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Landmark Hippy Events

Hippies from A to Z

by Skip Stone

Landmark Hippy Events

Part II

This chapter reviews some of the major events of the hippie movement.
These events defined the nature, objectives and results of our counter-cultural
assault on the establishment. Anyone who participated in these events shared
at least some of the hippy beliefs, and should consider themselves a part
of history.

Antiwar Protests

War does not determine who is right – only who is left.

Bertrand Russell

The strength and power of the Peace movement was nowhere more evident
than during the numerous antiwar protests staged around the country. Students,
teachers, women, children, veterans, writers, singers, activists, pacifists,
radicals, even parents and grandparents took part in the effort to end
the war in Vietnam. Although many of these protesters would never be considered
hippies at home or work, the leaders of this country, and the conservative
elements all chose to derisively label the participants hippies. Indeed
if desiring an end to war and speaking your mind made you a hippy, so be
it. This labeling only served to further divide the country. If hippies
are looked down upon, then by labeling all the protesters thusly, politicians
could safely assume that they didn’t represent the REAL America, and ignore
their opinions.

They could also justify using heavy handed, sometimes brutal tactics
to breakup peaceful demonstrations by denying the required permits to march
or assemble, thereby turning the right to protest into an illegal act.
Many thousands of young people were arrested, and now have criminal records,
and many of those have lifetime scars and injuries as a result of the beatings
they received at the end of a policeman’s baton or a guardmen’s rifle butt.

Millions of mind guerrillas…

Raising the spirit of peace and love, not war.

John Lennon (Mind Games)

Students spearheaded the antiwar movement, since they were the ones
who were being drafted and dying in Vietnam. The SDS, Students for a Democratic
Society, helped organize and coordinate protest activities in cities around
the country. They held teach-ins on university campuses informing students
about what was really happening with the war, and how to protest effectively.

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son.

Creedence Clearwater Revival (Fortunate Son)

Students seeking to avoid the military draft and service in Vietnam
had few options. Student Deferments were cut back drastically. It was next
to impossible to get Conscientious Objector status. Some students burned
their draft cards in protests then evaded the draft by running to Canada.
As veterans came back from ‘Nam, either because their tour was up, or due
to injury, they began to take part in the anti-war movement, and many threw
their medals over the Capitol’s fence.

A thousand people in the street. Singing songs and carrying signs…

Buffalo Springfield (For What it’s Worth)

Almost all the protests were relatively peaceful. Many arrests were
due to the sit-ins taking place on government or private property. Since
Peace was the highly sought goal, peace was the way to achieve it. More
radical elements did try to stir up trouble. This was partly due to desperation,
but also because some radicals had revolutionary ideologies, which required
an armed struggle to succeed. The Black Panthers and the Weathermen struck
fear in the hearts of many with their violent tactics. Most hippies did
not support their dubious methods.

How successful was the anti-war movement? It certainly raised awareness
among all Americans, especially the media. Unfortunately our government
didn’t know how to end it and still save face. So it continued to drag
on, while the peace talks went nowhere.

It was amazing just how many years and casualties it took before the
U.S. government finally stopped the war and withdrew from Vietnam (1973).
Our country was unable to accept defeat, and still refuses to admit just
how big a mistake was made in Vietnam.

This brings up the question, what does it take for the people of a democratic
country to legally protest government policy and be heard and acknowledged
by our elected officials, and not be oppressed and silenced? Since the
voters never get to set policy, how can we change it if we feel it is wrong?
Don’t say to elect someone different! When was the last time a candidate
lived up to his/her campaign promises (what few they bother to make anymore)?

Why do those who protest and those who organize protests automatically
come under government scrutiny, have their private lives invaded, have
a classified file listing their every move, and likely have their personal
correspondence monitored?

These actions serve two purposes. To limit free speech and persecute
those who practice it. This hasn’t changed since the war days. Yes, now
we have the Freedom of Information act, but that hasn’t stopped the federal
and local governments from spying on individuals simply because they speak
their minds, and protest the activities of the government. There are hundreds
if not thousands of government employees who do nothing but monitor and
sift through the personal lives of American citizens.

Why does the government feel so threatened? Well, there are terrorists,
and conspirators, and drug dealers who break laws. But I’m discussing activists
who protest government policies. Nowadays if something is illegal, and
you choose to protest that fact, it is assumed that you are engaged in
or promoting an illegal activity, and therefore warrant closer scrutiny.
Just the act of opposition to government policy is now being looked upon
as illegal activity itself. That puts us one big step closer to dictatorship,
and Big Brother.

We set policy and govern based on numbers, money, and statistics without
regard to the needs and feelings of the people behind the stats. This is
a great failing of our emerging technocratic system. Once upon a time our
justice system actually examined the person who committed a crime and looked
at the circumstances, the person’s contributions to society, testimonies
of friends, etc. before sentencing. Very often people would be let off
with a warning. Now we have mandatory minimum sentences, which treat people
like a statistic, not human beings, thus making a mockery of justice.

We must reform this system before it gets further out of hand. Government
has too much power over individuals. Agencies are given mandates that conflict
with civil rights and the right to privacy. Our leaders seek to protect
their own interests and positions at whatever cost to individual freedom.
This is not how our system is supposed to work. We have it within our power
to change this. The safeguards built into our system by the Bill of Rights
and the legal system must be used to protect our common interests. We must
exercise the power we have been granted. We must become a self-governing
nation, or lose our freedoms to a Police State.

Ken Kesey, the Hell’s Angels and the Acid Tests

You’re either on the bus or off the bus.

Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey, the bestselling author of One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest
and Sometimes A Great Notion, was at the forefront of the Psychedelic Movement.
He participated in some early LSD experiments at Stanford University, and
managed to abscond with some of the drug, which he used to turn-on everyone
he met. At his place in La Honda, California, Kesey hosted a ongoing party
of friends who called themselves the Merry Pranksters.

In 1964, Kesey gathered together his Pranksters and loaded them into
a bus (now an icon of the Hippy movement) with the destination sign reading
Furthur. They took off on an LSD fueled psychedelic cross-country journey
that spanned not just a continent but two social movements, the Beats and
the Hippies. This bringing together of such personalities as Neal Cassady,
Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac with Kesey, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert
(Ram Dass), was a symbolic passing of the torch from one movement to the
other.

Then, one day in August 1965, Hunter S. Thompson (author, Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas), rolled in, escorted by a gang of Hell’s Angels. Kesey welcomed
and treated the Hells Angels as individuals, not representing some kind
of threat. As usual he turned them on to LSD (the first time for them).
Also at Kesey’s place that fateful day were Allen Ginsberg and Richard
Alpert, two of the more gentle philosophers of the beat/hippy/psychedelic
movement. You’d expect some kind of fireworks with such a mix of energies
and ideas.

Incredibly, the Angels fell under Kesey’s spell (like everyone else),
and thus began a long relationship (4 1/2 years) between the Hells Angels
and the Hippy Movement. It was defined by Hell’s Angels providing security
and bodyguards for many hippy events, rock stars and concerts in those
years. There is little doubt the Hell’s Angels were heavily involved in
distributing the drugs that many hippies consumed during that period. The
relationship soured after the disastrous 1969 Altamont concert where they
provided security for the Jefferson Airplane and the Rolling Stones. A
man waving a gun was killed right in front of the stage, by the Angels,
who were absolved of responsibility. The film Gimme Shelter was used in
evidence and it’s clear the Angels were just doing their job in a very
difficult situation. The incident was just one of many violent episodes
that year.

Kesey along with his Merry Pranksters inspired and coordinated the Acid
Tests (see below). Kesey had several brushes with the law, went on-the-lam
in Mexico, and returned to face the music. Kesey and the remaining Pranksters
now take his famous bus on an annual tour around the US and England. They
are followed by an ever growing entourage of hippies.

The Acid Tests

The famous Acid Tests were put on by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters
in the mid-60s in California. These psychedelic happenings evolved into
the San Francisco scene leading up to the Summer of Love. What Kesey did
was mix together music, acid, and light shows into a potent brew of mind-expanding
phantasmagoria. Many attending these acid parties took LSD for the first
time. Word got out and the acid tests drew more and more people.

Kesey promoted the LSD trip as a new way of experiencing everything.
His psychedelic bus, the parties at his house, and the acid tests were
all experiments with mind expanding anarchy. Those who participated in
these events were true adventurers, explorers of the unknown. It’s hard
to measure the impact of these events, but we were soon to see some of
the results surfacing in San Francisco (see below). Kesey eventually held
a graduation ceremony for the core Acid-Test participants. They were given
a certificate verifying they had survived.

The Acid Tests inspired Stewart Brand, who produced the Trips Festival
party in San Francisco in January, 1966. It was a three-day festival of
music at Longshoreman’s Hall with dancing and a light show that would simulate
an LSD experience without LSD. Kesey and the Merry Pranksters showed
up, (along with the Grateful Dead, and lots of real acid) as this was the
most public of the acid tests. The success of this event inspired Bill
Graham to start holding these parties on a regular basis at the Fillmore
Auditorium.

Be-In, San Francisco 1967

It was billed as a Gathering of the Tribes, the First Human Be-In. On
January 14, 1967, 50,000 beautiful people gathered at the Polo Grounds
to listen to Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass),
Dick Gregory, Jerry Rubin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder talk about
life, love, enlightenment and peace. San Francisco rock bands the Grateful
Dead, Jefferson Airplane and Quicksilver Messenger Service entertained
the crowd. The diggers were there handing out free food, some of which
may have been laced with LSD.

This was a highly charged, symbolic event that brought together the
political, spiritual, literary, musical and shamanic leaders of a generation.
At the time it seemed like a good thing to do. Just get together and experience
the vibes. Looking back we can see that it was a chance for us to view
our numbers, to feel our power, to communicate our love, and to outline
the agenda for a movement. That was the subtext. Allen Ginsberg said we
should use our flower power peacefully. Timothy Leary said we should
turn-on, tune-in and drop-out of the social program. Jerry Rubin encouraged
us to get active on the political stage. Ram Dass urged us to Be Here
Now and find enlightenment in the moment. The musicians made us dance
and reminded us that life can be fun.

Many who participated in this seminal event look back and remember a
special light that surrounded them during the Be-In. Inside this collective
experience in the light there was a tremendous feeling of community, togetherness
and oneness. But then the light faded and they found themselves back in
the park, listening to music, separate once again. But that feeling was
to linger as winter led to spring….

Monterey Pop Festival: 1967 June 16-18, 1967

Billed as Music, Love, and Flowers, the Monterey Pop Festival was
that and so much more. Festival attendees were urged to Dress as wild
as you choose. This was the first big rock festival, a showcase for the
West Coast music scene. 200,000 showed up for the three-day non-profit
event in California at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, the site of the
annual Monterey Jazz Festival.

Organized by Lou Adler and John Philips of the Mamas and Papas, with
the help of rock impresario Bill Graham and others, Monterey attracted
the cream of musical acts. It was Paul McCartney who suggested both Jimi
Hendrix and The Who (in their first American concert). Other performers
included Eric Burdon & The Animals, Simon & Garfunkel, Canned Heat,
Big Brother & The Holding Company with Janis Joplin, The Steve Miller
Band, The Byrds, The Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, Buffalo Springfield,
The Grateful Dead, Scott McKenzie, and of course The Mamas & The Papas.

The event turned out to be the biggest rock concert of its day. It was
a prelude to the larger rock festivals to come in later years. The crowd
was treated well, the event was highly organized and ran pretty smooth.
Hawaiian orchids were handed out at the gate, ushers showed people to their
seats, and a special batch of purple Owsley acid was available. A typical
San Francisco light show added to the psychedelic feel of the festival.

For three days the fans were treated to some of the best music by young
creative talents at their peak. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin made rock
history as they both blew the crowd away with music that touched our souls.
Before Monterey, they were almost totally unknown in the U.S. But Janis
Joplin was the first to steal the audience’s heart with her rendition of
Big Mama Thorton’s blues tune, Ball and Chain. No woman singer before
or since has been able to pierce your heart with emotion like Janis.

Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix got in a fight over who would follow
whom. Pete lost the coin toss, so his band went on first, smashing their
guitars, their instruments and the stage for their patented climax. Jimi
needed no such stunts. He wooed the audience with his mastery, his control
over every sound possible from a guitar. His soulful, yet gut wrenching
sound tore through virgin ears and immediately everyone knew, that music
would never be the same. But just to top Townsend, Jimi set his guitar
on fire – after making love to it.

Ravi Shankar played a mesmerizing three-hour set that saw the audience
respond with a very long standing ovation. His performance instantly made
him an icon of Indian music. Some bands like the Byrds and the Mamas and
the Papas were about to breakup, and their performances reflected the discontent.

Monterey Pop was made into a movie which initially had limited success
on its first release. Now it’s considered a classic documentary of the
period thanks to the premiere performances of Janis & Jimi. The Festival
also inspired other promoters to book multiple acts at large outdoor venues,
as the psychedelic rock scene swept the country. It succeeded due to the
professionalism of the organizers. As the precursor to Woodstock, it showed
that there was a big market for outdoor concerts. And it was just the beginning
of a summer to remember….

The Summer of Love: San Francisco, 1967

If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your
hair.


John Phillips/Scott McKenzie (If You’re Going to San Francisco)

San Francisco has always had a different attitude marked by tolerance.
During the late 1950s and early ’60s, it was a bohemian hangout. Jack Kerouac,
Allen Ginsberg and other writers, artists and musicians lived and partied
hard in places like North Beach and across the bay in Berkeley. In 1964,
the University of California in Berkeley was home to the Free Speech Movement.
So it was the perfect setting for a revolution in style, attitude, and
consciousness.

Things really started to develop when Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters
held Acid Tests in the area in 1965. These parties where Electric Kool-Aid
(spiked with LSD), psychedelic music by the likes of the Grateful Dead,
and the first light shows appeared, was the spark that lit a thousand candles.
Those candles lit many more at events like The 1966 Trips Festival which
added guerrilla theater, mime performance, and body paint to the psychedelic
ritual.

By 1967, things were really coming together, the music, the drugs, and
of course thousands of beautiful people. That year started with the Gathering
of the Tribes, the first Human Be-In. Businessmen in the Haight began
to realize that there was something going on in the city that was attracting
thousands of young people. They decided to actively promote the upcoming
summer as The Summer of Love to give business a push.

Made up my mind to make a new start.

Going to California with an aching in my heart.

Someone told me there’s a girl out there

With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair.

Led Zeppelin (Goin’ to California)

San Francisco is one of the most magnificent cities in the world. Golden
Gate Park is the cultural heart and gathering place. Just off the park’s
Panhandle, lies the Haight district. What a scene it was in 1967, with
fabulous psychedelic music, light shows, free flowing drugs, new fashions,
and young people everywhere. Haight-Ashbury tried to accommodate the influx
and developed according to the needs of these cultural pioneers. Many of
these hippies were runaways, and usually broke. Free clinics, free food
(thanks to the Diggers), free clothes and crash pads all helped what was
an overwhelming situation. Since the vibe was loving and sharing, you can
add free sex and drugs into the mix.

But the hype went too far. They started doing Greyhound tours of the
Haight. Small town straights looked out of the bus windows upon something
so alien, it was like visiting a colorful, cosmic zoo, complete with running
commentary. The media played it up, and the kids came in droves to be a
part of the scene.

On June 16th, the Monterey Pop Festival drew national attention by showcasing
the San Francisco sound with groups like the Grateful Dead, Big Brother
and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson
Airplane. Both Janis & Jimi were relatively unknown until their legendary
performances at Monterey. On June 21st the hippies held a Summer Solstice
party in Golden Gate Park. By June 25, the day the Beatles debuted the
song, All You Need Is Love on T.V., 100,000 flower children were gathered
in the Haight-Ashbury area living it. On July 1st, the Beatles LSD inspired
Sgt. Pepper album hit # 1. On July 7th, Time Magazine’s cover story was
The Hippies: The Philosophy of a Subculture. On August 7th, George Harrison
paid the Haight a visit with his wife, Patti. On Aug 26th, Jimi Hendrix’s
Are You Experienced? hit the charts.

Surely something cosmic was happening. (Please read the chapter The
Astrology of the Hippy Movement for a possible explanation of the forces
at work during the summer of 1967).

The Haight at its peak was the center of an LSD fueled revolution in
consciousness, music, art, fashion and lifestyle. The novel experiments
that were tried during these years were not failures. They opened doors
through which we discovered our true selves and our common humanity. Sure
there were bad trips, rip-offs, diseases, run-ins with authority, but these
were isolated incidents and a small price to pay for being part of a revolution.

Within a few years, the media attention moved away, and so did many
of the hippies. Some went back home, some moved to communes around the
state, some traveled to other hippy havens. There was a gradual decline
in the Haight Ashbury area, but today it’s come back somewhat and now it’s
a nostalgic tourist attraction and once again a hippy mecca.

The Democratic Convention: Chicago 1968

Our demonstrations shall be entirely peaceful….

We are not seeking a confrontation.

David Dellinger, leader of National Mobilization to

End the War in Vietnam and planned protests in Chicago.

It was to be a peaceful demonstration against the continuing War in
Vietnam and the fact that the Convention was a farce, since the outcome
had been predetermined. Earlier that year, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert
Kennedy had been assassinated. With our popular, peace loving leaders gone,
the nomination of Hubert Humphrey, and rejection of the peace platform
would be another serious blow to activists.

Each night, America watched as the airwaves broadcast the events from
Chicago. The whole Democratic Convention and the nomination of Humphrey/Muskie
took a back seat to the events unfolding on the streets outside. Yippie
leader, Abbie Hoffman had called for 500,000 protesters to demonstrate
in Chicago. In response, Mayor Daly had 12,000 policemen stationed around
the Convention center. He got another 6,000 National Guard; 7,500 U.S.
army troops; and 1,000 FBI, CIA & other services agents to deal with
only 10,000 unarmed peaceful protesters who showed up.

Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman’s Yippies did threaten to roar like wild
bands through Chicago and spike the city’s water supply with LSD. But
these were just the usual media grabbing pranks they used. Tom Hayden,
Rennie Davis, leaders of the SDS and David Dellinger were the organizers
of the larger protest. All these men were later part of the Chicago Seven
conspiracy trial.

The Whole World is Watching!

Chant on the streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention,
as the police were beating the demonstrators, passersby, and the media,
who broadcast it all.

Apparently, there was a planned conspiracy to teach the demonstrators
a lesson. On the one hand the protesters were ordered out of the park where
they gathered. On the other hand all the streets leading away were blocked
by bayonets and machine guns. It’s clear the strategy was to surround and
beat the shit out of the demonstrators. First hand reports indicate the
unflinching brutality that was meted out not only to the young protesters,
but also to reporters, cameramen, and passersby. Priests and ministers,
and even Allen Ginsberg had come to ensure that the protests were peaceful.
But the anger rose as the police tactics and violence took their toll.
More demonstrators turned out each day, but each day they were met by more
police and National Guardsmen. It was a police riot that appeared on TV
and was witnessed by millions.

Humphrey lost his presidential bid, no thanks to the way the events
in Chicago were handled. Mayor Daly also faced a lot of fallout, and lost
some power. The Yippie and SDS leaders went on trial for conspiracy and
inciting riots. The trial became a stage where Abbie Hoffman and Jerry
Rubin satirized the whole hypocrisy. The conspiracy charges were dropped,
and the inciting a riot convictions were overturned on appeal. The heavy-handed
tactics by law enforcement in Chicago convinced many militant factions
that we were at war. They soon adopted more violent ways, using bombs to
get their message across.

It seems that violence begets violence, and our society is one of the
most violent on the planet. Hippies use non-violent means to protest. However
it has been shown that when the use of force is applied to break-up peaceful
protest, the cycle of violence increases on both sides. Apparently the
powers that be have learned this lesson to some degree. Thanks to the preponderance
of recording devices, and events like the beating of Rodney King, it’s
become somewhat easier to see that the perpetrators of violence are brought
to justice, regardless of what kind of uniform they wear and that the victims
are compensated.

Woodstock 1969

The New York State Freeway’s closed, man. Far out!

Arlo Guthrie at Woodstock

Possibly the most defining moment of the Hippy Movement was the Woodstock
Music Festival, held on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York on Aug 16,
17 & 18, 1969. Despite organizational problems and major hassles, it
lived up to its billing of Three Days of Peace and Music.

This event marked the peak of the flower power/hippie movement. Prior
to Woodstock, there had never been a concert with 70,000 people, much less
500,000. Originally planned to accommodate about 100,000 people, organizers
did their best to deal with the growing horde.

Good morning! What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000.

Wavy Gravy of the Hog Farm

But it was the horde itself, along with a few groups like the Hog Farm
and the Merry Pranksters who kept things under control. There were few
if any policemen on the site, and surprisingly they weren’t needed! There
was no violence either at the festival or in the surrounding communities.
No burglaries either. The worse crime seemed to be trespassing which most
people did to get to and from the site.

We all sang the songs of peace

Melanie (Lay Down)

The big attraction of course, was an outstanding music event. On the
bill were Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Janis Joplin, The Jefferson Airplane,
Crosby Stills & Nash (in their second public performance), The Grateful
Dead, Santana, Joe Cocker, Ravi Shankar, Richie Havens, Creedence Clearwater
Revival and many more popular musicians of the day.

We must be in Heaven!

Wavy Gravy

The flower children didn’t let the heat, rain and mud dampen their enthusiasm.
Like the organizers, they too were unprepared. Some had to walk 20 miles
to get to the site since the N.Y. Thruway was closed. Many didn’t bring
enough food or drink for three days, and it was nearly impossible for trucks
to get to the site to resupply the vendors. To get through, they shared
everything, their food, their drink, their drugs, their shelters, even
their clothes. They stuck it out, got off on drugs and each other, grooved
to some of the best music ever, got lost in space, and found themselves
part of a magical moment in the history of a movement.

The people of this country should be proud of these kids

Bethel Chief of Police

Woodstock, like the sixties themselves can never be repeated again.
Attempts to capture the spirit and feeling fall short, leaving us to wonder
just what was it about this event, and the people involved that made it
so special.

Tragedy at Altamont

On Dec. 9, 1969, the Rolling Stones, put on a free concert to mark the
end of their highly successful American Tour. At the last minute, the location
was changed to Altamont Speedway, a drag strip 40 miles east of San Francisco.
The program included Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash
and Young, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Dead (who decided not to play),
and the Stones.

The poor planning of this event led to some major problems. First, a
raceway is not the best venue. Secondly, the stage was built quickly, and
it was low and close to the audience. Lastly, the Hell’s Angels were chosen
to provide security and were paid with $500 in beer. When 300,000 people
showed for the event, it was very crowded.

The film Gimme Shelter documents some critical events at concert.
It’s clear that the crowd was in an unusual frame of mind for a concert.
The happy, smiling beautiful people seemed to be outnumbered (at least
near the stage) by zombie like space cadets. The scene was tense as the
Angels had their hands full trying to keep people from rushing the stage.
Marty Balin of the Jefferson Airplane got in the middle of things and was
knocked out by an Angel. The overall vibe wasn’t improved when the Rolling
Stones took the stage. Their selection of music included violent songs
like Street Fighting Man and Sympathy for the Devil.

And as I watched him on the stage,

My hands were clenched in fists of rage.

No angel born in Hell,

Could break that Satan’s spell.

And as the flames climbed high into the night,

To light the sacrificial rite,

I saw Satan laughing with delight,

The day the music died.

Don McLean, (American Pie)

During the Stones’ performance, a man started towards the stage waving
a gun. The Angels showed no mercy and the man was killed. Fearing a riot,
the Stones continued their set, but left quickly afterwards. Charges against
the Angels were dropped, as it was justifiable homicide. The Angels were
just doing their job.

The tragedy at Altamont might’ve been avoided with better planning.
Was the fact that it was a free concert contribute to events? Were there
some bad drugs that added to the overall negative vibe? Did the location
at a motor speedway make the situation worse. Was it too crowded? Did Altamont
mark the end of the innocence for the Love Generation? These questions
remain unanswered.

There is no doubt that all the publicity surrounding the concert contributed
to the decline in festival type events. Certainly the relationship between
the Hell’s Angels and the hippies soured.

Kent State Massacre, 1970

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we’re finally on our own.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Ohio)

On April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced that he would expand the
war by invading Cambodia. This set off campus protests nationwide. Being
the good student activist, I attended one at my school. I remember students
getting very angry. I know I felt more emotion than I’d experienced in
a long time. Instead of winding down the war, it seemed like we were getting
deeper. We had been told for years, that unless we win this war, the evil
communist system would spread throughout Southeast Asia. Now it appeared
the domino theory was right, but it was the U.S. doing the invading.

What made students mad was the fact that if the war expanded, our chances
of getting drafted increased. Also it seemed all our protests for years
had been in vain. Nixon and the military machine were going to do whatever
they wanted, regardless of how millions of Americans felt.

All protesters should be put into concentration camps.

Ohio Attorney-General Paul W. Brown

The situation on college campuses was getting serious. But at Kent State
University, in Ohio, a series of events led to the calling in of the National
Guard. Kent State was actually more conservative than other campuses in
Ohio, but the invasion into Cambodia alarmed students everywhere. On May
2nd the ROTC building was torched. Firemen attempting to control the blaze
were stoned, and their hoses slashed. The Guard arrived hours later. The
authorities assumed it was outsiders, particularly the SDS, that was stirring
up trouble. There were anonymous threats to the town’s water supply and
to businesses. Curfews were set and when crowds of students assembled,
the Guardsmen were used to break them up. The governor said he would use
any force necessary to quell the disturbances.

When trouble-makers have long hair, use bad language and go

barefoot and even destroy property, they have to be stopped

Resident of Kent, Ohio after massacre

The students quickly resented the tactics being used against them. They
resisted by having sit-ins, yelling obscenities and a few threw rocks at
the Guardsmen. Students were roughed up and some were bayoneted. On that
fateful May 4th, Guardsmen opened fire for 13 seconds killing 4 students
and injuring 9 more with 61 bullets. The bloody news was on every newspaper’s
front page and TV news broadcast accompanied by the image of a young woman,
kneeling over a student bleeding to death, crying. Her anguished faced
echoed the feelings of a whole generation pleading and questioning…. Why?

More should have been killed.

Resident of Kent, Ohio after massacre

The reaction of students was nationwide. One third of U.S. campuses
were involved in America’s first student strike. One hundred thousand students
marched in Washington D.C. to protest the shootings and the Vietnam War.
On Wall St. in New York, construction workers (hardhats) attacked antiwar
demonstrators. And 10 days after the Kent State massacre, police at Jackson
State killed two students during violent demonstrations.

The four victims did nothing that justified their death.

They threw no rocks nor were they politically radical.

Investigation into the Kent State incident

There were many investigations into the shooting, each reaching different
conclusions. There were claims by the National Guard that there was a sniper,
that they were surrounded, that they were out of tear gas. An FBI investigation
found all these claims were baseless (thousands of pages of this report
are still classified, and unavailable for public view). A county grand
jury whitewashed the event placing all the blame on the students and University
administration, and commending the National Guard’s actions. Ohio’s Governor
refused to testify as to his role, though many held him responsible for
the tragedy.

Some believe the whole event was a criminal conspiracy that involved
many people going way up the federal chain of command. The Nixon Administration’s
reluctance to investigate and subsequent conviction of Attorney General
John Mitchell for obstructing justice, and Nixon’s own Watergate scandal
further supports the contention that this was just one more dirty trick.
Some contend that Yale University was originally the target of the lesson,
but a refusal by the Chief of Police there to cooperate made them choose
Kent State.

…an open wound on the American Conscience.

The Christian Science Monitor

The fallout from the massacre deepened the huge divide between generations.
The War in Vietnam had found its way into America’s heartland. This single
event and the judicial, political, and social response highlighted just
those very things that students were protesting. The insensitivity towards
civil rights, the suppression of legal protest, the resorting to violence
on the part of the government, the politicizing of the judicial process,
the misuse of power, the cover-ups and conspiracies of corrupt leaders
all typified the hypocrisy and lack of ethics in our system.

Eventually a settlement was reached in a civil suit brought against
the guardsmen, the Governor and others by the surviving victims and parents
of the deceased. An apology was issued. A gymnasium was built on the massacre
site despite protests by students and parents of the victims. New rules
now define how law enforcement behaves on college campuses and in confrontations
with protesters. But really, just how much has changed? Has the system
improved, or has it just gotten better at hiding abuses of power?

First Earth Day: 1970

There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.

-Marshall McLuhan

In 1969, the Santa Barbara oil spill shocked the nation as images of
dead seagulls and fish covered in oil splashed across our TV screens and
newspapers. In those days no one was prepared for oil spills. There was
no special equipment to contain the oil, mop it up, clean the beaches,
or save the animals. We could only guess at the long-term consequences
of such spills. New wells were popping up along the California coast. Suddenly,
everyone realized the threat to wildlife, fisheries, and beaches that such
development entailed. It was another unfortunate event that focused America’s
attention on the environment.

Students were already organized to protest the Vietnam War and the draft.
So they were the ones to mobilize for a new cause (it really wasn’t new,
it’s just the timing was right). Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson got the
idea to organize students and hold environmental teach-ins at schools across
the country. Denis Hayes, a Harvard law student was named national coordinator.
The first Earth Day took place on April 22, 1970. Twenty million people
participated, making it the largest organized demonstration in history.

Look at mother nature on the run in the 1970’s

Neil Young (After the Gold Rush)

I remember in New York City, students were let out of classes early
to participate in the many events planned all over the city. They closed
Fifth Avenue to cars for the events. 100,000 people showed up for an ecology
fair in Union Square. There were demonstrations against polluting companies.
Pollution of the land, air and water were primary on the agenda. Some people
organized neighborhood clean-ups and planted trees. Congress shut down
and folk singer Pete Seeger sang at the Washington Monument. Public speeches,
parades, marches, rallies on college campuses, and teach-ins raised awareness
of our imperiled ecosystems.

Earth Day got the ecology ball rolling, and by the end of the year the
Environmental Protection Agency was established and the Clean Air and Clean
Water Acts were passed into law. The momentum continued as new environmental
organizations like Greenpeace and Earth First! were created while membership
in established conservation groups like the Sierra Club mushroomed.

It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but
rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country
and mankind its citizens.


Baha’u’llah

In later years we became aware that the problems of the environment
are global in scale. Overpopulation, ozone depletion, global warming, deforestation,
and species extinction, are serious problems we all share. In response
Earth Day went international, and on the 20th anniversary in 1990, 200
million people in more than 140 countries participated in events that focused
on saving the rainforests, eliminating hazardous wastes, recycling and
acid rain.

President Clinton has bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to
Gaylord Nelson for his concern and involvement in environmental issues.

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