Compared to others, America is a young country, a baby in many eyes. Despite its age though, The US has gone through some amazing changes through its historical events. Some of the events were large, such as the Revolutionary war and the civil war. Others meanwhile, were more subtle, like the Watergate scandal. Five events stand out as being the most important in Shaping America into what it is today. They are: the counterculture movement, the scandal at Watergate, World War One, the Holocaust, and the making of the Atomic bomb.
#5: The counterculture movement. It began in the 1960’s as teens started to question the value system of the government. They turned away from the materialistic views of the older generation to make their own society, a kind of Utopia. Many of these teens had a higher education, were white, and from the upper and middle classes. Teens formed their own self sustained communities, growing their own food, and practicing different kinds of religious beliefs outside of the Judeo-Christian traditions. Drug use was very common, because it was thought to expand the mind and a person’s conscious.
Clothing and Hair trends changed in this era also. The norm for hair length became longer while clothes were looser, the patterns bright and simple. The psychedelic tie dye pattern became popular during this age too, probably due to the drug use and so the hippies needed an easy way to entertain themselves. The largest of these communities was Haight-Ashbury, which is located in San Francisco.
The sixties and the counterculture movement were important mostly to the social aspect of American life. Out of that era we got Hendrix, the Grateful Dead, and others that changed Rock music as we know it. Fashion trends of the 60’s still have influence in the fashion trends of today. Some examples are the miniskirt and peasant shirt styles for teenage girls. Sandals and longer hair worn by teenage boys in the 60’s has come back again and is now popular today. Blue jeans became a staple in almost every wardrobe and still are today. Another way that America was changed by the counterculture movement is the amount of drug use. Before the 60’s not many people used illegal drugs, or at the very least, didn’t openly say that they did. During the 60’s and even today doing drugs was the “in” thing and people were more open about using them. It was as if a Taboo had been broken. This is still true today.
#4: the scandal at Watergate. It all started when Frank Willis, a security guard at the Watergate building noticed some tape on the door, keeping it unlocked. At first he thought it was simply the work of the building’s cleaning crew, and so took it off and went about his rounds. When he came back to the door though, he noticed the tape had been replaced. He then did what any security guard in his right mind would do. He called the police. Five people were arrested for breaking into the democratic headquarters. One of the men, James McCord,...
