Most people will agree when talking about the 1960s is that the world changed over the course of that decade. During those years, tensions were high, attitudes were strong and definite, people were divided about what they believed was right and wrong. On subjects as diverse as the war in Vietnam, women's rights, civil rights, the environment, music, and the way people wore their hair, everyone had an opinion. Everyone who lived through the decade had their own experience. The events and consequences of the sixties still have the ability to provoke contentious debate. Many claim the change that came out of that decade had positive long term effects on the American society. For example, women’s rights and protection of the environment became popular causes during this time. Others point to destructive consequences of the decade, including the loosening of morality and excessive drug use as more emblematic of the sixties. The election of John Kennedy as president caused many Americans to feel optimistic about their future. Then for some his assassination in 1963 was a sign of the violence that would consume America later in the decade. The construction of the Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War eventually were proof of that. African Americans made many civil rights gains during this time also, but a number of African American youth called for “black power” rather than integration into white society. College and high school students became increasingly empowered those years. Thousands of protest and demonstrations happened to invoke change. In the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, almost eight months of discussion in the House of Representatives had shaped and passed by February 10th, 1964, a bill in many respects wiser and stronger than the original bill sent to Congress by the White House. This Bill took the Federal Government further inside the private lives and customs of individual
Most people will agree when talking about the 1960s is that the world changed over the course of that decade. During those years, tensions were high, attitudes were strong and definite, people were divided about what they believed was right and wrong. On subjects as diverse as the war in Vietnam, women's rights, civil rights, the environment, music, and the way people wore their hair, everyone had an opinion. Everyone who lived through the decade had their own experience. The events and consequences of the sixties still have the ability to provoke contentious debate. Many claim the change that came out of that decade had positive long term effects on the American society. For example, women’s rights and protection of the environment became popular causes during this time. Others point to destructive consequences of the decade, including the loosening of morality and excessive drug use as more emblematic of the sixties. The election of John Kennedy as president caused many Americans to feel optimistic about their future. Then for some his assassination in 1963 was a sign of the violence that would consume America later in the decade. The construction of the Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War eventually were proof of that. African Americans made many civil rights gains during this time also, but a number of African American youth called for “black power” rather than integration into white society. College and high school students became increasingly empowered those years. Thousands of protest and demonstrations happened to invoke change. In the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, almost eight months of discussion in the House of Representatives had shaped and passed by February 10th, 1964, a bill in many respects wiser and stronger than the original bill sent to Congress by the White House. This Bill took the Federal Government further inside the private lives and customs of individual