In the mid 60s the worlds youth became more aware of social issues such as war and starvation through mediums such as television. A widespread social conscience began to develop. The youth found many causes such as anti-poverty, anti-censorship, anti-war and anti-establishment to rally behind. Many students protested against the Vietnam War, which would drag on until 1975. In 1967 thirty-five thousand peace protesters marched to the steps of the Pentagon to be met by a wall of raised rifles. A protester stepped from the crowd and started to place pink carnations in the barrels.

Attention was sought through picket lines, petitions and protest marches many acquiring media coverage. Returning from a rally on the Berkeley campus, one student reported that the demonstration had been a disappointment, "We didn't get a single TV camera!" She cried. Harold Taylor, once the president of Sarah Lawrence College, observed: "The student has become the most powerful invisible force in the reform of education -- and, indirectly, in the reform of American society."

Many people believe that only political activist students marched and protested however at the majority of colleges and universities there were no student demonstrations against anything. In the mid-60’s, at a small American liberal arts college in Illinios, undergraduates actually staged a rally to protest the lack of protest.

Last updated: June 01, 2003

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