Many Baby Boomers Felt The 1950s Was Stultifying & Provoked Them To Rebel In The 1960s

[@delavalmilker]

After the hardships of the Great Depression in the 1930's, immediately followed by the trauma and disruption of World War II. It explains why Americans were seized with an overwhelming obsession for security and stability of the 1950's.

[@SandfordSmythe]

Bingo!

[@joejones9520]

gi bill made a prosperous future suddenly possible for more people than ever before, that was main driver.

[@StuntNiteClass]

logged in here to say exactly that. after everything this whole world went thru, first hungry then shell shocked, the young boomers aren't happy with a little peace.

[@blessed134]

That wraps it up well. Good observation. Thank you

[@nicolaslatorre810]

Yes but it was the following generation who brought upon its own self destruction and the destruction of the following generations with the election of 1980.

[@starrbrannon3883]

I was born in 1962, and was not allowed to talk back, or give my opinion. Even though I was raised in the 60's & 70's, my parents still had the attitude that children should be seen but not heard!!

[@candiikillz]

Starr Brannon Being only in my 20’s with a father raised in the 40’s/50’s and he very much instilled the same.

[@jondecarbonel8158]

1963 and raised a bit by grand parents due to sexual revolution 60s, my mom just checked out and left us. I'm not a boomer, i consider myself GEN X. Or "Jones Generation" no way to slam 2 generations into same generation 1945 same GEN as 1963? Nope. I got the seen and not heard, and the don't talk back, do your chores or get your butt blistered. Yep..

[@terrykrall]

Dont speak until you’re spoken to!

[@jenniferpingleton8389]

I was raised in 80s and 90s, and was still taught the mentality that children should be seen and not heard, and not seen very often.

[@jama4652]

Its to protect yall from the creeps

[@samanthamorris5340]

My parents were a lot older when they had me and I was so blessed to have heard their insights on the 50s and 60s because they has drastically different lives. My father grew up very poor in Appalachia while my mother was in a upper middle class family in California. He saw the 50s as a disturbing time and tried to shed that whole mentality while she leaned into the more feminine aspects of it. And in the end, he was a stay at home dad and she worked hard as a nurse and even though they were such opposites, they loved each other until the end. Which taught me so much.

[@micosstar]

thanks for sharing! - mico, a man part of gen z (age 18)

[@garnet1223]

The problem is that people don't know how to find a middle ground. We get stuck in either destroying ourselves with too much order or destroying ourselves with too much chaos. It happened then, it's happened everywhere in between and it's happening now. This is why I'm learning how to be an individual I take my beliefs from things I believe is right. As opposed to following other people down a one sided path. I'm someone who has a common ground with both sides, both worlds, both communities. I'll admit I have a stronger pull on one side but that's because of the recent extremeist ideas I have to distance myself. See how that works? People calm down, think with reason and logic!

[@musicalmuse3614]

Word! I have been thinking the same thing too....its how i feel about my generation as a millennial now. especially between friends who are "right" or "left" politically. I wish we could come together and see that we have more in common than we realize

[@wizkidgamer9942]

I think in much the same way and I hope to God that if more people are vocal about seeking balance and self-actualization the world truly could be a much, much better place.

[@shannong.9762]

😂😂😂😂😂 wow.

[@inkedhigh]

agreed. I feel this way too. it is definitely possible to meet in the middle but people get caught up on which side is better. no side is better than the other.

[@AnthonyGarcia-kr9vu]

They condition us to think and react to the extremes... You're free to think; but you have been told how to think.

[@Meggsie]

"They wanted to get laid but they wanted to marry a virgin" This mentality is still true. While there are fewer and fewer adult virgins, men want women to put out as soon as possible but find women who have slept around a lot to be repulsive.

[@Mytube777]

Some things never change.

[@Meggsie]

"Sluts are shamed by women, not by men." *Absolutely not true.* "Sluts" as you put it, are shamed by both men and women. A lot of men will hold it against their girlfriend for having past sexual experience despite they having sex the first night they met. It's totally unrealistic to expect a virgin to have sex with a stranger, especially if they are a virgin for their personal religious/moral reasons. As a virgin, I find it hard to date because even men who will quiz me about my religious beliefs will at best begrudgingly put up with it but will always try to talk me down.

[@jaklumen]

@@cjlooklin1914 Yes, there is. Both my wife and I had sexual experience before we got married, and not really because we were uncontrollable horndogs, but abused kids who looked for love, affection, and support in the wrong places, much less that we were trying to heal. Although I ached for years for her to forget a neglectful and abusive long-time ex, I really don't have any disgust or anger that she wasn't a pure virgin, and neither has she held it against me in a disparaging or hateful way. She also said she was glad that I came to our now 20 years of marriage with some experience (as you put it).

[@Tallonest]

ColoredBrothers all the person was ding was pointing out your hypocrisy. Take responsibility, don’t sleep around and cause the exact problem you hate.

[@Tallonest]

@@rev.jimjones9100 Not sure why you think men aren't the same.

[@dodieodie498]

Watching Ozzie and Harriet and then pretending that your family life was like that. Sounds kind of like Facebook.

[@dodieodie498]

@coffeeinthemorning I was on FB years ago. I remember starting to worry too much about what I was writing there, in case it got shared around. And people were posting stuff that didn't quite match up with reality. Then all kinds of strangers wanting to "friend" me. Seems we forgot what a friend is. Can't imagine what FB's like now. Maybe people go on there just so they can have an imaginary life that is better than the one they've got.

[@timbryant2259]

for sure it does -thank you, citizen!

[@BeckBeckGo]

Human nature doesn’t change much. Only rhetoric does

[@rockinroll6342]

Yeah Fakebook

[@francesbethodendahl8527]

@@dodieodie498 I think it is a social outlet, due to busy home lives. Or for people who want to contact family and friends. It's not that deep.

[@mykeyoh1536]

I was in college in 1991 when this series first aired on PBS. I just remember how everyone I knew loved this series. My older siblings, my parents, and most of my friends in school. It was one of the first real comprehensive / objective looks at the 1960's many of us had ever seen. Kudos to the Director. 👍✌

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you for the comment and the memory. David Hoffman filmmaker

[@sergiochiossone3088]

I am from Argentina. I was in the US for the first time in 1991. I was studying English at ELS Institue. We had a very interesting teacher, Ann, whom made us watch this documentary for our last project. It was revealing and I still keep a copy of it in VHS. I adore it and watch it again from time to time. Congratulations ! Incredible Job !

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you Sir. david Hoffman - filmmaker

[@aratneerg1375]

What was it like for you In argentina?

[@marcusulpiustraianus6096]

@@aratneerg1375 Is a long story and different from US

[@yespls4184]

It's an interesting video for sure! Definitely an insight into the philosophies we Americans were fed for a long time. I was born in the late 90's so my experience is much different, but it explains the philosophies that my parents were initially raised by and eventually rejected somewhat in the 60's and 70's. Argentina is a beautiful country i really want to visit someday. I would love to learn more about the country

[@richardlawson4317]

My father was like Beaver Cleaver's father, and God bless him for it! I never had a cross word with him, and that was fine!

[@sharoncrawford3042]

Wow. I think you were really blessed.

[@AllenFreemanMediaGuru]

My dad was also, but then he also rarely spoke to me.

[@carolynking1625]

Was your mother like Mrs. Cleaver too??

[@Sally150]

Lucky you. My Dad came back from the war damaged.

[@PineMartinAmerican]

My father was more like Fred Flinstone.

[@brianadavis6796]

And it was the depression of the 30's and the horror of WW2 that created the 50's.

[@spacequeen8329]

And WWI and the Roaring 20s that created the Depression, and the wars, disease, colonialism, economic fluctuations, natural disasters, accelerated inventions, industrialization and population shifts of the 19 Century that created the early 1900s, and so on.

[@brianadavis6796]

@@spacequeen8329 And the 100 of millions murdered by the effing Commies and Socialists. Making the 1950's pretty nice.

[@scottpreston5074]

It was the fall of Babylon.

[@brianadavis6796]

@@scottpreston5074 It was the fall of man,

[@chrisanthemum7]

34:04 the way that he was completely right about this is JUST....

[@Critic_number_4]

I understand my 92 year old grandmother so much more now. She majored in "Home Economics" in college. I was like, huh?? She's like a robot in the kitchen and garden. She worked as a high school teacher.

[@tablespoon888]

@@talmoskowitz5221 I took home economics in my senior year ...we drank vanilla extract to try and get drunk...and I baked a cake shaped like a hockey rink...blue icing , little players, nets and everything

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

@@talmoskowitz5221 Home economics could include maintaining the home budget...doesn't that count?

[@pinsolomons]

And she's made it to 92, must have been something in the routine that worked.

[@silverstorm2830]

@Critic Number 4...I can relate to your comment...my 93 year old Mom is super clean (even at 93) and mentally strong to boot ... I admire her grit and fortitude about life. She married my Dad @ age 17 (Dad was 21) and they remained married for 73 years until my father passed in 2017 @ 94 years of age! At the end of the day all one can do is live and keep living thru mistakes and all...hoping to eventually become better people! Namaste

[@JohnSmith-zw8vp]

@El Cruzer I thought those were electives? You know classes that you take for fun? Sadly we still have the problem of "boys sports/girls sports". For example, we've had girls play Little League since the 70s but typically they can't really play baseball at the HS level. There is softball but that's a totally different sport. And how come typically volleyball is a "girls sport" at the HS level? Don't guys play volleyball on beaches and such?

[@tadonplane8265]

I was born in 1955 and remember “duck and cover” drills in early elemementry school. We all had to hide under our desks. During one particular drill our teacher told us that the drill was a useless exercise because if there was an attack we would all fry so fast that we’d never know what hit us. I also remember seeing those same images used in this documentary of the southern black protesters being fire hosed, beaten and bitten, when they ran on network TV news. This documentary film caused old ignored feelings to erupt strongly in me. The 60s are often portrayed as a decadent drug induced party indulged by a bunch of spoiled white kids. It wasn’t. It was the lid blowing off the pressure cooker!

[@DSkye-n7m]

Actually it was both.

[@Sally150]

Well said. We were children and those images, presented by Walter Cronkite, had a huge impact. "The 60s are often portrayed as a decadent drug induced party indulged by a bunch of spoiled white kids." This portrayal is rewriting of history, which is doesn't work unless all the witnesses are dead! WE REMEMBER that we cared about what was happening and valued reality over getting high.

[@samcarter2371]

It wasn't a useless exercise, it taught you to follow rules whether they make sense or not.

[@TheJhndarwin]

Was your teachers name mr Humphrey and was it rainier school in rainier Oregon. If it was i had him as well

[@davidisrael9412]

@@Sally150 yes, I agree for most of us, but there were numbers already in rebellion against all that is good and also some against all that was bad. I was taught as a Jew to reject Jesus but the Jesus generation opened me up and delivered me from suicide to a new life in His forgiveness, deliverance, friendship. Much to my Jewish family's distress, but it has been worth it, and one by one my family has come too.

[@HardworkDedication]

Still to this day the exploitation of Black labor translated into white wealth has never been addressed. Still omitted, denial, skipped over, written out, ignored, locked out! Reparations must become law since Gov is responsible for legalizing anti Black policies and locking out the ability of Black people to build wealth and participate in society for 75% of US existence. Black people have been enslaved and discriminated against for longer than we've been free. White backlash still controls a great degree of discrimination against Black progress today. Particularly white backlash against Reparations to Black descendants enslaved in the US. The racial wealth gap is a direct product of exploited Black labor and social discrimination.

[@lindatshappat4973]

This film omitted that many of the soldiers coming home from WW2 & Korea had significant & untreated PTSD from their war experience. They often self medicated with booze . The effects on family life was catastrophic.

[@JOHN----DOE]

I can attest to that. If not substance abuse, violent rages.

[@clintonwashington8609]

Yeah the military and government didn’t do a very good job of taking care of the mental health of the veterans coming home. But at the same time psychology was still barely a teenager in terms of the study as a whole.

[@allenkracalik7662]

An increasing understanding of child psychology brought about an awareness that children were "real people with individual personalities that must be respected and encouraged?" My observations growing up as a member of the "baby boom" generation were of parents who regarded their offspring as their PROPERTY, to be molded according to their beliefs and the teachings of their youth, not as individuals whose beliefs and values may or may not have matched those of their parents. When I told a supposedly "hip" young lady in the late '60s that I didn't wish or intend to become a parent, she asked "Wouldn't you like a miniature of yourself?" She'd apparently forgotten that her parents would have liked and no doubt tried to produce a miniature of themselves!

[@crashdavis4123]

whoof

[@tunatuna711]

This is definitely how my parents acted.

[@GaZonk100]

yes because without leadership and discipline humans go bad very quickly

[@cchap2386]

Dude, nobody is born with an inate set of values. We learn from the adults in our lives how to treat people and be contributing members of society. When you become an adult it's your turn to sift through the gifts and mistakes the previous generation gave you and to improve upon it as best you can. I was born in the 80's and we can also find a lot to complain about when it comes to your generation but that would just be plain ungrateful...

[@donnarichardson7214]

It's all relative, so to speak. The 50s parents thought they were being really permissive, and so they were, compared to the scary authoritarianism of past generations, in which whipping kids with a belt behind the woodshed was daily punishment. In retrospect, 50s kids were indulged with "stuff" and totally deprived of emotional support; dad was gone at work, mom was frustrated and cold being stuck at home, and the kids ran out to play, scarcely seeing them. It worked ok for childhood. It was a TOTAL disaster preparing kids for adolescence and emotional adult relationships.

[@EyeLean5280]

Thank you so much for this, you have every reason to be proud. As a high school Social Studies teacher who has taught classes on this decade, I've tried to impress upon my students the complexity, tumult and promise of the 1960s. I sometimes told them that adults of that time must have felt like their country was being torn apart. I think in some ways we've entered similar era now and it's very frightening.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you. My entire series is used in thousands of high schools and colleges to help students understand that era. When I made it back in 1990, with a grant from PBS, I made it for the children of those who considered themselves active in the sixties, about a third of the 80 million baby boomers. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@serenaistheb.o.a.t]

I think we're in damger of going back to the 50s. The SJW left have lost their minds.

[@annestanford9332]

@@serenaistheb.o.a.t The pendulum always swings back. When you watch the news today, it's not hard to understand why the 50's might look pretty good, at least on the surface, to people who don't want to live in perpetual, unnecessary strife. Most of the battles they continue to fight were won long ago. Nothing will ever be enough for the SJW's. They're wearing people out.

[@supermanprime1281]

Are you a time traveler from 2021

[@LaoZi2023]

@@serenaistheb.o.a.t The extremes on both sides have lost their minds.

[@MrLyosea]

You did very good on this. I'm 22 now (A millennial) DUN DUN DUN. I think it really shows that every generation has people who are good and bad. No one generation was a "good" generation. Also I got a question. Because you(David Hoffman) were born in 1942, did people in the 50s and 60s get married real early? Like early 20s? Cause theres a lot of people at my church who were married like 60 years and are in their early mid 80s.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you Sean. Most everyone were married by 22 years old when I was a kid, it seemed. David Hoffman - filmmaker

[@eddy71454]

My parents married at 17 and 19 years old in 1951. They didn't even know who they were at that age. My mother was 19 when I was born and my Dad 21..

[@kiwitrainguy]

I have part of a TV programme that I recorded in the '90s of people talking about marriage in the early '70s. A lot of those people were getting married at 17 or 18. This one couple say that they got married at 23 which they said was "really quite old".

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

@@eddy71454 Still married? I'm going to guess "yes." Because they weren't missing anything...

[@susannabonke8552]

@@eddy71454 Lots of babies born by 16 Year olds.

[@drhust1955]

I'm a baby boomer and had fond memories of the 50s and 60s. However, we were the most narcissistic generation. High divorce rate, day care, leaving debt, self-centerness , and abortions has left GenX very angry and disillusioned. It's time for us to apologize. That would be a start.

[@elizabethowens8548]

Thank you

[@zachdancy5828]

Wow, this was great to read!! I am GenX and it is great to see a logical perspective, Thank You!!

[@zachdancy5828]

@@rev.jimjonesandthekool-aid4488 and I am guessing you can show us how to properly lead life. You must not be white or that white girl comment wouldn't pop out so quick.

[@exeuroweenie]

It's not your fault,you're an individual.That said,the fifties,as someone naturally rebellious,sounds like a living hell.

[@timgreen2426]

The dissolving of the family unit the high taxes and taxes and taxes and huge government that we suffer with today are your attributes. And this was born as the greatest generation. Fortunately my mother immigrated from Italy during that time so she's no Boomer even though she was a boomer and has no conception of the entitled selfish generation.

[@cannibale101]

Super interesting on many sociological levels. Thanks!

[@reapermort]

So how did the rebels of the 1960's turn into the oppressors of the 2010's and the 2020's?

[@RetrocadePodcast]

Lyle Burk the rebels didn’t, the ones who didn’t rebel did.

[@joan-lisa-smith]

@@RetrocadePodcast the damn squares man, the squares and straights

[@OldHeathen1963]

@The Flying Dutchman Like the 50s and 60s Civil Rights workers? It's the same kinda idea...Let's make America, America .....Finally!!!

[@pawelpap9]

It’s simple. They won and tasted power.

[@local4075]

This comment should be upvoted a million times. Hypocrites

[@nemafann]

David Hoffman Thank you very much for making this series. I was born in 1955 and remember so much of the 60's decade. Many people just think of the good things that happened like music, peace, love, dope. But they seem to forget the horror and fear like the 13 days in October, Bay of Pigs, Gary Francis Powers, assassinations of JFK, MLK, RFK. It was a confusing, frightening world on my part. I was terrified to go to college because of Kent State and all the riots at colleges all across the country. Women were treated like objects, still ( I remember so many ads that were disgusting). I came from long lines of strong, independent thinking women who had no problems leaving bad marriages, being political, speaking up for themselves. I still don't understand men who think because you believe you are as good as a man and worth the same pay, that you must hate men. I don't, never did. I am from CA and went to school with a rainbow of children. My mothers brothers all married women from other countries. I could never understand hating because someone looked different or spoke another language. I am grateful for the diversity I was raised in. Lastly, none of my family believed in the Vietnam war. Many of my family were in the military (one of my uncles was exposed to agent orange on his 2nd tour of Vietnam and died in 1975) and I joined the Army in 1974, becoming a nurse. I still took care of young men my age who were still dealing with mental and physical problems. Once again thank you for this series, I still cry over the 60's. Peace

[@nemafann]

Xpenguin17..... WTF is wrong with you?? How old are you? You are the one projecting and it's pretty pathetic. "Bigotry against" me??? Did you even pay attention to what you were writing? You act like I have attacked you. I did not, you ass wipe. You do not know me or my "men and boys" who "are no longer interested in having anything to do with" me "anymore". News to me and all the men in my life. I have always enjoyed men as friends. But you, no. I am not resented by anyone that I know of. Except you and I don't even know you. I bet no one knows you because you seem so bitter and resentful of life and history. Sorry if you have been fucked by every women you ever knew, but do not take your God Damn vitriolic hatred out on me. Save it for the bitch that did it. BTW my son and my dear late husband of 39 years, they think (thought) I was pretty sweet.

[@prayunceasingly2029]

nemafann the gender pay gap has been debunked. the disenfranchised 20 year old guy was bringing up legitimate truth about sex relations in today's adult generation. women do have privileges men do not while men can get screwed over big time because a woman's word is taken as 100% truth almost 100% of the time. while men must then go to court just to get occasional custody of children he pays child support for and possibly an ex he pays alimony to or very possibly face jail time. this is a real issue affecting real people and the feminists truly were the ones largely responsible for it. also women do a lot of domestic abuse but there are very few men's shelters for such victims. most shelters for that are women only. despite the research showing men are in need of help for abuse from their partners. society really is one sided because of an unbalanced feminist narrative that it has accepted as literal truth when it truly is not the case. there is a side to the story many people are completely ignorant of.

[@arianrhodhyde7482]

it hasn't....been debunked...and the reason women are more likely to have custody is because statistically men are less likely to want custody...

[@terilefevers6189]

Pray Unceasingly You statement about the courts believing women because they are women is hogwash. My daughter lost custody of her two kids because the judge in the first complaint stated "do not use them as a pawn judge so-and-so would not like that.". We didn't want to piss off that judge plus they loved the kids and the kids love them so the went for a "visit.". The dad has permanent custody to this day technically. They got back together and now have another daughter that she has custody of. My point is that even in SE KY an innocent mother can lose her kids and nothing can be done about it without a large amount of money. Whomever has physical custody of the kids at that moment is generally who the courts will back up.

[@tetrahedron1000]

If none of your family believed in the Vietnam War, why did both you and an uncle join the Army?

[@howardking3046]

I grew up in the sixties but I never saw this behavior because we were farmers and didn’t have time to rebel. We had to deal with real life-work or starve. However, we could count on our dad being there to talk to while we milked the cows so we could try to sort things out about life. Now, kids seldom see their dads because they (the dads) are busy trying to keep up with the current fads of the time.

[@TheDarkChemicalBond]

If by "current fads of the time" you mean having to work 60+ hours a week working a half hour from home or more just to make ends meet then sure, we're following fads.

[@bradwalton8373]

If children aren't seeing their dads these days, it is more often than not because mothers have divorced them and allow few visits, if any.

[@michaelmullin3585]

@@bradwalton8373 Mothers don't marry. they get welfare.

[@Paulscottrock]

@@TheDarkChemicalBond I was told that modern farms are all computerized .

[@kellylappin5944]

@@Attmay Move to a more affordable house.

[@franciemacleod]

Looking back on it all I realize the 'media & music industry' really set us all up for this. Their grip on us is terrifying.

[@Lori79Butterfly]

It’s important to be aware of whose narrative is being sold to us. Everyone has an agenda, some have a hidden agenda, it’s why we teach our kids critical thinking skills.

[@leemdynamo]

Tthat is such total bullshit about the media setting us up.

[@ssd0040]

Woman at 16:00 said it- “we gave them much too much”. This documentary leads one to believe that the WWII generation birthed a generation that could never have won that war or survived the depression. Everyone has more then they need yet victims, victims, victims. Women with homes, clothes, amenities are now oppressed and restrained and happiness is a myth. I believe this documentary is spreading lies. A vast number of this generation gets no attention. Working class America who lived and worked and didn’t doubt in bitterness and resentment their upbringing or teaching. Their expectation or rather the demand wasn’t utopian perfection. All men are created equal, marriage is wonderful and children are the inheritance of the Lord. God is good. Turn off the TV.

[@cherrylow9818]

Social Media today is horrendous. It really does take hold. Being a parent today would be hell

[@nathankinman7753]

That's why I constantly tell people to throw out the tel-LIE-vision set!

[@jonathancisneros7150]

I think the beginning of the television media is what literally created all this commotion

[@brianperry]

Ive been watching 'Highway Patrol' on KZbin, I remember this program as a kid (mid fiftiesUK) loved the sirens!... I was born 1946, grew up in the austere world of post war England. by the sixties a recovery of sorts was all around us, we rebelled, we didn't want to be like our parents, we wanted more.... the sixties were a great time to be a teenager and young adult..Not so great in USA, cause you had Vietnam going on that killed many of those young men..

[@paulcarucci7936]

Absolutely! The msm especially today is the enemy.

[@lizd3548]

Social engineering brought to you in a box. 🎯

[@JustMe-nf1mf]

Bs generalization & easy-lazy answer to a number of complex questions 🙄

[@JustMe-nf1mf]

@@paulcarucci7936 lol Buzzword use & fearmongering bs

[@stella-vu8vh]

Thank you, david, for posting so much of your extensive and informative body of work here for us to view, for free! i genuinely appreciate it so very much, and am regularly checking back to find things. Thank you for sharing your work.

[@jc.1191]

History is very underrated in today's age. And we need it now more than ever. Good job on releasing these documentaries and interviews. It's a different take on history class.

[@geoffgrogansblockhead]

fabulous episode from a terrific series. I love your interviews--with people from a variety of backgrounds; unlike some documentaries that rely all too often on well-known historians and other "experts". Your interviews are genuinely moving.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you Bella. I have spent a lifetime creating interviews that were not really interviews at all. They were live ongoing stories. I asked the people in front of the cameras to connect with me and trust me and just respond as they feel. In this series you might find it interesting to know that 1 in 3 of the 180 people I interviewed, cried during interview. The 60s certainly were meaningful in their lives. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@rosesandsongs21]

And some of us watchers may also shed one or two, ahhh, nostalgia...

[@cynthiaallen9225]

Interesting and intellectual discourse I've been craving but not finding too much in our culture today.

[@mogznwaz]

The kids found it ‘stultifying’ because they were the first generation to know no real hardship. Rebellion is a luxury.

[@gabriellong5692]

I know right! Those kids didn't live through any real war, just a wimpy cold one. They didn't have to fear any bombs, just the constant threat of a nuclear one. And all the women and black kids had it extra good too. Housewife syndrome? Lynching? what do those words mean, I just learned how to read yesterday.

[@calebantrim3071]

@@gabriellong5692 baby boomers grew up in a mostly homogeneous and unified society. I went to an all Hispanic elementary school, or a half black school in middle school and high school. It wasn’t that great. I saw that those kids had the exact same opportunities I did. Unfortunately now white kids are the target of violence in schools, and as you probably know interracial violence is overwhelmingly black on white. Baby boomers knew no depravity or austerity like previous American generations, and no large scale existential sacrifice. Baby boomers had the best life America had to offer, all things considered, and modernity aside. They could get by doing whatever they wanted. Yes, women were completely “liberated” from the home and could engage in free sex with birth control being widely available in the 60s, and abortion being the law of the land nationwide since 73. Now, we have to import children from mothers in different countries and different civilizations where the women had less opportunity, less freedom, and less autonomy over their own reproduction. This is to prop up our economy and support the entitlements and welfare promised to the baby boomers that decided that they were no longer bound to the responsibility of replenishing and rearing the next generation in subsequent numbers, and they were celebrated for it under the guise of “reproductive health” which has killed more life than all the fatalities of American wars put together and has put enormous strain on what used to be our collective and common culture. They were the first American generation to think mostly of themselves with no responsibility of carrying forward the Western Civilization and culture that provided them with their security, freedom, and abundance. I believe that LBJ moved immigration away from Europe and toward Asia and Africa in 1965 not because of racism, but because Western leaders realized that “liberated” women would no longer carry the burden of childbirth and rearing in sufficient numbers. Additionally, baby boomers brought modern liberalism into the main-body politic and inculcated three subsequent generations with their horrible fantasyland ideas on religion, family, domestic and foreign policy. They are the lynchpin that replaced the husband and the father with the modern liberal state which has destroyed many families exponentially, and was particularly disastrous to black families. So, baby boomers had the luxury and opportunity to make many changes in America and Western Civilization that were extremely destructive. It’s something we are beginning to pay for now while they are on their way out. Subsequent generations are less wealthy than baby boomers, and they have held on to their wealth while subsequent generations continue to experience less abundance and a lower quality of life and longevity. They won’t bear the extreme consequences of the selfish “if it feels good, do it” decisions many of them made. Everyone needs to be honest about the baby boomers and what they have accomplished and what they contributed to their society while they were here and functioning in their most productive years.

[@TayDays1128]

While the boomers didnt face the extreme hardship of their parents, the parents treated kids as property & told them to be robots with no emotion, even when something bad happened against them. There were plenty of social wrongs & injustices that created hardship & needed to be rebelled against. If everything was perfect, there wouldnt have been a rebellion.

[@sicks6six]

I remember looking through a woman's magazine in the dentists waiting room back then and there was an article telling woman how to be nice to their husbands when he comes home after a hard day and how she should put her troubles to one side, a bit like how to bake the perfect cake by BERO, an instruction manual on how to live,

[@JOHN----DOE]

Yeah--never an article directed at the husbands about how to come home and be nice to their harried (often pregnant) wives driven nuts all day by the kids, and how to take responsibility for interacting like an adult with the kids while Mom continues to work by cooking dinner . . .

[@syvadcram]

Isn't it funny how those women from the fifties were so much happier than the modern women? In terms of quality of ife, they were an extremely privileged class, who did not even have to work for a living, and reported far higher levels of happiness than men. But women's happiness has declined dramatically since the 70s, as they have taken on more stressful male roles, leading to an increase in stress-related diseases. So the happiness gender gap has disappeared just as the age difference gender gap is steadily being reduced, which is fantastic for men. So thank you feminists! You've proven the old adage 'Karma's a bitch when you are one'.

[@susanmercurio1060]

@@syvadcram : And what, exactly, do you know about it? I bet you're not a woman and I bet that everything you know about the 50s, you got out of a book. How do you know how happy women were in the 1950s? Were you there? Were you a woman then?

[@syvadcram]

@@susanmercurio1060 No I got that from a study at Yale University, amongst other institutes. You must be an extremely ignorant person, as this has been a major talking point amongst educated people for the last decade. What makes you think Yale University is wrong with their data? Do you have data that proves that Yale is wrong? Or are you so uninformed that you have just proven that you should not even bother participating in this debate? law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Intellectual_Life/Stevenson_ParadoxDecliningFemaleHappiness_Dec08.pdf

[@syvadcram]

@@susanmercurio1060 onourterms.barnard.edu/article/womens-declining-happiness/

[@johnallen2771]

I was 10 in 1960 and 21 in 1971. Those years were a little "tumultuous," right? I mean, I'm just saying. What didn't happen during the 60s might be an easier question to ask. The whole world turned upside down. Nobody knew what was happening and easily influenced children like me were hiding under their desks in a school A bomb drill. I grew up first 1)Getting totally radicalized by music by about '66 2) Trying pot for the first time (17) 3)Meeting all the women I could. That was the way it was. Free love was a very romantic and eye-opening experience. I once loved two women. I figured since they both loved me and I loved both of them why shouldn't we just all love one another., Well, I'll tell you what. That idea went over like a lead balloon and the one girl wanted me to take her home. How naiive could I have been. But that was the way people were thinking back then. There was a feeling that we were all part of the same group.

[@dvonzosch461]

Thank you for this excellent historical overview -- it's a reminder for those who lived in that era, and a solid explanation of what happened for younger people now.

[@Andregrindle]

Thank you so much David Hoffman for re-posting this series you made! It truly helped me to understand America as I grew up in a broader historical context. Watched it from an old VHS tape we had of it many times at different points in my life! Hope being here, it gives the newer generation a broader understanding of mid 20th century history the way it did some of my own.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

thank you Andre. I am very proud of the series and I am glad that it helped the younger folks in your extended family. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@Andregrindle]

Thanks for your response David Hoffman! Any plans for the series to get a DVD/Blu Ray release?

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Unfortunately Andre, I no longer have the rights to create a DVD. I do make copies of the 6 one-hour shows for schools libraries and collectors but it is expensive so I do not sell it commercially in any way. Still used by hundreds if not thousands of schools and that makes me feel good. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@bradwalton8373]

The "stultifying 50s." The generation who created this period, which actually lasted from 1945 to around 1965 were born during or shortly after the first world war, then lived through ten years of severe economic depression, and finally six years of world war -- again -- from 1939 to 1945. After such a catastrophic period (1914-1945) is it any wonder that that generation created the 1950s? More or less full employment, a secure family-wage, virtually everybody affording a house, having nice, healthy children, regular periods of leisure, adequate pensions -- for that generation it must have been like dying and going to heaven. Unfortunately their children found it dull and insipid.

[@stephman02]

I think the saying goes... bad times create great leaders, great leaders create good times, good times create weak leaders, weak leaders create bad times... We’ll just have to see where we are in the chain...

[@JustMe-nf1mf]

@@stephman02 On the edge of the greed & stupidity cliff where science isn't real, knowledge, intelligence, & education aren't put on the pedestal where they belong, too many believe $$$ & 'things' means happiness, and from where there is no happy return if the country goes over sadly :o(

[@levity90]

And now we have gen Z (and some millennials) who by and large have had very privileged lives talking about how terrible this country is. As a millennial (just turned 30) I'm nauseated by the social justice warriors of today who have no clue what hardship really is. Even in America's worst ghettos (I'm from Brooklyn btw) there is opportunity for those that wish to look for it. We are a country full of spoiled brats who think they're entitled to everything. -Free healthcare when we have an obesity epidemic unlike anything any other western country faces. It would bankrupt the middle class covering the cost of healthcare for modern day Americans. -Free school when there are already so many people with degrees and fields have become absolutely saturated. And while evangelical conservatism may have been the oppressive ideology of the past, I truly feel progressive socialism is what is destroying this country now.

[@bradwalton8373]

@@levity90 It is quite natural to be nauseated by them. They are nauseating. However, it is not entirely their fault. They were grossly miseducated (or non-educated) by the generation that preceded them.

[@Cum007]

@@bradwalton8373 I wasn't educated by anybody (parents, advice, figure it out for yourself, no one intent on loving/sexual relationships, so you have a bunch of lonely boys who...)

[@patriciaadamson670]

Well done. Its been a long while since Ive watched a cogent documentary that invites the viewer to listen and learn, not feel assaulted by clamoring opinions. The narrative was very well thought out and presented perfectly. Seeing actual footage and photos was very powerful and brought back memories that are as frightening now as they were when I was child. The black and white footage was a wonderful break from the bright, Technicolor magic. Last but not least, no orchestra blaring so loud it masks the narrative. Sincerely, I thank you. Keep them coming!

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you Tecia. The style you described in your comment is the style I work toward. I don't like any of the glitz and hype either and I think it detracts from the story. you will find other clips from my longform documentaries on my channel and some complete documentaries as well. Their world on in the style of this one. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@scottalbers2518]

I was born in 1958, and the 1960s really was an argumentative, confusing and ever more radical group of people. The older generation just assumed that certain norms were obvious and good. Gender, racial, sexual preference, hair style, and child rearing norms were quite specific and enforced rigidly. Playboy Magazine, in my view, was possibly the single most disruptive force during that period. Suddenly every moral expectation was thrown up on the air. By everyone. I don't think most people were "spoiled." I do agree that the 1930s had an enormous influence on the 1960s.

[@kieranpavlick3909]

Immorality was pushed on ppl from all sides. Media, Hollywood, Schools, etc. Now that they have destabilized the nuclear family, they can do what they are doing today. None of what happened in he 60s and 70s was natural.

[@danielhooper502]

@@kieranpavlick3909 firstly the nuclear family is a pretty new concept that was pretty eugenic, and secondly morality will always be subjective

[@kieranpavlick3909]

@@danielhooper502 No, the nuclear family has been around since the people were created. Why? Because it’s normal. It’s not eugenic at all. And morality is never subjective.

[@danielhooper502]

@@kieranpavlick3909 of course morality is subjective, and the nuclear family was only pushed as an idea so to control people during the cold war, nothing to do with morals

[@marisoljimenez3065]

@@kieranpavlick3909 Morality is definitely subjective. Not everyone hold the same moral code. It varies based on a person, their experiences, culture, perceptions, etc.

[@candaceroberts3238]

Ursula. Veterans didn't get free houses. It's not being covered up because it's untrue. They were given favorable loans, they made no down payment. At that time property loans required a 20% down payment, as difficult then as it is now. Perhaps that is why the terms of loans have changed, there have been 0% down loans in recent years. The GI Bill was very important in the 50's. It helped military families to get established or re-established and was great for the economy. Imagine how many people were put to work in order to build these many,many thousands of houses.

[@barbararaegurley4910]

Yes, I still hear the spoiled whining justification in this piece.. Half truths used as defence for defiance and rebellion.. as well as a hint of promoting communism.. Subtle as usual..

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

I never saw anyone put 20% down. It's up to what makes everyone happy...and the houses were prefab, of course and it only took a few days.

[@EquestrianEdwards]

Great job. Best documentary of this era!

[@ohmeowzer1]

My mom in the 60’s was in the convent and did none of that,,she was about to take her vows and she met my handsome army officer father who also wasn't into any of that,,and they got married,,,neither of my parents were hippies , they were no drugs , no drinking and my dad and mom never even smoked a cigarette,,,I love them good people..my mom thought they the hippies were wasting their life,,,and my dad knew they hated army men so he never gave them the time of day to busy with his career...i was lucky very lucky....

[@adamwalker2377]

28:35 huh...now we've gone full circle with cancel culture. Doctor Seuss, anyone?

[@shehannanayakkara4162]

The publishers made a decision of their own accord to stop publishing certain books, the two situations really aren't even close tbh.

[@michaelmerck7576]

@@shehannanayakkara4162 maybe so but they were just trying to self police to keep from being totally cancelled by the left.the book they cancelled had one almost irrelevant drawing of a China man eating with chopsticks,one one page of a story that in no way was meant to belittle anyone much less the China man ,it wasn't even an important part of the story.it could just as easy have been erased and taken out of the story and it would not have been missed.that was the only thing they could find to complain about.it was a very good short story that offended no one

[@rockinroll6342]

Yeah. Thank God i grew up without political correctness and cell phones and social media. I could actually talk to someone who looked at me instead of their cell phone.

[@raywilliams212]

Oh for peetes sake... THEY made that decision. No one Cancelled them. Whats the title.of the book youre so miffed about? had you even heard of it before?

[@bethknight4436]

This is my favorite of all your videos. I wish the people who refer to us as “Boomers” would watch this.

[@joycekennedy5252]

Boomer here...from Australia..

[@bubba94290]

Reply back to those same people by calling them “Zoomers.” I call them the “tide pod challenge” and “fidget spinner” generation.

[@bethknight4436]

@@bubba94290 😂😂😂

[@jaypoole8056]

Wow! This documentary came to the same conclusions I, as a Millennial, came to when trying to understand my parents and grand-parents generation and how it has affected me. This would have saved me many hours of thinking, but I guess it wasn't in vain. At least I know I'm not the only one who came tot his conclusion.

[@susannabonke8552]

Normal is a kindof vegetative state where nothing happens. Great Quote.

[@leverdia]

The black lady who got emotional when she talked about not knowing how to use a microscope when she got to college around 48:36 broke my heart. I'm so grateful to God for all of those, especially African-Americans, who fought and sacrificed their lives for equality for later generations. I really like Mr. Hoffman's documentaries. I watched some of his on clogging, too.😊

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

thank you for your comment. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@aceanonymous3647]

Don't know i mean now its reversed

[@cherylevans23]

She could do that in her own country or community

[@cherylevans23]

@@aceanonymous3647 david hoffman is a communist

[@leverdia]

@@cherylevans23 Hopefully, she did. People like her, who've gone through injustice and unfavorable circumstances, usually joyfully give back to their communities.😊

[@bikesandcampswithcats]

I would love to see a video on the way TV shows in the '50s and '60s tried to address the social issues that had been hidden. I grew up in the '70s, so I witnessed the groundbreaking and controversial topics that were presented (or suggested) on a lot of shows (I'm thinking Norman Lear shows and Mary Tyler Moore, among others). Until I recently, when I started watching Route 66, I had only thought about Rod Serling and some of the Playhouse 90 writers as putting forth challenging dramatic TV material in the '50s and '60s. Now I have found out about Sterling Silliphant's work. It is interesting to look back on historic events after getting personal worldy experience and education. Also, the comments are always great under your videos because we can read how people reacted to the events of the time. Thank you again for your perspective.

[@mikethompson2745]

I advise those who found this interesting to look into the daily lives of people from the 30's,20's, 10's, 1900, 1890, etc. Women weren't objects, expected to be house wives, etc because of some crazy male hierarchy. Prior to our lives in a world where we can get fast food at any time of day or night, food had to be cooked at home. Because someone had to pay the bills, someone had to work, Because someone was working, someone had to do things at home such as cooking. Because when a woman is pregnant, she and the baby are venerable to dangers and as such the woman stays at home, considering she's there, it makes sense she cooks and cleans while the male does the dangerous factory job. DO NOT GET ME WRONG. I'm not saying this is how it should be in the modern world, and of course I'm not saying the 'mistreatment' of women during the 50's or so is correct. I'm saying the 'mistreatment' of women at these TURNING points has less to do with men being evil, and more to do with people doing the best solution to survive and doing so well at it that it leads to a new shift in society that actually makes their old ways obsolete. So hating on people in history without context is moronic, idiotic, and just plain ignorant.

[@brandadyanne]

You are absolutely correct sir.

[@antoniod]

And it's also not true that Woman's Lib was about to happen at the end of World War Two and then got squashed. Three quarters of American Women during the War were "Homemakers", and of the remaining 25 percent, how many were in "Men's Jobs"? Rosie the Riveter was probably a minority. And was the 50s really just a backward slide into reactionism, or a time when changes were slowly starting to happen? If one gets past received wisdom and reads magazines and newspapers of the era(instead of just watching "Leave it to Beaver") , one might find the latter.

[@jondecarbonel8158]

A M E N ! I agree 100%

[@tonyperek7292]

At one time as a child if you uttered a word back to your parents you were considered talking back or being disrespectful. That isn’t necessarily so. Children should be allowed to express themselves but respectfully. After all they are human beings too.

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

Yes, however most accidents happen at home...

[@tonylaskowski723]

I appreciate history. I'm avid about history. Thank you Mr. Hoffman for this documentary. From my observation, each decade borrows and strips away from the previous decade. Somewhat evolutionary-like, lessons from the previous generation are passed on to the next. The difference it seems is that we seldom employ what we have learned. Nevertheless, we stay fascinated by going back in time yearning for that time but really don't know why.

[@kathymickelson4735]

Nostalgia rarely brings back bad memories we forget the bad things and remember the good You don’t hear a lot of women being nostalgic for the 50s not as many as men I bet

[@NewAmsterdamWales]

I love it David - there is no better documentary series about this time period and very few better documentaries ever made!!!!!

[@lemsip207]

Hippy culture also occurred in the UK. There were the mods who wore Italian suits, parkas and clothes inspired by Mary Quant's designs. They gradually morphed into hippies by growing their hair longer and wearing frilly shirts with suits. The rockers also morphed into hippies. Also they didn't marry as young in the 50's in the UK as getting married often meant having to move in with in-laws as there weren't enough homes. Unless you were prepared to do that you put off getting married until you got a council house or flat as very few young people could buy a home then.

[@rokkfel4999]

Didn’t that also turn into the punk movement during the late 60s early 70s with bands like the Sex Pistols , Black Sabbath (for the newly growing metal genre)

[@lemsip207]

@@rokkfel4999 Punk started in the mid to late 70's but some of the early punk bands such as the New York Dolls weren't really punks. Punk came out of the pub rock scene, centred in North London and the Home Counties, which in turn came out of the glam rock scene.

[@rokkfel4999]

@@lemsip207 ahh I see a lot of the rebellious movements have been blending together to me for a bit it’s good to gets. Difference in them

[@sammysoppy3361]

this explains so much about how boomers act and think now and how they don’t realize how different life is now, and how difficult it is for regular people to even achieve a fraction of what was attainable in their youth

[@nobodymister5435]

If anything it is far easier to achieve something because knowledge is at our findertips in the form the Internet. Many young people just grew up with sunshine being blown up their arses all day long rendering them complacent

[@sammysoppy3361]

@@nobodymister5435 idk your age but this is PEAK boomer response so... if you are a boomer, congrats on living up to the boomer standard of being totally oblivious and up your own arse

[@kelle0285]

You young whippersnappers these days!

[@TarasTankFriends]

@sammy soppy you're right. The cost of cars and houses now has far outpaced inflation. On average in the last decade, median income in the us has risen 30%, but housing costs have risen 70%. Vehicle prices have risen similarly. Plus, people now can be kept in debt for decades just to pay off massive college tuition, and more and more jobs, (I don't just mean white collar careers), are requiring college degrees, or at least some college like mold makers and auto techs. It didn't used to be like that. My parents were boomers, kicked me out when I was 18, didn't pay for college, and then didn't understand why I was so poor and struggling with a full time job. Older people just think millennials are lazy when they hear stories about a 25 year old still living with their parents, but sometimes there are totally legitimate financial reasons why. Sorry for the mini novel, lol.

[@lectriclarry9110]

@@TarasTankFriends Forget air conditioning, power steering and power brakes. Crank up your windows and tune your AM radio and your carburetor. Do all that and you're back in the 1960's Do all that and you can have a car for 20 grand. Yes 2020's cars cost more. The home I grew up in in the 50's and 60's was less that 800 sq ft housing a family of 6. I bought my first home of 1400 sq ft in 1974. I still have it. This film and your perception of the times is waaaay off. Your life may never be sun shine and lollipops. Consider the 1960's population of the US was about 175 million compared to about 330 million today. The only way you can really improve YOUR life is to vote for politicians and programs that better the middle class and society at large. Programs that reorder society for the better instead for the 1%.

[@scottthomas7870]

I'm glad I had the foresight to VTR your MSotS series when it was broadcast on PBS. Last year, I transferred the 3 tapes onto 3 DVDs.

[@ao879_u]

your documentaries on the sixties and how they were shaped are very educational and beneficial. thank you

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you Abdullah, David Hoffman - filmmaker

[@hannah4peace]

I'm still trying to find the whole series.....I had it on vhs.

[@sassulusmagnus]

This was a great series. Thanks for putting it together. Wonderful work. It seems to be a general principle that any dominant world-view that seeks to suppress other world-views ultimately ends up setting the stage for a rebound or expansion of exactly those other world-views. Intolerant theism fosters intolerant secularism which fosters intolerant theism. Aggressive globalism fosters aggressive nationalism, etc.

[@BlackMagnolia]

You have officially made my hug bucket list. Your information historical preservation has made my heart Happy. This modern world lacks the Technicolor that I long for from your generation and before you. I was born in 1980 and since then I feel Americana dying and I'm trying to do everything I can to stop it. My son appreciates feels like these and the music that goes with it so, I salute you sir.

[@RobertaSirgutz]

My parents were not available at all. They provided a comfortable life, but oblivious to children's needs. My mother was a housewife and didn't encourage her daughters to pursue higher education.

[@detroitredwings7130]

"spoken word" poetry is REALLY hard to pull off without sounding just corny as hell lol. Great documentary

[@nancypatricia511]

I never thought to compare the beatniks of the 60s with the rappers of the late 70s-early 80s until I read your comment. Those who take the art of rap seriously like Tarique (aka Black Thought) of The Roots) can rhyme spontaneously with ease.

[@valeriejones8195]

I loved this excellent film expose of the 1950's in America. However, I wish that the sound didn't completely drop out of this video at the 29:57 through the 30:47 mark when the sound and narration finally resumed. I would have loved to hear that part of the video as well. Also, what was the background score used under several of the montage scenes. It fit this film so perfectly, and married seamlessly the montage sequences to the narrated portions. I would really love to find out how to get a copy of the background score used. Kudo's David I'm looking forward to watching the rest of your films.

[@ghendry7925]

It's weird that in 2020 we are being censored and told we can't do certain things and I see people fighting back real soon 🤦

[@hurkamur1]

😆 You have no clue. This is the kind of shit Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro want to take us back to.

[@pawelpap9]

@@hurkamur1 Please enlighten us and explain why we shouldn’t believe our own eyes. You are so wise that I am sure you can do it in few sentences.

[@nobodymister5435]

Unfortunetaly I don't see people fighting back at all. Because people have become complacent, little shits in the western world. Their bellys are so full they can't even get up to fight back. They're just leaning back and watching as their freedom is being taken away.

[@local4075]

Yup and it’s being done by the same liberal idiots who were protesting against censorship back in the day.

[@elFLaako]

@@hurkamur1 u must be one of those “post-modern neo Marxist” 😆

[@jaklumen]

Oh, I think it's of value to me as a Gen Xer. Much as Ken Burns helped me understand a little bit better about the WWII experience for my grandfather, I'd like to understand my Boomer era parents better. I mean, my mother just really detests the music and popular culture of the 1950s. Granted, while she had appreciation for hippie culture from a high intellectual angle, I'll never forget how she said she figured the songs she loved as a teen were all about sex, sex, sex. She said she interpreted them as being about peace and friendship, but listening again, as a grown woman with 4 children, she just heard SEX.

[@gracevalentine1666]

In the sixties I was a child, my parents were the rebellious ones. But they had that 50’s cover going on, while they debauched in secret. My mom had a kid with another guy in 1961, my dad was with everyone who said yes. Me and my sibs were lost in the 60s.

[@valor101arise]

True! My grandparents who raised kids in 50s and 60s were horribly abusive and adulterous. I think it was more common than we know

[@thewatcheronthewall8532]

When you say your dad was with everyone who said yes, by that do mean he said yes to going to Vietnam? Sorry if I’m being nosey just interested.

[@gracevalentine1666]

@@thewatcheronthewall8532 Korea. Chosin.

[@dewaynebaugh1497]

Grace thank you forgiving me a little more hope for white by tell a little truth

[@gracevalentine1666]

@@dewaynebaugh1497 if I did that, gave another person hope, then the world has some chance, there’s lots of whites like me, cultural orphans ❤️

[@trueblueclue]

The 60s was a failure socially. We were told to let loose but letting loose does have its consequences that we're especially feeling now. Of course the 50s was another extreme. So where would the middle way be?

[@franciscoreyes7370]

The civil rights movement was a failure?

[@michaelmerck7576]

The 80s

[@terry9238]

Are you saying one person’s rights can come only at the expense of another’s?

[@marcopolodikorcula9704]

@@michaelmerck7576 that's why I miss the 80s 😭😭😭😭.

[@Whitetiger187]

The 80s did seem like a good time. There did seem to be a lot more effort for middle ground then. My theory is that it was a time when there was the perfect balance of the conservative parental influence of the WWll generation who were still in charge, and some of the progressive ideas of the boomers' from the 60s. Hence why we had shows like the Cosby Show and so on. Many of the lessons in tv shows in the 70s and 80s seemed to be about finding middle ground. But by the 90s things started taking a more one sided leftist bias where boomers basically started preaching "the greatness of the 60s" and having a like it or love it kind of attitude about it. In hindsight, it all seemed to shamelessly promote degeneracy and low self esteem as "relatable". Roseanne comes to mind. This stuff seemed to gain even more momentum in the 2000s.

[@publiusvelocitor4668]

I don't know if this take on things really appreciates how revolutionary the 1950's were. Rock music, television, youth culture, the Beatniks, the rise of popular Psychiatry, the rise of advertising, experimentalism in art and music, the mainstreaming of Jazz with Dave Brubeck's "Time Out" (an experiment of odd time signatures... becoming the first Jazz album to go gold), literature of Jack Kerouac and the poetry of Alan Guinsberg, heck even use of LSD started in the 1950's with Psychologists giving it out very liberally for all sorts of reasons. The 1950's was not at all just a homogeneous "Leave It to Beaver" scene.

[@2degucitas]

That wasn't the mainstream. That was counter culture. The stuff our parents warned us about.

[@publiusvelocitor4668]

@@victorkreig6089 Talk to somebody who lived through the Great Depression.

[@publiusvelocitor4668]

@@victorkreig6089 I'm assuming that if you could explain why the 1950's were somehow worse than the 1930's you would just do it, instead of degenerating into empty insults. The 1930's were a time of poverty, ominous international developments that threatened war and vulnerability (which came to pass in the Pearl Harbor attack), and domestic rising sentiments for both fascism as well as Communism. The 1950's were a time of comparative prosperity, and American prominence on the world stage.

[@carolgiangreco6548]

That is true as the fringe of what was going on, not the norm or even understood by most of us. Neither was Leave it to Beaver the norm, but just a TV caricature. My family was totally different from these extremes: just a mom and dad who ruled the roost and two kids who had no say, had to listen and left home as soon as possible.

[@Dd-xt8hc]

I enjoyed myy childhood in the 50"s and 60"s. The Vietnam war caused all the revolutions a politician war and president John Kennedy the best. My mother liked cleaning her house and was proud of her beautiful home. She had a lot of work to do raising 4 kids and a husband keeping a home in order was an every day job. And my mom was good at it plus mom controlled the money paying the bills mortgage etc.

[@snowballcorners]

Lots of opinions as to what happened its no big secret, the 50s with the cold war drove everyone to the brink of a breakdown. The best was yet to come the U.S.A. provided the children of the 50s now young adults with their own war. If you bend and twist people in this manner there is a price to pay and it was paid in the late 60s in the form of a backlash to the happenings inflicted on society.

[@HectorJPeabody]

Just found your channel via YT suggestions and I absolutely love it!

[@challengingoldhollywoodmyt2934]

You hear a lot from people who lived in the 50s about how good it was, but older generations in the 50s were talking about how good it was in the 20s and so on. Most people defend what they know. My dad was born in the 50s. He hates the current generation because he didn't have to be sensitive to people he didn't like. Now he does. He misses the days when he was the majority. I also hear a lot of people talking about how "Back in my day people stayed married" as if they were more moral or knew how to keep a marriage together. Back in the 50s, divorce was taboo. Some people stayed together because it was "the thing to do." Some people got married because of social pressure. Some people got married because they were gay or lesbian and had to hide it or "try to be normal." It was a mixture of good and bad.

[@theiscream8705]

"the best intentions pave the road to hell"

[@mikelisacarb]

I don't know about anybody else, but this reminds me about how much time this 64 year old retired guy spends rehashishing the past, trying to make sense out of the many changes that have come and gone. It truly helps to have this on while I do my old man physical therapy exercises. It moves my thoughts beyond simple nostalgia or repressed trauma, and helps me to slowly process how I was shaped by these times. "What a strange and wonderful sad, sad trip it's been" Thank you, David Hoffman!

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your experiences. I tried to make the series for the children of those who lived at that time and it is very successful still after all these years, in schools across our country. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@Mike65809]

At this point, the 1950's doesn't look too bad. A family with both parents and the mother at home? Yeah, that's horrible. I think the idea that the kids were just spoiled is the explanation for the 1960's.

[@zachskeletor1346]

Reap the rewards we didn't fight for. That's all we know

[@terirea7743]

My parents grew up in the late 40's and early 50's. When I was a teenager I had the luxury of living with my grandmother. We spent a lot of time talking about the past. She raised 8 children. Her stories told me that she believed this had taken away any opportunity for a fulfilling life. My grandfather traveled to various welding jobs, in shipyards and on pipelines. The children rarely saw him. They grew up then with an absent father and a mother with only the time to feed them, wash them, clean the house - but not spend idle, joyful time. Now that's not horrible. It's certainly not ideal either. I think it was far more typical than the sugar candy that government and media pretended was reality.

[@Berbs73]

It can surely be horrible being raised by both parents who are miserable.

[@Mike65809]

@@Berbs73 True indeed. But studies show kids raised in single parent homes are much more likely to be poor when older.

[@Berbs73]

@@Mike65809 Interesting...

[@Inertia888]

I am here looking to make sense of what is happening here in the US in 2020. Are there parallels? Can we learn from our recent past in order to correct our present?

[@hurkamur1]

You're drawing parallels when you should be drawing a cross. There was a rebellion of ridiculous social norms and worship of money. If anything the worst of the gass lighting and the red scare has survived and is propagated by the same people brainwashing you now. To the extent that wearing a mask or taking a vaccine to protect others, and end a pandemic is painted as an infringement on freedom.

[@MomCat6000]

Can’t believe that 70 years later we are STILL battling racism. When will it end!!

[@danielahlert3370]

Quit teaching our kids to hate.

[@nancypatricia511]

Make that 160 years. .The civil war started in 1862 and ended in 1865.

[@danielahlert3370]

@HiPoint1095Carbine Al people. Rev 7 vs 9 God's country

[@EricMcDowellegm]

Excellent videos. I was just a kid during the 60s and have especially learned a lot about Vietnam from your work. Thank you!

[@peppermintcatsass3141]

First day of school 1968, practice duck&cover drill, viewed film, returned home with many questions that I at 5yrs did not possess vocabulary to form & ask, it was a looming fear I & many other kids carried for next 5yrs, for some much longer.

[@justcnorell]

The way I see things, we need a mix of the old and the new. I love many things about the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s and some of the 90s. From the year 2000 to 2022/now, very little good has happened. Every other decade can show progress and a better world on some level, but the last 22 years have been a nightmare.

[@donnarichardson7214]

Try the last 40. Since Reagan.

[@justcnorell]

​@donnarichardson7214 That's a cute parroted talking point and there is some truth to it, but Reagan alone didn't screw everything up. I don't like Reagan nor am I a conservative or a liberal or progressive. I don't join political parties or ideologies. I'm not a partisan hack or a cheerleader for a side. I'm an independent to my core which allows me to think critically and with a clear mind. Reagan was definately part of the problem, but so was Ford, Carter, George HW Bush and Bill Clinton, and then GW Bush, Obama, Trump and now, the senile clown, Joe Biden. The fire didn't just start under Reagan. GW Bush and Obama and now Joe Biden are 3 of the worst presidents in our history.

[@stephaniemccord8677]

David, keep up the great works! I love seeing history like this. Alive and real. Brilliant!!

[@poetryjones7946]

I second that. 🌹❤️

[@lucguay.Massotherapeute]

Your work is important. As a french Canadian, it is more than interesting to see a clearer view from inside. I got to know the States from tv. It doesn’t show the hole picture. I got to know beautiful people in Texas last year on my first trip to USA in my life . I fell in love with your country. Still I am not at peace with that stupid religious point of view on truth, but I see hope... so I decide to accept and live you all with all of your contradictions. Thank you Mr Hoffman !

[@dickeymckay8289]

So glad I discovered you @davidhoffman! This channel is a trove of Americana, history and just pure genius filmmaking. Kudos to you David. You do such a great job in all your work.

[@RDMNCB]

David, I enjoyed this video and see that it is part of a series. I would like to watch the series in order, is there a listing in proper order of the episodes? Thanks

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you for asking. Segments of my series are on my KZbin channel if you search the words "making sense of the" on my journal. Collectors and schools and teachers purchase the series from me. I make 6 DVDs from my Masters. David Hoffman-filmmaker

[@MarjorieNardini]

I am a fan. I inhale docs and am always starved for something fresh and this is it. The documentary was well done filled with a cross of nostalgia and the realities of life and how societies rules.change with time...Nicely done. Laughed seeing Darrin from Bewitched, his looks never changed.

[@pawelpap9]

26:00 the youngsters who just rebelled against uniformity and conformity are dressed in the same way and all look alike.

[@DweeD1516]

Well its so engrained in the human psyche its hard to not conform. Aint nothing wrong with that. Far better than LIVING the same as the majority of society with no enrichment. Your statement is semi true but means nothing when it comes to new ideas about what it means to be alive and do what you want with your life and not be the same as SOCIETY not eachother.

[@ocean7849]

Well.....they were a group/shared an ideology. And they wanted to show everyone they are not individuals but a group of teens who helped eachother

[@DweeD1516]

@@ocean7849 Exactly. Doesnt mean there isnt any significance to what they are trying to say and express. Thats just what people do.

[@crabbygramma5553]

Not true. Many of us continued to conform because we would lose our jobs, it was just a ‘look’. Our hearts were around Height, Ashbury.

[@DweeD1516]

@@crabbygramma5553 news flash grandma: the whole idea of "jobs" is fabricated and conformity. No great man ever stopped to think about a silly meaningless labor over a leap into the unknown and create their own jobs. Hey it's not for everyone or most at all really. You would not be scolding yunngins on your magic box right now if all people thought that way and decided to take the easy route just because you're told too. Only dead fish go with the flow.

[@TurboAidan29]

That guy was right about the 60s always holding some kind of bad historical event. 1760s, the British empire oppressing the American colonies. 1860s, the America Civil war. And in the 1960s, the beginning of Vietnam and what you see in this video. I pray the 2060s will be better.

[@Contrajoe]

For sure, but what about all the other decades that also hold crisises?

[@scottwebster2135]

No Love for Paul it will be interesting to see what kind of documentaries will be made of the 1st 5 decades of the 2000s, time is bizarre we are living in history right now! As soon as you experience the now it becomes the past , you cannot measure the now moment, but all we have is the now momement, which will become history By the time we enter the 6th decade of the 2000s we will most likely see major changes hopefully good changes but it will most likely be chaos if we do not work together as a country, and try to find some middle ground especially with poltics. As far the environment we have beter damn well Slowed down global warming to a snail pace or we will in bad shape.

[@kaleeshsynth9994]

I think the country might end.

[@BeingLifted]

Bravo, David! 👏👏👏👏👏 Still as informative today as it was in 91. Great piece of work!

[@liveoak144]

the 50s drove me nutz. I was sure I was going to be burned in the village square for some heresy or another, maybe for wearing slacks one too many times or for playing full court basketball instead of half court like girls should.

[@susannabonke8552]

Boring Times.

[@thomashamilton5998]

Some nice points, but stilted in other ways. Lesson #1: give your children everything that they need and nothing that they want. Make them earn what they want.

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

Brilliant. My patents made me pay my way from early on. I starting working at 14. They put it away for me and I've never not paid a bill in full or paid for groceries in pocket change for long.

[@TheShospitali]

My late grandfather always said many problems with teenagers started with Rock & Roll. He said you didn't hear of teenage kids getting into any kind of trouble until Rock & Roll got big.

[@joan-lisa-smith]

Damn that Elvis and his pelvis

[@tommoyer4697]

so he never heard of Billy the Kid

[@Mathada1957]

I beg to differ. My grandmother was a 1920's flapper ,who drove her parents crazy by smoking cigarettes,cutting her long hair into a sassy page boy bob,wearing short flapper dresses ,drinking and staying out all night. She said sex was rampant, with a great number of unwed mothers. The boys were even worse. She never regretted it either! Also, the music and the dances were considered immoral. Especially the Charleston, from which she was forbidden to do. You guessed it, she did it anyway.

[@ssd0040]

He’s right. If he wasn’t we wouldn’t call rock n roll a revolution. That doesn’t mean rebellion or teenage sex didn’t exist before that time.

[@nathankinman7753]

Rock music back then just made the immoral behavior more obvious, ESPECIALLY with the media constantly showing it. Other than that, such behavior was going on even before the Boomers came around.

[@bpwonderkid]

The song that the author Susan Allen Toth is singing, reminds me of the Peggy Seeger song "I'm Gonna Be an Engineer". I love that song and I love this video. Thank you so much David for making all these videos, and capturing these moments in time!

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that KZbin is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker

[@00rudy195]

The last 5 minutes are so disturbing that I cannot believe it happened in our Country. 5star doc

[@yespls4184]

I think there is something good about a family unit if you have a strong one-- something valued in the 50s. But conversely not one bound by gender roles, but mutual respect and knowing that everyone might have had a bad day and it's healthy to try to let go of that stress temporary for time at home with our relatives. We may debate sometimes at the dinner table for fun, but we also try to just discuss our days and truly pay attention to one another-- so that is an aspect of this era that i think we may embody and bit and respect. However, the 50's overcorrected because it didn't allow individuality and promoted withholding emotions. I was born in 1996 (I'm a woman) and both of my parents work, but both contribute equally at home. Cooking is my mom's hobby so she likes to cook (a traditional gender role obviously), but on days my mom is busy or isn't feeling up to it my dad can cook very well and enjoys it. On days she does, my dad and i do the dishes and clean up (even days she does cook). And vice versa. As it comes to cleaning, both contribute equally but if my mom cleans the house more, my dad does more yard work. My mom has frequent pain issues so while she likes yard work, sometimes it is too much. My parents adhere to *some* traditional gender roles at times, but not so much deliberately. They were born in the early 60's so they were raised slightly differently. I obviously still live at home at 25 (which, i guess, is seen as lame), but it has really helped me appreciate what i have and how i was raised. An environment that values the family unit in a way that isn't based on gender roles, but based on helping everyone recover from their days and truly appreciating the company of one another and helping eachother. Some other people aren't so lucky and experience turbulence at home, so i feel thankful. It is about balance and mutual respect-- taking care of eachother when it comes to basic needs and emotional support.

[@laurenepps1]

I promise last comment. Segregation was disgusting in the worst way back in the 50's and 60's. Racism is and always has been disgusting, as sexism is and was. But we all won. As far as I'm concerned, it's an insult to compare those days and the people who fought the real fight, to the idiots in 2018.

[@simmiewilliams5970]

I was born in 59, too young to understand the counter culture, but I remember thinking things are changing. Watching reruns of Leave it to Beaver, and Father Knows Best, while witnessing the hippies, flower power, and the summer of love. I saw young whites and blacks trying to come together through activism, art and music.....Something was happening here.

[@jaminova_1969]

David, you are a national treasure! Your films on the 50's & 60's have done a world of good helping me understand the Baby Boomer generation! I understood my grandparents better than my parents and I think they understood me as well!

[@bruji2001]

Thank you David for an awesome film and sometimes harrowing insight into how the US was back in the day! 🤗 from the UK 😘

[@lordcron]

The biggest problem people get wrong between the races is in thinking we're extremely different. Blacks have the same wants and needs as anyone else. All we ever wanted was to just be treated no differently!... Why is that such a hard concept? Why is it so hard to understand?! What others don't get is we were showing you all the time that we just wanted to get along and believe in the same things everyone else did. Time and time again we helped fight off the enemies of this country and stood up for freedom just to turn around and get treated like second class citizens.

[@OneLine122]

Maybe that is actually the problem, you want the same thing. If you wanted different things, it would be different. Maybe they understood full well. Its the same with class differences. If you have poor people that want the same thing as rich people, they will fight, but if they want something different, then there is peace. For a long time, those things were understood, and that is how peace was kept, until too much hardship was made on the poor, then they rebelled, the rich would be replaced, and peace would continue. Today, everybody wants the same thing, because they are equal, so there are fights all over the place, competition on everything, etc. Its madness. Everybody is equal in theory, but nobody is happier for it, just like in the 50s, where it was economic equality that was achieved, but then women wanted to be equal, so they thought themselves as second class citizens because they wanted the same thing. Its the sad thing, that people seem to be the happiest when there is injustice and segregation. When those things stop, they stop being happy, just like in the 60s. I guess it has to be with identity, and being secure in a role. Those people working in the 50s, they look bland, and under injustice, but were overall happier, because they believed it was their lot in life. They didn't dream about something else, so they were as happy as they could imagine, and were content with it. Their children though, saw it differently, they were told they were better than this, so they dreamed big, and were unhappy, but they also achieved big eventually for awhile, but then it stopped, and unhappiness came back, and so with the following generations. Anyway, it is the tragedy of the human condition, and it goes about more than race, that is just one possible distinction, there are many others.

[@land_and_air1250]

OneLine treating people equally is a tenant of the enlightenment on which this country is based. To suggest that it’s a bad thing is fairly contradictory to the core values upon which this country is based

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

Just curious, how many times have you been unable to work or had some issue because you're black? I know the police can be a severe detriment, but besides that? As a musician, there's a ton of bigotry from both men and women (their wives). When I asked a bass player about racism, he said only once in 25 years. In real estate, none of them care if the check clears, but the problem is often really bad or no credit history. I've been curious why people would live where it's a potentially dangerous area, especially if they clearly had the means to leave. I once asked this nice young couple and they said they liked that their family was there. Not long after, that woman got shot to death coming out of Starbucks by Sox park...she wasn't even a target.

[@poca007]

My parents are baby boomers. They swore they would raise healthy individuals who would grow up to be independent. But instead they raised kids who obeyed out of fear, not respect. They raised children who became broken due to the high rate of divorce. Those children grew up with personality disorders, who self medicated... we have been existing not living due to our parents repeating the parenting style of thier greatest generation parents. I broke the cycle with my millenial children.

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Good on you that you broke the cycle. David Hoffman filmmaker

[@DigitalEelRich]

Making Sense of the Sixties, Part 1 of 6: Seeds of the Sixties Thanks David!

[@AncientWisdomSpeaks]

I applaud you, Mr. Hoffman. Absolutely an amazing documentary. I wish it didn’t end

[@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker]

Thank you Willie for your comment. If your resources allow, I would sure appreciate your using the THANKS button under any of my videos including the one you have commented on. It is something new that KZbin is beta testing and would mean a great deal for my continuing efforts. David Hoffman filmmaker

[@AncientWisdomSpeaks]

@@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker I wish I had more to give. Hopefully my Thanks went through successfully. I really enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work! 👍🏼

[@carolgiangreco6548]

Dear David Hoffman: Thank you for your dedication in capturing the true America. We can all learn from history and benefit when it is honestly portrayed.

[@crieverytim]

you are a national treasure, David. God bless you

[@GetTheGrandFunkOut]

I was born in 1956. My understanding of the placid 1950s, through the last four years of viewing all the 1940s -1950s black-and-white instructional videos uploaded here that I'd not known existed, and the turbulent sexually, racially and politically charged 1960s I grew up in has been disjointed, to say the least. But this PBS documentary has explained everything in between.

[@eunicestone838]

Our high school home economics taught us sex education and birth control None of this was written on paper but she'd answer any type of question honestly and get us in touch with resources if we so desired and never judged us. Thank God for her. She was far ahead of her time. Had the parents or the board of education only knew she would have been fired and rode out of town for teaching us to be bad girls. In home ec she taught cooking, sewing, laundry, entertaining, etiquette, and baby and small child care in case we babysat. Or truthfully how to take care of one of our own.

[@eaventravers7465]

Great work David, your docs on the 50s and 60s are wonderful

[@shellakers10]

Your films are so valuable now! It's hard to paint a picture to the young about what we all saw and experienced during these crazy change years!