Some must have felt that President Johnson's decision not to run for re-election was, in large part, a victory for the movement. For others, it was an impetus to turn to radical politics or escape to the nether world of hallucinogens and other drugs. To many of draft age, the movement against the war and the authority figures who perpetrated it was a desperate struggle that pushed young people to join the political process in a big way. And this gave the world a sense of hope that it has rarely had, a sense that where there is wrong, there are always people who will expose it and try to change it.'Ī well-organized anti-war movement attracted a large segment of the populace, with mass demonstrations not just here but around the world. Mark Kurlansky echoes Dean when he writes: 'The thrilling thing about the year 1968 was that it was a time when significant segments of population all over the globe refused to be silent about the many things that were wrong with the world. We felt like we were all in it together.' The Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act.

Just two weeks ago in Iowa, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean recalled the '60s: 'When I was 21 years old, it was the end of the civil rights era, and America had paid an enormous price. Many of us are still haunted by the events of 1968. By Reviewed Kunio Francis Tanabe January 11, 2004īy Mark Kurlansky.

1968 by Mark Kurlansky