America's Battle Over Vietnam (Berkeley, 1994).
33. After the publication of Powers' book in 1973, other titles arrived sporadically. Among the entries: Fred Halstead, Out Now! A Participants Account of the American Movement Against the Vietnam War (New York, 1978); Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan, Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam (Garden City, 1984); Charles DeBenedetti and Charles Chatfield, An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era (Syracuse, 1990); and Tom Wells, The War Within: America's Battle Over Vietnam (Berkeley, 1994).
34. After the publication of Powers' book in 1973, other titles arrived sporadically. Among the entries: Fred Halstead, Out Now! A Participants Account of the American Movement Against the Vietnam War (New York, 1978); Nancy Zaroulis and Gerald Sullivan, Who Spoke Up? American Protest Against the War in Vietnam (Garden City, 1984); Charles DeBenedetti and Charles Chatfield, An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era (Syracuse, 1990); and Tom Wells, The War Within: America's Battle Over Vietnam (Berkeley, 1994).
35. Zaroulis and Sullivan, Who Spoke Up?, 98.
36. Halstead, Out Now!, 487. Charles DeBenedetti reaches essentially the same conclusion in An American Ordeal when he observed that "after 1971, dissatisfaction with war policy was multiplied and channeled through a labyrinth of citizen networks." DeBenedetti, An American Ordeal, 390.
37. Halstead, Out Now!, 487. Charles DeBenedetti reaches essentially the same conclusion in An American Ordeal when he observed that "after 1971, dissatisfaction with war policy was multiplied and channeled through a labyrinth of citizen networks." DeBenedetti, An American Ordeal, 390.
38. F. Arturo Rosales, Chicano: The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement (Houston, 1996), 198.
39. Wells, The War Within, 44.
40. David Farber, Chicago '68 (Chicago, 1988), 245.
41. Kenneth J. Heineman, Campus Wars: The Peace Movement at American State Universities in the Vietnam Era (New York, 1993).
42. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, 356.
43. Ibid.
44. The Saturday Review, July 24, 1971, 32.
45. Anderson, 355-356.
46. Echols, Daring to Be Bad, 272.
47. Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior, Like a Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee (New York, 1996), 138.
48. Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall, Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement (Boston, 1988).
49. Richard Moser, The New Winter Soldiers: GI and Veterans Dissent During the Vietnam Era (New Brunswick, 1996), 5.
50. Julie Stephens, Anti-Disciplinary Protest: Sixties Radicalism and Postmodernism (Cambridge, 1998), viii, 25-27, 122-123.
51. James J. Farrell, The Spirit of the Sixties: The Making of Postwar Radicalism (New York, 1997), 233-249.
52. Anderson, The Movement and the Sixties, 357.
53. Ibid.
54. Rick Perlstein, "Who Owns the Sixties? The Opening of a Scholarly Generation Gap" Lingua Franca, volume 6, number 4, 30-37.
55. Ibid., 32
56. Ibid. In some ways, I hesitate to use the term New Left. The dichotomy between the Old Left and the New Left that remains so common in sixties literature is in some respects an artificial one. The transformation of tactics and rhetoric among the sixties Left is not terribly unique. Radicalism must either evolve with the times or die out. In light of the revelations of Stalin's crimes against humanity, as well as the failure of New Deal reforms to eradicate poverty, racism and sexism in the United States, it is not surprising that young radicals in the sixties rejected their elders' commitment to the Soviet experiment and the welfare state, and embraced a more libertarian commitment to personal freedom. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that not all "Old Left" groups withered in the sixties. The Communist Party (CPUSA) and the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP) enjoyed sustained growth through much of the decade, and both groups played a crucial yet rarely acknowledged role in antiwar activism. Some of the most capable theorists and organizers of the era - Peter Camejo, Bettina Aptheker, Angela Davis, and so forth - were members of either the CPUSA or SWP. Other young radicals who shunned membership in those parties would gradually come to embrace the Old Left's commitment to theory and ideology. Moreover, many Old Left veterans who endured the McCarthy era and found themselves initially scorned by immature young radicals would go on to enjoy a lionized status by the end of the 1960s.
57. A more thorough account of VVAW will be found in Andrew Hunt, The Turning: Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York, 1999). Also see Richard B. Moser, The New Winter Soldiers: GI and Veteran Dissent During the Vietnam Era (New Jersey, 1996); Richard Stacewicz, Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York, 1997).
58. A more thorough account of VVAW will be found in Andrew Hunt, The Turning: Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York, 1999). Also see Richard B. Moser, The New Winter Soldiers: GI and Veteran Dissent During the Vietnam Era (New Jersey, 1996); Richard Stacewicz, Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York, 1997).
59. A more thorough account of VVAW will be found in Andrew Hunt, The Turning: Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York, 1999). Also see Richard B. Moser, The New Winter Soldiers: GI and Veteran Dissent During the Vietnam Era (New Jersey, 1996); Richard Stacewicz, Winter Soldiers: An Oral History of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York, 1997).
60. Adelson, SDS: A Profile, 203.
61. Donald Duncan, "The Whole Thing Was a Lie!," Ramparts (February 1966): 24.
62. For a moving and beautifully illustrated account of Dewey Canyon III, see John Kerry and the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, The New Soldier (New York, 1971).
63. Colonel Robert D. Heinl, Jr., "The Collapse of the Armed Forces," from Armed Forces Journal (June 7, 1971): 30-37.
64. Miami Herald, July 9, 1972.
65. Figures from Hamid Mowlana and Paul H. Geffert, "Vietnam Veterans Against the War: A Profile Study of the Dissenters," from Kerry, The New Soldier, 172-174.
66. New York Times Book Review, 13 July 1986, 26. Some historians should be commended for emphasizing the fluidity between then and now. In Beyond the Barricades, Richard Flacks and Jack Whalen have shown that a number of movement activists in the Santa Barbara area remained committed to their ideals through the Reagan eighties. "All of our former activists," Flacks and Whalen reported, "even those most politically disengaged, continue to see themselves as standing outside society's established structures of authority; all continue to resist conventional frameworks for livelihood and everyday life." Flacks and Whalen, Beyond the Barricades, 203-245. Similarly, Doug McAdam, in his study of the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, discovered that "to an extraordinary extent, the Mississippi veterans still bear quiet allegiance to the politics they espoused twenty-five years ago." McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford and New York, 1988), 238.
67. New York Times Book Review, 13 July 1986, 26. Some historians should be commended for emphasizing the fluidity between then and now. In Beyond the Barricades, Richard Flacks and Jack Whalen have shown that a number of movement activists in the Santa Barbara area remained committed to their ideals through the Reagan eighties. "All of our former activists," Flacks and Whalen reported, "even those most politically disengaged, continue to see themselves as standing outside society's established structures of authority; all continue to resist conventional frameworks for livelihood and everyday life." Flacks and Whalen, Beyond the Barricades, 203-245. Similarly, Doug McAdam, in his study of the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, discovered that "to an extraordinary extent, the Mississippi veterans still bear quiet allegiance to the politics they espoused twenty-five years ago." McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford and New York, 1988), 238.
68. New York Times Book Review, 13 July 1986, 26. Some historians should be commended for emphasizing the fluidity between then and now. In Beyond the Barricades, Richard Flacks and Jack Whalen have shown that a number of movement activists in the Santa Barbara area remained committed to their ideals through the Reagan eighties. "All of our former activists," Flacks and Whalen reported, "even those most politically disengaged, continue to see themselves as standing outside society's established structures of authority; all continue to resist conventional frameworks for livelihood and everyday life." Flacks and Whalen, Beyond the Barricades, 203-245. Similarly, Doug McAdam, in his study of the Mississippi Freedom Summer of 1964, discovered that "to an extraordinary extent, the Mississippi veterans still bear quiet allegiance to the politics they espoused twenty-five years ago." McAdam, Freedom Summer (Oxford and New York, 1988), 238.