Overall, were the Sixties a good decade for America or a bad one?

Answer 1

I was born in 1968 - it was the best decade of all time for America for that reason alone.

Answer 2

I can't say it was a good decade overall, because so many innocent people needlessly lost their lives in Vietnam.

However, it was a time when conventional values were questioned. People actually searched for a better way to live, an alternative to conformity, competition, and pursuit of the dollar.

And some of the progress actually lasted. People now feel freer to question the wisdom of our government's policies. Some, like Ehren Watada, are refusing to fight in Iraq. Prejudice and discrimination still exist, but the civil rights laws are in place, and now we have a Black man making a serious bid for the presidency. Similarly, I doubt that we'd see so many women in office, were it not for the "consciousness-raising" of the sixties.

Some of us who grew up in the sixties learned to listen and respect alternative points of view. Not enough, but some.

Answer 3

History will judge the '60s as the decade that western civilization began the slide into a moral swamp. It was the decade that introduced the idea that any kind of behavior, or philisophy, no matter how rotten and decadent, was perfectly OK. It was the decade when the teachings of the Frankfurt School first took hold in the American university system, a pollution that has flourished ever since because it spread to other levels of education. We are living the result today.

Answer 4

Overall I would say good. The economy was pretty good, wide spread drug use wasn't prevalant in most areas until the last few years. The war kind of put a stain on the decade. Teens starting acting freaky, which was not real good. Overall it was a pretty good time to be young, at least where I lived.

Answer 5

There was social change going on in the 60's that was hard; but the result was good. It was also the decade of the US putting a man on the moon. I'd say it was mixed but definately a notewothy decade.

Answer 6

I was born in the 60's, but remember nothing first hand. I believe it was a decade of the beginning of the end of the US.

Answer 7

The decade of Sex,Drugs, and Rock and Roll!
They were wrong about the Sex.
(the sexual revolution backfired in a plague of desaeses that mutilate and kill you)
They (including that wizard of psycho-babble Timothy Leary)were wrong about the Drugs
(look at all the little Superstars that ODed on Heroine, Coke, and otherwise fried their brains)
Rock and Roll? Well, that was great, but its turned into a bunch of screaming morons that hate everyone or rap that hates everyone.
The sixties sucked, then failed, only helping to creat a generation of spoiled and nestalgic libs that want to return to that stuff.
Yuk!

Answer 8

The Sixties were a very bad situation for the United States of America!!

Answer 9

Incredibly bad - the sexual revolution created a ton of perverts.
All the assassinations, the 1965 immigration law change. It was the decade the communists got their foothold in this country and it has gone downhill ever since.

Answer 10

It was much better than the current decade. Except for the Kennedy assasination, tricky Dick Nixon, and Vietnam, it was great.

Answer 11

One of the worst ever. With the exception of the lunar landing in 1969. The initiation of widespread rampant drug use, The War in Viet Nam escalated throughout the decade, Riots and social unrest. RFK and JFK and MLK assassinated. Ect...