Very interesting first hand account. You were right in the middle of it all.
I was always under the impression that Bohemians became hippies, but it sounds like they were an older crowd.
I consider myself fortunate. I was born in 1961, so by the time I was old enough to care about anything more substantial than baseball, it was 1974. I remember thinking then that the behavior was goofy. Now I think it was irresponsible and dangerous.
And your peers are part of why I don't like "Boomers" encompassing 20 years, or esp. why I don't like '70s "Children" being lumped in w/the '60s "Children".
You all were very different.
And I don't believe - never have - the tripe about the '70s Children being the "Me" generation. BS. Talk about the Pot calling the Kettle black. There was no bigger ME generation than the hippies '60s gen. (And I repeat, that's not ALL "Boomers".)
Exactly. The Bohemian crowd had already graduated from school, or dropped out, or were kicked out. They were in their hey day in the late 50s and early 60s. They were mostly artists and writers and liberal arts type who couldn't find jobs.
The Free Speech Movement didn't start until early 1964. They used some of the Bohemian hangouts until they drove the Bohemians out, or made life so uncomfortable that the Bohemians got real jobs and left the scene or hung on at the fringes of the younger group. Actually, the Bohemians had renamed themselves Beatniks in the late 50s after Russia launched Sputnik. The anti-war protesters followed right along and latched on to the Free Speech Movement and all the groups morphed into one -- Bohemian, Beatnik, Free Speech, Filthy Speach, Black Panthers, Hippies, Flower Children, Yippies, Weathermen, Chicago Seven, etc.
It was interesting that the beginning -- the Free Speech Movement -- was rather short lived. That began because of some dispute over an arcane decision backed by the Board of Regents that was run by Gov. Ronald Reagan. I never understood the details, except that the protesters didn't like Reagan. The Regents and the University quickly solved their problem but the protesters were enjoying the notoriety and continued the distruptions -- now calling themselves the Filthy Speech Movement -- protesting their "right" to use obnoxious language in public any time they felt like it. That is where they lost most of the town, but they didn't stop there. There was the bosomy young woman who insisted on wearing a see-through bouse to the public library without any underwear on underneath. She got arrested and got her picture in the paper several times, much to the protesters' glee. These groups had two things in common: the use of illegal, mind-altering drugs and promiscuous sex. Of course they used their wild clothes and anti-establishment behavior to garner attention from the media and the normal people.
Sometimes I think the draft protests were just a cover to gain sympathy from regular folks who were just trying to do their jobs, go about their business, and raise their families. It was pretty hard to feel good about cracking down on these young folks who could be sent overseas on a moment's notice. This was especially hard on the police and the National Guard who were called in regularly to keep order.
But in truth, many leaders and members of the "movement" were never in danger of being drafted. Some were ineligible for medical reasons, or age. Many were women who were never going to be drafted, but were just along for the excitement and the drugs and sex, IMO. There had been a movie that came out a few years earlier, "Where the Boys Are", and I think that explains the involvement of many of the women -- especially the younger ones.
The invention and approval of the "pill" in 1962 or 1963 fueled the promiscuity too. No one had to exercise self control or responsibility any more. Of course the pill did not always work, so legalized abortion was the next frontier that was crossed. That got through in CA because of scare stories that were floated in the media about rape and incest and back alley coat hanger abortions and that is the reason Reagan signed the bill. Of course the procedure was used for every reason in the book and within a couple of years the number of abortions exceeded the number of live births in CA. From that has stemmed the huge rise in infertility we see today.
Gov. Reagan often stated that signing that bill (which preceeded Roe v. Wade) was the biggest mistake of his Governorship. I think the Gov. signed the abortion bill (which was restricted to rape, incest, life or health of the mother, but was interpreted to mean abortion on demand) in 1967. It's hard to remember all the details without looking them up! This is also the period when academic excellence fell by the wayside, and grade inflation began to be the norm. Professors started giving B averages for shoddy work in order to allow those who were enrolled in school to keep their draft deferments. The idea was floated that if the kid was smart enough to be admitted to the university, he was surely smart enough to graduate -- even if he did not do the work. There actually was a law suit a few years ago in the Academic Senate at Stanford University brought by the Math and Engineering professors against this policy. The were voted down, and it's pretty hard to get less than a B at Stanford. Perhaps this is the reason Chelsea Clinton could wander all over the world with her parents instead of actually attending class and still graduate. ???
It was also the same period when the rabble rousers floated the idea in California that they did not need official state's residence to be eligible for a tuition break -- sort of the "think method". If the student CONSIDERED himself a state resident, he was eligible for the tuition break, according to their reasoning, even if he'd only just arrived within the state borders. I moved away about that time, so I don't know if that policy was ever actually adopted, but they argued long and hard about it. Many of these lackluster students grew up to run our universities and public schools today, unfortunately.
It was a hard time for everyone, particularly the town that had to endure it. The property destruction was disgraceful. I'm sure that the same stories could be written about Madison, Ann Arbor, Cambridge, etc.