The 1960's was an intense decade. It was a variety of 'happenings'. So the best thing is to start in 1960. The election of John F Kennedy in November of that year was stupendous!! For one thing, the Catholic barrier was broken down. But there was so much more to JFK than being Catholic--he really was an inspiration to the young people, and they came out in droves and voted for the first time. In the early sixties, the first of the cities to be 'burned' was a housing project in Watts, Los Angeles. The cry was "burn, baby, burn". It echoed across the USA, and before the decade was over, Detroit, Philadelphia, just to name a few cities, all succumbed to the burning. And then came that horrible day in November 22, 1963--our wonderful president was shot to death in Dallas, Texas. The whole world mourned with us. It was a great tragedy.
And of course the Vietnam War!! What a travesty that war was. Millions of people protested our involvement-- fifty thousand men and women killed and wounded, untold Vietnamese people slaughtered, lost their families, lost their land, lost their very sanity. And all for what!! To have the Secretary of Defense, Robert S McNamara, say to the USA and the whole world, that the Vietnam War was wrong, was unncecessary, that we never should have sent troops there. Well, that was twenty years later--thanks for nothing Mr. McNamara!! Maybe your conscience was salved, but it certainly did nothing to offset the untold suffering you caused to so many millions!!
The sixties had violence(three assassinations), we had love(flower children), we had unprecedented good music (the Beatles), and it heralded in the great age of Rock and Roll!! We also had the Peace Marches, that helped break the color barrier a little. In the late sixties, we had the Kent State killings--and opposite that ugly affair, we had WOODSTOCK!! What a great gathering that lovefest was--four days in the rain, fabulous music, and no violence whatsoever!! The world took note, yes indeed, we all took note of that event. And Communes throughout the country were starting to blossom. I think the 1960's had more violence that most decades. In 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated, and two months later, Robert F Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles. But through all this unrest, there was an undercurrent of love--a feeling that there has to be something better. And there was. A few of our friends were already living communally in Oregon--one was my oldest son Bob. He wrote glowingly of his life at the Sunnyridge Commune. It didn't take much prodding for us to leave Phoenix. Lefty received a medical pension from the Telephone Co, we sold our house, and we were on our way with family and friends!!OREGON HERE WE COME!!