What Caused the 1960s?

There are times when history moves at a slow, almost glacial pace with very little change in the broader society. Then, there are other times when society moves rapidly, overturning venerable values and institutions almost overnight. These are defining eras, years that set the stage for what will come decades, even centuries later. The seven-year period of the Black Death in Europe is one such occurrence. The massive loss of life, one-third of the pre-plague population according to most estimates, broke the society of the High Middle Ages, setting the stage for the eventual rise of the modern era. The 1960s were another such period.

It is quite difficult to overstate just how much society changed in a single decade. In 1960, the West could still largely be described as authentically Christian, as it had been for centuries. By 1969, this was no longer the case. There were some exceptions, such as Ireland and Dixie, but while there was some residual cultural attachment to the Christian faith, it was now clearly in decline. Church attendance began to drop off dramatically, and bedrock Christian morality was jettisoned with the rapid liberalization of abortion and sodomy laws. Just to understand one example of how quickly the culture changed – in 1965, the highest grossing film in the United States was The Sound of Music. In 1967, it was The Graduate.

All this raises a question though: what exactly caused this rapid shift? For many on the Right, the answer is decadence. The Baby Boomer generation grew up with an unprecedented level of material wealth, and this created a weakness that eventually caused the hedonism of the era as soon as they reached adulthood. Such an explanation has some truth to it, but it is only part of the picture. After all, the cultural shift of the 1960s impacted everywhere in the Western world, even places that enjoyed far less prosperity during the immediate years after World War II. The core of Western civilization, Europe, was completely devastated yet in many ways had an even greater cultural transformation than the United States, Canada, or Australia. Furthermore, the major players driving the monumental changes during the 1960s, the civil rights movement, music, and movies, were not Boomers. Instead, they came from the previous Silent Generation, those who grew up during the Great Depression and World War II but were too young to serve.

Thus, our explanation must run deeper – what caused the 1960s were the events between 1914-1945, a crisis that has been rightfully termed the “Second Thirty Years’ War.” The World Wars broke the West. Two generations of fine young men were killed before their time. After 1945, the West fell into a deep hesitancy and cultural insecurity. Certain knaves placed the blame on the European fighting spirit, the same force that had given rise to men such as Charlemagne, Christopher Columbus, Napoleon, and Robert E. Lee. With that, came an attack on nationalism and the whole of Western civilization. Per the subversives, it was the oppressive nature of the West that had caused all this devastation; therefore, the only way to stop this from ever happening again was to run as far away as possible from the forces of masculinity, traditional Christianity, and honor.

So, if the origin of the Crisis of the West lies in the World Wars, why were these cultural shifts not really observable until the 1960s? Why do we not talk about the late 1940s and 1950s in the same manner we do with the 1960s? Although the West was fundamentally changed after the World Wars, it took a little while for these deteriorations to fully work themselves into the wider culture. In 1945, despite a seismic shift that already occurred, the population was still comprised of people who had come of age before that shift and, consequently, were less willing to follow its implications. However, the younger generation was inclined to embrace this suicidal decline; and accordingly, the changes wrought by the World Wars were not fully felt until they entered adulthood. This is why the Silent Generation was so impactful here. As young children, they received the subversive messaging that the West was responsible for all the carnage and were now willing to overturn it in a way that the slightly older generation would not.

The Boomers, the first generation born after the World Wars, further embraced this shift as they had no memory of the world before the transition occurred. All they had was what they picked up via cultural osmosis from their parents and grandparents. And, each generation since has had less of a connection with the old order. As the 1960s begin to recede from living memory, this loss of connection will occur with the old order, as well as the radical 1960s. As shocking as it is to imagine, but the hippies that attended Woodstock are now old enough to be grandparents (or older). A new generation is quickly rising that has not only never met anyone who can remember the world before 1945, but they have also not even met someone who can remember the world before 1960.

The only way forward is to preserve as much of the old, traditional order as possible. The current order is built on sand, it can offer no value other than despondent tolerance and decline. It can give its people nothing to fight for, nothing to believe in, and nothing that can last. It is when that collapse comes, we, by preserving the old order, can move in and rebuild society. We can create a “new” old order where the traditional Western values of honor, bravery, courage, and self-sacrifice are the cornerstones of a healthy society.

Harmonica