The United States During The 1970's

The Beatles made it sound effortless when they came out with their hit song “Let it Be,” but how simple was it truly to let it be? There was so much going on regarding disobedience, drugs, and combat. During the 1960s, President Johnson had declared war with Vietnam. Young adults in this time period insisted on resorting to different tactics of coping and began to follow the trend that bands and movies supported: drugs. With drugs came strange ways of life including their fashion choices, beliefs, and ways of life. The 1960s to the 1970s was an era full of excitement and change that introduced an effective movement for young adults throughout the war by setting trends and creating a large impact on the economic and political state of the country.
The war first began before the period as a result of the Northern and Southern Vietnamese wanting to restore their original unification. The United States and the Southern Vietnamese showed to be allies at the time. John F. Kennedy had just been elected as the President of The United States and declared the forces were in need of more equipment and also of militiamen (Weigand 286). Many Americans risked their lives just to be of service to another country, yet they continued sacrificing themselves. There is a chance that they did it in hopes of ending the war, but there is also a possibility that they went out onto the battlefield just to say they took part in it. Americans were killing hundreds of Vietnamese people, and it was especially easy for them to do when they were traveling in aircraft. They used their planes to destroy the Northern Vietnamese ships and naval bases. In 1970, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered United States Navy fighter-bombers to attack military targets seen just inside North Vietnam after a United States helicopter base in Southern Vietnam was bombarded (“Battlefield: Timeline”). With President Richard Nixon in office, he “authorized Operation Menu, the bombing of North Vietnamese and Vietcong bases within Cambodia” (“Battlefield: Timeline”). Rather lasting only a decade or so, the war actually ended in the next era to come after a peace treaty was finally signed. The war was clearly
In January of 1961, a very charismatic man by the name of John F. Kennedy became president. He spoke of the government possessing big answers to big problems (“The 1960s”). Peace was a concept that President Kennedy was a large supporter of. He stated, “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable” (“John F. Kennedy”). Views like this created a very hopeful and optimistic outlook on the decade resulting in people calling this time period “The Golden Age”. The ideas of peace also contributed to the “Free Love” mindset. Unfortunately the nation did almost the opposite: by the end of the 1960s, The United States was practically falling apart. Many of the ideas Kennedy publicized were never followed through with, whether this was a result of Kennedy’s assassination or because there was not enough resources. Another issue from the 1960s was Civil Rights. Martin Luther King Jr. was a well-known figure during these times because he advocated rights for blacks. He was in complete and utter disbelief as he recognized the discrimination taking place amongst the races. For the most part, the government was able to stay out of it until President Johnson pushed a Civil Rights Act. This act prohibited discrimination in public settings and allowed the Justice Department to sue states that