I was 10 years-old in 1963. TV was safe. Schools were safe. The streets were safe. But when the race riots took place and the hippies started their crap and JFK and MLK were killed, it seems like things started to go bad in a hurry.
My dad told me that he went into the army in ‘67 and while he served stateside, he saw more chaos in this country than any other period previously. His hometown of Newark, home to the second largest shopping district in the east coast, burned and never recovered. When he did see action, it was in the streets of Washington DC during the MLK riots.