No, but it was the "flower children" who got all the good press. The book The Greening of America became a catch-phrase, while "The Blueing of America" never made the nightly news. The premise of the latter was that if all those hippies from the upper middle class wanted to reject the opportunities offered by America, the children of the lower middle and working classes would be only to happy to step in.
Of course, the children of the upper middle class didn't quite, quite reject their prerogatives (their sense of entitlement was already highly developed) and today dominate "the chattering classes" -- the media, the universities, many government agencies. Tyrrell is quite good on the "coat-and-tie radicals" (in his phrase) vs. the "penny-loafer conservatives": Sixties to the Finish. The battle lines drawn up during the Vietnam War are still there, and the battle is engaged once again.
A legitimate observation.
Of course, the children were abetted by the freedom afforded by the now omni-present automobile, the emergent diversion of television and an ebullient economy that afforded a college education even to the least of us, if we were willing to work.
The easy vices of mobility and cheap amusement, experienced away from home, without any particular responsibility set a high proportion on the track to self-obsession.
It was truly a benighted age. The least of us, who had to work our way through college, may have benefitted far more than the so-called best of us.
I agree, the so called "greatest generation" fought in WWII and were the managers of the Vietnam War. When they got their health care nailed down, they retired to their Leisuretowns and Sun Cities, leaving the culture in the hands of their children.
No, See Rush
"College freshmen who call themselves liberals outnumbered conservatives by about three to one in 1971;
Compared to today
"now the figures are roughly even. 'Young voters are also more supportive of President Bush than the public at large,'.
I fault the greatest generation with ceding the entire 60's to their children.
Agreed, If they would have only cut off the checks after high school
"I fault the greatest generation with ceding the entire 60's to their children."
Not quite. More like spoiling them rotten. ROTTEN - that's the key word.
Is it any coincidence this was the 1st generation that was largely raised - by the so-called "greatest" gen - on the stupid, illogical & unnatural theories of Dr Spock who was so popular? Why doesn't any1 study THAT effect?