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[T Dollarz]

I felt it was time we had a proper thread to historically represent and discuss perhaps the most revolutionary and eventful time period in American history: The 1960s (and early 70s).

It was a time of immense hope in the early 60s that eventually snowballed into days of widespread rage in the latter half of the decade.

The decade can be properly examined by studying 3 categories of influence: War & Politics, Civil Rights, and Pop Culture.

The Vietnam War
Important People
-William Calley
-Ho Chi Minh
-Lyndon B. Johnson
-John F. Kennedy
-Robert McNamara
-Ngo Dinh Diem
-Richard Nixon
-William Westmoreland

Important Events
1960
Kennedy elected
1961
Bay of Pigs
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis
1963
JFK Assassination
1964
Gulf of Tonkin
Johnson defeats Goldwater
1965
Operation Rolling Thunder
Johnson signs medicare bill
Voting Rights Act of 1965
1967
Thurgood Marshall confirmed to Supreme Court
March on the Pentagon
McNamara resigns
1968
Tet Offensive
Walter Cronkite states opposition
My Lai Massacre
RFK assassinated
Chicago Democratic Convention
Nixon elected

Civil Rights
Important People
-Martin Luther King, Jr.
-Malcolm X

Important Events
1954
Brown v. Board of Education
1955
Emmet Till murdered
Rosa Parks refuses to give up hear seat
1957
Little Rock Nine
1960
Woolworth Sit-in
1963
MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail
March on Washington
MLK's 'I Have a Dream' speech
1964
24th Amendment ratified
Civil Rights Act of 1964
1965
Malcolm X assassinated
Selma to Montgomery marches
1968
MLK assassinated
Olympics Black Power salute

Pop Culture
Music
Joan Baez - Blowing in the Wind
The Kinks - You Really Got Me
Bob Dylan - Live at the Newport Folk Festival
Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
The Byrds - Mr. Tambourine Man
Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit & Somebody to Love
The Velvet Underground & Nico - Femme Fatale
The Doors - Light My Fire
Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
The Beatles - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
The Who - My Generation
Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
Led Zeppelin - Dazed & Confused
The Band - The Weight
Janis Joplin - Piece of My Heart
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Simon & Garfunkel - Mrs. Robinson
Sly & the Family Stone - Dance to the Music
Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash
Woodstock.
Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
The Who - Pinball Wizard
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams

Film
-Psycho
-Breakfast at Tiffany's
-Lawrence of Arabia
-The Birds
-The Pink Panther
-Dr. Strangelove
-Mary Poppins
-The Sound of Music
-The Jungle Book
-The Dirty Dozen
-Cool Hand Luke
-Rosemary's Baby
-2001: A Space Odyssey
-Easy Rider
-Planet of the Apes
-The Wild Bunch
-The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
-Once Upon A Time in the West

Television
-The Ed Sullivan Show
-Star Trek
-The Twilight Zone
-The Beverly Hillbillies
-The Dick Van Dyke Show
-The Tonight Show
-The Flintstones
-Lassie
-Bewitched
-The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Sports
-Bill Russell
-Wilt Chamberlain
-Muhammad Ali
-Vince Lombardi
-Johnny Unitas
-Joe Namath
-Jim Brown

More famous people
Mao Zedong
Fidel Castro
George Wallace

Musicians
Johnny Cash
Eric Clapton
Bob Dylan
Jerry Garcia
Jimi Hendrix
Mick Jagger
Janis Joplin
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
Jim Morrison
Lou Reed
Sly Stone
Neil Young

Entertainers
Julie Andrews
Marlon Brando
Clint Eastwood
Audrey Hepburn
Charlton Heston
Marilyn Monroe
Paul Newman
Peter Sellers
James Stewart
Dick Van Dyke
John Wayne
Adam West

Film Makers
Stanley Kubrick
Alfred Hitchcock
Roman Polanski
Sergio Leone

Writers
Anthony Burgess
Truman Capote
Joseph Heller
Harper Lee
Arthur Miller
Charles M. Schulz
Dr. Seuss
John Steinbeck
Hunter S. Thompson

Hope this sparks some good 60s discussion! Peace, dude!

 

[Team Filler]

You should add The Zombies to Music.

 

[Acheron]

Forever remembered for spawning history's worst generation.

 

[Tesseract]

 

[Kabouter]

Forever remembered for spawning history's worst generation.

Yes, this seems like a reasonable statement and not at all hyperbole.

Also:
Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction

 

[Kjellson]

The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray

The greatest song of all time.

 

[Face it Tiger..]

The most influential thing from this era is the cars.

 

[Steelrain]

The History Channel's Vietnam War Doc released last year was great.

 

[xbhaskarx]

Sports
-Bill Russell
-Wilt Chamberlain
-Muhammad Ali
-Vince Lombardi
-Johnny Unitas
-Joe Namath
-Jim Brown

LOL apparently aside from Ali, basketball and handegg were the biggest sports of the 1960s. Hey guy with the NBA avatar, how many NBA teams were there in the 60s? What was the average attendance? How many people watched the NBA Finals on tv? Were basketball games even shown live back then?

Ever heard of...
Pele? Garrincha? George Best? Lev Yashin? Bobby Charlton? Eusebio?
Sandy Koufax? Mickey Mantle? Willie Mays? Bob Gibson? Frank Robinson? Roberto Clemente? Roger Maris? Juan Marichal? Carl Yastrzemski? (I could list two dozen others)
Bobby Hull?
Rod Laver?
Joe Frazier?

It's mind boggling that you can list any basketball players and no baseball players. This is the 60s when baseball was the national pastime, not the post Bird/Magic/Jordan/Shaq era when the NBA has eclipsed MLB in popularity to such an extent that... it has half the annual revenue.

 

[Puddles]

And then these assholes put a Republican majority in Congress in 2010.

 

[SmokyDave]

I wanted to post lots of muscle cars & European sports cars, but realistically, this was the car of the 60's.

 

[Oblivion]

I'm not that knowledgeable on the Vietnam war, but why are soldiers from that war looked down upon? I mean, I realize we lost, but there's more to it, I'm sure.

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

I'm not that knowledgeable on the Vietnam war, but why are soldiers from that war looked down upon? I mean, I realize we lost, but there's more to it, I'm sure.

Not because it was lost.
But because it was an unnecessary war. Sort of like the Iraq war of the past few years.

 

[Acheron]

I'm not that knowledgeable on the Vietnam war, but why are soldiers from that war looked down upon? I mean, I realize we lost, but there's more to it, I'm sure.

Because the people looking down on them are total shits?

 

[VALIS]

Lessee, in my opinion it was the greatest decade for:
Music
Fashion
Automobiles
Expanding rights and freedoms for numerous groups
Television
Left wing politics
Film (but the 70s are very close)
Anti-war sentiment

Debatable:
Comic books (I'd go with 1950s)
Fiction (tough to pick one decade)
Cartoons (50s again)
Non-conformity (tough call between 60s and 70s)


Shitty decade for:
Vietnam War
remnants of the Cold War
Violent opposition to some of the things in the first column

 

[teruterubozu]

Just finished reading Thomas Frank's "Conquest of Cool."

He says the counterculture was a pure corporate creation by the advertisers on Madison Avenue. "Hippie" was commodified and sold and the Baby Boomers ate it up, thinking they were being rebellious while "The Man" was the one selling them commodified rebellion and profiting. Interesting read. Definitely shows that Volkswagen Love Bug was just as rebellious as a Toyota Prius. Great read for the OWS generation who think the Baby Boomers are a big farce.

 

[Tizoc]

Might want to add Marvel comics, as they started in 1961-1962, and have ushered in a new age for comics.
Also 60s Batman~

 

[Bulbo Urethral Baggins]

A lot of drugs in the 60's.

 

[teruterubozu]

A lot of drugs in the 60's.

Not as much as the Reagan cocaine years. In fact, today's drug empires are massive compared to the two-bit dealers of the 60s. Plus 60s weed was pure crap compared to today's hydroponic chronic.

 

[Steelrain]

I'm not that knowledgeable on the Vietnam war, but why are soldiers from that war looked down upon? I mean, I realize we lost, but there's more to it, I'm sure.

They were demonized as symbols of an unpopular war.

It's really sad considering most were drafted. Thankfully, the American public learned from that.