American Institutions
American Civilization 1700
This class is a thorough history of the United States from it's formation to present day. The paper below is one that was written because the instructor wanted me to interview someone that had been a part of a historical event. I chose a friend of mine who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, a very tumultuous time in American history.
A Hippie's Perspective of the 1960's and 1970's
American Civilization
Cauleen Hansen
The 60s and 70s were a very tumultuous time in history: Beatlemania was at a fever pitch, hippies were protesting, and a President was assassinated. Disco came and went: the bloody Vietnam war was fought. Moral standards were evolving. From the clothes people wore to the music they listened to: 'the times, they were a-changing.'
My friend, Dan Weems, born in 1955, was a child and teen during this time. As a self-professed hippie, (even to this day) he offers a unique perspective on this intriguing time in American history.
One of the most important events was President John Kennedy's assassination. Here is Dan's story of that fateful day:
It was the year 1963. Dan was in the 4th grade and was actually in class when an announcement came over the intercom: “President Kennedy has been shot.” Class stopped as some kids sat in shock. Others started to cry. Teachers led the students in prayer. For the next two weeks, all Dan saw and heard was about the Kennedy assassination. While he realized the event was important, the full significance of the event did not hit him until a few years later.
A little over a week after the shooting, the man who shot him, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed on live TV by Jack Ruby. Dan witnessed this event via the TV. He remembers Oswald talking as he was loaded into the ambulance, Oswald moaning and angry that he had been shot. Dan was upset that there was no regular TV, all programming was devoted to the assassination.
The very next year, another historic event happened: the Beatles came to the United States. This was a significant event in Dan's life as their music influences him to this day. He stayed home from Sunday school to watch them on the Ed Sullivan Show. The first song they played was the first Beatles song Dan ever heard. They sang I Wanna Hold Your Hand. From then on, he was hooked. He recalls watching the girls screaming and fainting. At times the girls were screaming so loud, Dan couldn't hear the Beatles sing.
Dan became fascinated with the band. He had the Beatle boots, records, posters, lunch pails. He even had the Beatles haircut. Dan feels that they changed not only his world but the whole world in how people looked, spoke, dressed. It was the first time he remembers sharing something with his older brother. The landscape of Rock and Roll had forever changed.
Another thing that changed in the 1960's was the media coverage of wars. Before, people went to the theaters and watched the news on newsreels. With the Vietnam war, you saw it on your TV every night in your own home. Dan recalls sitting around the dinner table with his family discussing the war. His dad and grandfather served in wars, so they were very pro-government. Dan spent the last part of the Vietnam war years worried that he would be drafted, and was relieved when he was not picked.
Dan was not immune to the effects of the war, though. Living in a small town (Ajo, AZ) everybody knew everybody. Two of his friends were drafted into the war. One of them, Bill, stepped on a land mine. Sadly, even though Bill was recovering nicely, a blood clot came loose and killed him. His other friend was shot repeatedly and died on the battlefield.
Dan was a firm believer in equal rights. One incident he witnessed was a segregated schedule for a swimming pool. The white people swam Saturday through Tuesday. The pool would then be drained and refilled so Mexicans and Indians could use it on Wednesday and Thursday. It was then re-drained and refilled.
Another incident happened in Dysart, AZ. Dan was at an outbuilding at the high school walking around when a group of blacks cut off his path. One of the youths asked him if the liked the band the Jackson 5. Dan, while having nothing against the Jacksons personally, did not like the band's music. When he replied “Hell no,” it looked like he was going to get beat up. He quickly ran off a list of other black musicians he did like: Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Havens, and a few others. The youth then said,”He's cool, he's just a hippie rocker.” Dan saved himself a beating that day.
Dan also did a lot of protesting in the late '60s and early 70's. He would go to free concerts that supported equal rights and protested the war. He would show up and be given signs to hold up and t-shirts to wear.
One protest he participated in in 1970 was when he literally walked into a protest by accident. Dan was in a movie theater watching Little Fauss and Big Halsy. When the movie ended he walked out of the theater and into a large group of people. He wasn't sure what they were protesting about and doesn't think even the crowd knew what was exactly being protested. As more and more people joined, the police showed up in full riot gear to attempt to control the crowd.
Dan and others threw bottles at the cops; the cops responded by throwing tear gas cans into the crowd. People would put a t-shirt over their faces and toss them back to the cops. A couple of bottles that were thrown bounced off the marquee and hit the cop car, busting out some of the windows. The cops would back the crowd up a block; the crowd would reorganize and come back to the theater. After eight hours of this, there were few people left (most had gone home) and the rest left, including Dan.
When the 60s started, Dan was a young innocent kid. By the end of the Vietnam war, he had heard and witnessed terrible, shocking, wondrous, and strange events. Through it all, Dan did what he could to make the world a better place and always stood up for what he believed in. He is proud to be a part of the movements that helped end the Vietnam war. If only we could all be like that....
As a hippie, Dan has a different perspective on that time than a conservative politician would. Of course, he has a certain bias to his story as he was pro-civil rights and anti-war advocate. If he had served in the war, his perspective might be totally different-or not. His experiences are very important in the overall view of history.
As an American citizen, Dan witnessed a huge changing point in America's history. By keeping his memories alive, we can hope to avoid the mistakes of the past and have hope for a better tomorrow. Dan himself hopes that his children, Lennon McCartney Weems, and Harrison Starr Weems, pick up some of the ethics of those times.
Cauleen Hansen
The 60s and 70s were a very tumultuous time in history: Beatlemania was at a fever pitch, hippies were protesting, and a President was assassinated. Disco came and went: the bloody Vietnam war was fought. Moral standards were evolving. From the clothes people wore to the music they listened to: 'the times, they were a-changing.'
My friend, Dan Weems, born in 1955, was a child and teen during this time. As a self-professed hippie, (even to this day) he offers a unique perspective on this intriguing time in American history.
One of the most important events was President John Kennedy's assassination. Here is Dan's story of that fateful day:
It was the year 1963. Dan was in the 4th grade and was actually in class when an announcement came over the intercom: “President Kennedy has been shot.” Class stopped as some kids sat in shock. Others started to cry. Teachers led the students in prayer. For the next two weeks, all Dan saw and heard was about the Kennedy assassination. While he realized the event was important, the full significance of the event did not hit him until a few years later.
A little over a week after the shooting, the man who shot him, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed on live TV by Jack Ruby. Dan witnessed this event via the TV. He remembers Oswald talking as he was loaded into the ambulance, Oswald moaning and angry that he had been shot. Dan was upset that there was no regular TV, all programming was devoted to the assassination.
The very next year, another historic event happened: the Beatles came to the United States. This was a significant event in Dan's life as their music influences him to this day. He stayed home from Sunday school to watch them on the Ed Sullivan Show. The first song they played was the first Beatles song Dan ever heard. They sang I Wanna Hold Your Hand. From then on, he was hooked. He recalls watching the girls screaming and fainting. At times the girls were screaming so loud, Dan couldn't hear the Beatles sing.
Dan became fascinated with the band. He had the Beatle boots, records, posters, lunch pails. He even had the Beatles haircut. Dan feels that they changed not only his world but the whole world in how people looked, spoke, dressed. It was the first time he remembers sharing something with his older brother. The landscape of Rock and Roll had forever changed.
Another thing that changed in the 1960's was the media coverage of wars. Before, people went to the theaters and watched the news on newsreels. With the Vietnam war, you saw it on your TV every night in your own home. Dan recalls sitting around the dinner table with his family discussing the war. His dad and grandfather served in wars, so they were very pro-government. Dan spent the last part of the Vietnam war years worried that he would be drafted, and was relieved when he was not picked.
Dan was not immune to the effects of the war, though. Living in a small town (Ajo, AZ) everybody knew everybody. Two of his friends were drafted into the war. One of them, Bill, stepped on a land mine. Sadly, even though Bill was recovering nicely, a blood clot came loose and killed him. His other friend was shot repeatedly and died on the battlefield.
Dan was a firm believer in equal rights. One incident he witnessed was a segregated schedule for a swimming pool. The white people swam Saturday through Tuesday. The pool would then be drained and refilled so Mexicans and Indians could use it on Wednesday and Thursday. It was then re-drained and refilled.
Another incident happened in Dysart, AZ. Dan was at an outbuilding at the high school walking around when a group of blacks cut off his path. One of the youths asked him if the liked the band the Jackson 5. Dan, while having nothing against the Jacksons personally, did not like the band's music. When he replied “Hell no,” it looked like he was going to get beat up. He quickly ran off a list of other black musicians he did like: Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Havens, and a few others. The youth then said,”He's cool, he's just a hippie rocker.” Dan saved himself a beating that day.
Dan also did a lot of protesting in the late '60s and early 70's. He would go to free concerts that supported equal rights and protested the war. He would show up and be given signs to hold up and t-shirts to wear.
One protest he participated in in 1970 was when he literally walked into a protest by accident. Dan was in a movie theater watching Little Fauss and Big Halsy. When the movie ended he walked out of the theater and into a large group of people. He wasn't sure what they were protesting about and doesn't think even the crowd knew what was exactly being protested. As more and more people joined, the police showed up in full riot gear to attempt to control the crowd.
Dan and others threw bottles at the cops; the cops responded by throwing tear gas cans into the crowd. People would put a t-shirt over their faces and toss them back to the cops. A couple of bottles that were thrown bounced off the marquee and hit the cop car, busting out some of the windows. The cops would back the crowd up a block; the crowd would reorganize and come back to the theater. After eight hours of this, there were few people left (most had gone home) and the rest left, including Dan.
When the 60s started, Dan was a young innocent kid. By the end of the Vietnam war, he had heard and witnessed terrible, shocking, wondrous, and strange events. Through it all, Dan did what he could to make the world a better place and always stood up for what he believed in. He is proud to be a part of the movements that helped end the Vietnam war. If only we could all be like that....
As a hippie, Dan has a different perspective on that time than a conservative politician would. Of course, he has a certain bias to his story as he was pro-civil rights and anti-war advocate. If he had served in the war, his perspective might be totally different-or not. His experiences are very important in the overall view of history.
As an American citizen, Dan witnessed a huge changing point in America's history. By keeping his memories alive, we can hope to avoid the mistakes of the past and have hope for a better tomorrow. Dan himself hopes that his children, Lennon McCartney Weems, and Harrison Starr Weems, pick up some of the ethics of those times.