The 1960’s

1. The 1960’s

2. The sixties were the age of youth, as • 70 million children from the post-war baby boom became teenagers and young adults. The movement away from the conservative fifties continued and eventually resulted in revolutionary ways of thinking and real change in the cultural fabric of American life. No longer content to be images of the generation ahead of them, young people wanted change. The changes affected education, values, lifestyles, laws, and entertainment. Many of the revolutionary ideas which began in the sixties are continuing to evolve today.

3. ARCHITECTURE • Architecture in the sixties was undergoing a refinement of Modernism and a move to an even more streamlined contemporary look. Tall buildings or skyscrapers created a distinctly American structural type. Architects such as Philip Johnson, and John Burgee, of Johnson & Burgee (Kline Biological Tower), are some of the architects who designed office buildings which helped create a different look for the skylines of large cities. Architects used light and space, for example the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library by I.M. Pei , to create buildings which were adapted for the activities which took place in them. The influence of space and futuristic design was apparent in some public buildings like the NASA complex at Houston, Texas . Eero Saarinen created the Memorial Arch in St. Louis, Missouri in 1965. Walter Gropius designed the Pan Am Building (now called the Met Life Building) in 1963 with PietroBelluschi and Emery Rothe & Sons. Louis I. Kahn in his Kimbell Art Museum of Ft. Worth and other buildings brought a feeling of austerity to American architecture. Robert Venturi wrote Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture in 1966 and called for a change in the reductive simplicity of Modernism, beginning a protest in the late 60's. Perhaps one of the most well known and influential architects whose career began to rise in the sixties is I. M. Pei . Peter Eisenman and Frank O. Gehry are architects who have become world famous for their distinctive designs and who began making names for themselves during this time. Designers like Herman Miller left their mark on furnishings. Sleek contemporary styles like those by Verner Panton have translated well into future decades of furniture.

4. EDUCATION • EDUCATION • During the sixties, college campuses became centers of debate and scenes of protest more than ever before. Great numbers (statistics) of young adults, baby boomers, reaching military draft age (selective service) and not yet voting age (minimum voting age did not become 18 until 1971), caused a struggle which played out on many campuses as the country became more involved (timeline) in the Vietnam War. The generation gap became a growing phenomenon. • In 1966, James S. Coleman, commissioned by the government, published Equality of Educational Opportunity, a landmark study that led the way to forced integration and busing in the 1970s. • Problems in secondary schools, discovered in the fifties, were being addressed in books such as James B. Conant's The American High School Today. A return to the teaching of basic thinking skills was seen to be part of the solution. In grade schools across the nation, phonics made a come back as reading specialists try to fix what went wrong in American education in the fifties

5. MUSIC IN 1960’S • MUSIC • In 1960, Elvis returned to the music scene from the US Army, joining the other white male vocalists at the top of the charts; Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, Del Shannon and Frankie Avalon. America, however, was ready for a change. The Tamla Motown Record Company came on the scene, specializing in black rhythm and blues, aided in the emergence of female groups such as Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and Aretha Franklin, as well as some black men, including Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and the Temptations. Bob Dylan helped bring about a folk music revival, along with Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary. The Beach Boys began recording music that appealed to high schoolers. The Beatles, from England, burst into popularity with innovative rock music that appealed to all ages. The Righteous Brothers were a popular white duo who used African American styling to create a distinctive sound. • There was a major change in popular music in the mid-1960's, caused in part by the drug scene. Acid Rock, highly amplified and improvisational, and the more mellow psychedelic rock gained prominence. When the Beatles turned to acid rock, their audience narrowed to the young. Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead grew out of the counterculture in 1967. The musical phenomena of the decade was Woodstock, a three day music festival that drew 400,000 hippies and featured peace, love, and happiness...and LSD. Folk music contributed to the counterculture.

6. SPORTS • Three Olympic Games were held during the sixties. In 1960, the winter games were held in Squaw Valley, the summer games were held in Rome. Some of the outstanding athletes in the 1960 games were, David Jenkins, gold in figure skating and Carol Heiss, gold in figure skating. The US ice hockey team also won the gold medal in these winter olympics. In Rome during the1960 games, among the US gold medalists were: world record setting Otis Davis, 400m, and olympic record setting Glenn Davis, 400m hurdles, William Nieder, shot put, and Al Oerter, discus. Wilma Rudoph won gold in both the 100m and 200m runs. Muhammad Ali won gold as a light heavyweight boxer. The women's 400m relay and the men's basketball team won gold, too. In 1964, the winter games were held in Innsbruck, Austria, and the summer games were held in Tokyo. Highlights for the US team were at the summer games where medalists included world records for Bob Hayes, 100m, olympic records for Henry Carr, 200m, Billy Mills, 10,000m, Dallas Long, shot put, and Al Oerter, discus. WyomiaTyus, 100m, and Edith McGuire, 200m, were gold medal women athletes. Once again the men's basketball team won gold and the men's 400m relay team set a world record. Don Schollander won two gold medals in the 100m and 400m freestyle swim. In 1968, the winter games were held in Grenoble France and the summer games were held in Mexico City. Figure skating champion Peggy Fleming won gold for her performance in Grenoble. In Mexico City, the men's track and field efforts were rewarded with world records for Jim Hines, 100m, Tommie Smith, 200m, Lee Evans, 400m, and the men's 400m relay team. Al Oerter set a third olympic record in the discus throw. WyomiaTyus set a world record in the 100m run, and the women 's 400m relay team set a world record. Debbie Meyer won 3 golds for 200, 400 and 800m freestyle swimming events.

7. The first debate for a presidential election was televised. It was between Senator John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. Nixon seemed nervous, but Kennedy stood tall. The debate on TV changed many people's minds about Kennedy. • This year NASA sent up ECHO, the first communications satellite to be seen with the naked eye. • American "U2" spy plane shot down over the USSR. • The Olympic Games were held in Rome and Wilma Rudolf won three gold medals