Timeline Essay

Many things happened in the United States during the 1960’s.  The environment, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam war are all things that modern Americans should use as a lesson from the experiences of the 60’s.

One thing that people were concerned about in the 60’s was the environment. The environmental movement was greatly helped by the release of the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. The widespread reading of the book encouraged people to become more engaged in concerns about the pollution and pesticides. Other concerns about the environment’s effect on humans helped to create the Clean Air Act of 1970 and the Clean Water Act of 1972. The environmental movement has evolved and continued today as Americans become more aware of their effect on nature.

Another issue that Americans faced in the 1960’s was the controversy of Civil Rights. The 60’s Civil Rights movement started off when four black Carolina students refused to leave the whites-only counter while drinking their coffee. They sat calmly in an act of nonviolent protest, which encouraged other students to begin doing this as well, along with those continuing the actions of the Freedom Riders. In 1963, Civil Rights leader  Martin Luther King Jr gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, DC in front of 250 thousand people participating in a march he led.  This speech greatly impacted the Civil Rights movement, bringing a lot of attention to the cause as a defining moment in the 60’s. Americans everywhere can still learn many things from this speech and the entire Civil Rights movement, as a lesson in accepting others and doing what is right.

The Vietnam War was another major issue. In 1964, Congress voted to go to war in Vietnam, giving permission to the president to use “all necessary measures” to defeat the Vietcong. Costing about 58000 American lives and billions of dollars, the Vietnam War is still not understood very well. Americans were torn on the issue, with many protests against the growing war. Male students avoided the draft by fleeing to Canada, or they burned their draft cards in acts of protest. The war continued into the 70’s, finally ending in 197 when Saigon fell to the Vietcong.

The lessons that Americans can learn from the events for the 60’s are very important to our future.

Because of the mistakes and victories that were made, they can be used to make America a better 

place in the future.