1960s: A cultural revolution
http://news.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=47&a=374190
12/6/2008
By Sarah Shonyo and Jay Furst
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
Ask not what decade of the 20th century had the most profound effect
on current American politics and culture: Most people would say the
1960s, with its generational changes, civil rights conflicts and
victories, the political traumas of assassination and a disastrous
war, the growing influence of TV, rock music and pop culture, the
moon shots -- we live in a world that was shaped by people and events
of the '60s, and that decade's impact will persist as long as the
baby boomers remain in control.
Minnesotans played leading roles in the history of the '60s, from the
highest echelons of political power to the poet of the streets, a
folk singer from the Iron Range who wrote the songs that defined the era
The fight for civil rights
The fight for racial equality didn't begin in the 1960s but it
reached decisive milestones, with leading political support by
Minnesota Democrats, especially Hubert Humphrey. Their efforts
succeeded with passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 as well as the
Voting Rights Act.
Roy Wilkins, a black journalist with St. Paul roots, was a notable
civil rights activist who strongly encouraged legislative rather than
militant means of change. Wilkins conferred with Presidents Kennedy
and Johnson regarding the impending Civil Rights Act and, in addition
to serving as executive director of the NAACP, was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1967 for his dedication to the cause.
Get clean for Gene
The Vietnam War commanded the nation's attention for two decades and
through the course of five presidencies before coming to a dismal end
in 1976. The United States' involvement in the war produced little
opposition until the mid-1960s, when combat deaths climbed
dramatically and Americans began questioning the war's value and rationale.
U.S. Sen. Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota was one of the era's most
vocal anti-war politicians. McCarthy announced his bid for the
presidency in 1967 in response to President Johnson's handling of the
Vietnam War.
"I am concerned that the Administration seems to have set no limit to
the price it is willing to pay for a military victory," McCarthy said
in announcing his candidacy.
His strong second-place finish in New Hampshire persuaded Johnson to
drop out of the race, and McCarthy then competed with Vice President
Humphrey and Sen. Robert Kennedy as well for the nomination. After a
season of devastating national traumas -- the assassinations of the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and RFK, and the continued crisis in
Vietnam -- Humphrey captured the nomination but was narrowly defeated
in November by Richard Nixon.
In the end, Minnesotans played an important role in galvanizing
opposition to the war.
Young people speak up
Opposition to the war was strongest on college campuses nationwide
and Minnesota's colleges and universities were no exception. Students
at Mankato State held candlelight vigils, marched in silent protests
and U.S. 169 and the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Former Mankato State
President James Nickerson remembers days where more students were out
protesting the war than sitting in class.
In 1968, about 400 Moorhead State students rallied against the
presence of armed forces recruiters on campus. Just two years later,
Moorhead students voted to strike in expression of sympathy for the
students killed in the Kent State protests.
Minnesota-made music and art reflected the unrest of the time. Bob
Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth in 1941, was the leading voice
of social protest among folk and rock artists of the time. Dylan
first tried out his voice and songwriting in Dinkytown coffeehouses
in Minneapolis; by 1963, his song "Blowin' in the Wind" was described
as the anthem of the civil rights movement and the growing opposition
to the war.
Minnesota plays ball
In the midst of the political and social strife of the 1960s,
Minnesota moved into the big leagues in pro sports.
The Minnesota Twins got their start in 1961 when the Washington
Senators moved to the Twin Cities and played at Metropolitan Stadium
in Bloomington. Team President Calvin Griffin proposed the name Twin
Cities Twins in an effort to include fans from both Minneapolis and
St. Paul; the name was rejected by the league on the grounds of being
too generic.
The Minnesota Vikings also began play that year, as the National
Football League's 14th franchise. The Vikings' first season was a
huge success. Ticket sales reflected an average attendance at
85-percent capacity at Met Stadium, and the team gained its share of
cold-weather character, leading to the first of four futile Super
Bowl appearances in January 1970.
The 1960s in Minnesota saw a continued trend toward suburban living
and an exodus of middle-class residents in the center cities.
Discontent over taxes and public education during the 1960s would
lead to major reform in the early 1970s known as the Minnesota Miracle.
--
Sarah Shonyo is a Rochester freelance writer and Jay Furst is the
Post-Bulletin's managing editor.
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1960s: 10 key events
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=31&a=374189
12/6/2008
1961: BIRTH OF PURPLE PRIDE
Before I begin, let me just say that putting this list together for
the 1960s was like shooting fish in a barrel -- what a decade!
Minnesota entered the biggest of big leagues on Sept. 17, 1961, when
the Vikings took the field at Metropolitan Stadium against the
Chicago Bears. Thus began 47 years of championship futility. The
Minnesota Twins also opened for business in that year.
1963: 'THE FREEWHEELIN' BOB DYLAN'
Born in Duluth, raised in Hibbing, transformed into Bob Dylan at the
U of M in 1959-61, gone to Greenwich Village in February '61, played
for Woody Guthrie at the psych hospital, cut a record, cut a second
record (named above) in May '63 and with everything else in the air
-- the Rev. Martin Luther King's civil rights march on Washington a
few months later, JFK's death a few months after that -- Dylan's
breakthrough album revealed him as a major American artist and a hero
of his generation.
1963: SIR TYRONE GUTHRIE PICKS MINNEAPOLIS
The English theater impresario could have picked San Francisco,
Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee and even Waltham, Mass., but
he chose Minneapolis and the repertory theater he established put the
city on the national theater map.
1964: BORDER COUNTRY WILDERNESS PROTECTED
The Wilderness Act of 1964 created the National Wilderness
Preservation System, which validated what Minnesotans have long
known, that the wild canoe country along the Canadian border is priceless.
1964: MORE MINNESOTANS HEADED TO VIETNAM
When Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in August, the
United States was fully committed to a disastrous war in Vietnam.
About 1,050 Minnesotans would die before it was over.
1967: AN ATTEMPT AT METROWIDE PLANNING
With the Twin Cities spreading out in all directions, local and state
leaders thought it would be a good idea to have a regional planning
and quasi-governmental agency to guide it. Has the Metropolitan
Council worked out as planned? Take a look at the cities now; it
could have worked better, but imagine the metro area without it.
1967: MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO MAKES AIRWAVES
In January '67, a radio station went on the air at Saint John's
University in Collegeville, with a broadcasting director by the name
of William H. Kling. Some 41 years later, the public broadcasting
empire that got its start among the Benedictines in central Minnesota
is one of the state's greatest cultural institutions and a force for
quality public radio nationwide, still led by Kling.
1968: MINNESOTANS' DREAMS GET CLEANED
In February, Sen. Eugene McCarthy -- another product of Saint John's
-- challenged the president for the Democratic nomination. LBJ beat
him in New Hampshire; by March, Johnson quit the race, putting two
Minnesota political giants, McCarthy and Vice President Hubert
Humphrey, on a collision course. By year's end, the dreams of both
men were dashed.
1968: NEW MOVEMENT FOR NATIVE AMERICANS
The American Indian Movement had its genesis in Minnesota, especially
in the urban "Indian Country" along Franklin Avenue in south Minneapolis.
1969: MINNESOTAN ASCENDS TO CHIEF JUSTICE
As an ironic coda to a decade dominated by Minnesota liberals,
President Nixon chose St. Paul native Warren Burger for chief justice
of the U.S. Supreme Court. Burger led the court in a far more
conservative direction.
-- Jay Furst, managing editor
.
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