THE HIPPIES

ANTI-VIETNAM FEELING: THE HIPPIES

B.A. JAHAZIEL ALBERTO REYES GALICIA

BACKGROUND

HIPPIES, BEATS, AND THE "LOST GENERATION'

HOW MAY WE ACCOUNT FOR THE HIPPIE PHENOMENON? IS IT SIMPLY THE TRADITIONAL REBELLION OF YOUTH AGAINST PARENTAL AUTHORITY, OR DOES IT HAVE MORE PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOCIETY AND GREATER CONSEQUENCES FOR THOSE WHO TAKE PART IN IT?IT MIGHT BE MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN PREVIOUS YOUTH MOVEMENTS. HIPPIES DIFFER IN IMPORTANT WAYS FROM THE BEATS OF THE 1950'S OR THE "LOST GENERATION" OF THE 1920'S, TWO GROUPS WITH WHOM THEY HAVE OFTEN BEEN COMPARED. TEN YEARS EARLIER THE BEAT GENERATION WENT THE SAME CONFUSING ROUTE. FROM 1955 TO ABOUT 1959 THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE INVOLVED IN A THRIVING BOHEMIAN SUBCULTURE THAT WAS ONLY AN ECHO BY THE TIME THE MASS MEDIA PICKED IT UP IN 1960. JACK KEROUAC WAS THE NOVELIST OF THE BEAT GENERATION IN THE SAME WAY THAT ERNEST HEMINGWAY WAS THE NOVELIST OF THE LOST GENERATION, AND KEROUAC’S CLASSIC “BEAT” NOVEL, ON THE ROAD, WAS PUBLISHED IN 1957. YET BY THE TIME KEROUAC BEGAN APPEARING ON TELEVISION SHOWS TO EXPLAIN THE “THRUST” OF HIS BOOK, THE CHARACTERS IT WAS BASED ON HAD ALREADY DRIFTED OFF INTO LIMBO, TO AWAIT THEIR REINCARNATION AS HIPPIES SOME FIVE YEARS LATER.

ACID TESTS: KEN KESEY AND THE MERRYPRANKSTERS

ONE OF THE GROUPS THAT HAVE BEEN LABELED AS THE ‘FIRST’ MAJOR HIPPIE GROUP WAS KEN KESEY (OF ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST FAME) AND THE MERRY PRANKSTERS. KESEY HAS OFTEN BEEN SEEN AS THE MAJOR LINK BETWEEN THE LATE BEAT MOVEMENT AND THE EARLY HIPPIES OF THE 1960S. KESEY AND THE MERRY PRANKSTERS WERE A LARGE COMMUNITY OF LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE IN CALIFORNIA AND OREGON WHO TOOK EPIC ROAD TRIPS AND TRAVELED IN A BRIGHTLY COLORED SCHOOL BUS WHILE INGESTING LARGE AMOUNTS OF LSD, WHICH WAS LEGAL UNTIL 1965.

HIPSTER OR HIPPIE?

DURING THE 1950'S THE TERM "HIPSTER" WAS USED BY BEATNIKS AND THOSE FAMILIAR WITH THE BEAT SCENE. IT HAD SEVERAL MEANINGS. THE WORD "HIPPIE" MIGHT DERIVE FROM "HIPSTER" WHICH, IN TURN, PROBABLY DERIVED FROM "HIP" OR "HEP." DESPITE THE MASS MEDIA PUBLICITY, HIPPIES STILL SUFFER OR PERHAPS NOT FROM A LACK OF DEFINITION. THE RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS A BEST SELLER IN 1966, THE YEAR OF ITS PUBLICATION, BUT IT HAD NO DEFINITION FOR “HIPPIE.” THE CLOSEST IT CAME WAS A DEFINITION OF “HIPPY”: “HAVING BIG HIPS; A HIPPY GIRL.” ITS DEFINITION OF “HIP” WAS CLOSER TO CONTEMPORARY USAGE. “HIP” IS A SLANG WORD, SAID RANDOM HOUSE, MEANING “FAMILIAR WITH THE LATEST IDEAS, STYLES, DEVELOPMENTS, ETC.; INFORMED, SOPHISTICATED, KNOWLEDGEABLE.” THAT QUESTION MARK IS A SNEAKY BUT MEANINGFUL PIECE OF EDITORIAL COMMENT. THE TERM CAME OUT OF THE STUDENT REBELLION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA’S BERKELEY CAMPUS IN 1964 AND 1965. WHAT BEGAN AS A FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT IN BERKELEY SOON SPREAD TO OTHER CAMPUSES IN THE EAST AND MIDWEST AND WAS SEEN IN THE NATIONAL PRESS AS AN OUTBURST OF STUDENT ACTIVISM IN POLITICS, A HEALTHY CONFRONTATION WITH THE STATUS QUO.

WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE HIPPIE IN AMERICAN CULTURE?

PEACE, LOVE, AND BROTHERHOOD WERE THE CALL OF THE AMERICAN HIPPIE. THE AMERICAN HIPPIE TRIED TO LIVE ALL THREE IN UNISON IN EVERY PART OF THE COUNTRY. THERE WERE VERY FEW PLACES WHERE THE HIPPIE COULD NOT BE FOUND AND EVEN FEWER THAT HAD NEVER BEEN INFLUENCED BY THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT. IT SEEMED AS IF THE HIPPIES WERE BECOMING THE NEW AMERICAN CULTURE, THOUGH IT WAS ONLY A SUBCULTURE.THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT INFLUENCED POLITICAL, SOCIAL, AND TRADITIONAL BELIEFS. THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT WAS NOT A STATIONARY FORCE THAT HAD NO INFLUENCE; IT WAS A BROAD SUBCULTURE THAT FOREVER CHANGED THE FABRIC OF AMERICAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY. THE ERA OF THE HIPPIE CAME OUT OF AN ERA OF VERY CONSERVATIVE BELIEFS AND ATTITUDES CONCERNING ANYTHING AND ALL THINGS FROM HAIRCUTS TO POLITICS TO MORALS. THE GENERATION LIVING IN THE LATE 1960’S AND EARLY 1970’S WANTED TO BREAK AWAY FROM THE PICTURE PERFECT IMAGE OF THEIR PARENTS. THEY WANTED TO BECOME MORE, GASP, NATURAL BY GROWING THEIR HAIR LONG AND ADMIRING THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD AROUND THEM.

THE HIPPIES WERE A VERY ESTHETIC GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS, DELIGHTING IN THOSE ACTIVITIES THAT WERE VISUALLY PLEASING. THIS DESIRE TO SEE BEAUTY IN ALL THINGS WAS HEIGHTEN BY AN INCREASE IN DRUG USE, SPECIFICALLY THOSE DRUGS THAT HAD A HALLUCINATION QUALITY, SUCH AS WEED, LSD, AND MARIJUANA. THE HIPPIES CONTRIBUTED A LOT MORE TO AMERICAN CULTURE THAN THE TYPICAL BELIEF. WHILE THE HIPPIE WAS STEREOTYPICALLY HEAVILY INVOLVED WITH DRUGS, SEX, AND A LACKADAISICALLY APPROACH TOWARDS LIFE, THEY CONTRIBUTED A LOT TOWARDS MODERN AMERICAN SOCIETY IN BOTH GOOD AND BAD WAYS. THE HIPPIE BELIEF OF BROTHERHOOD IS STILL PRESENT IN AMERICAN CULTURE, THOUGH THE GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN A MORE ACTIVE ROLE IN ASSISTING THE POOR AND DESOLATE.

TYPES OF HIPPIES

FOUR HIPPIE TYPES ARE DISCUSSED: THE VISIONARIES, THE FREAKS AND HEADS, THE MIDNIGHT HIPPIES, AND THE PLASTIC HIPPIES. THE VISIONARIES ARE UTOPIANS WHO POSE AN ALTERNATIVE TO EXISTING SOCIETY. THEY REPUDIATE CONVENTIONAL VALUES ON THE GROUNDS THAT THEY INDUCE STATUS ANXIETY AND A FETISH FOR MATERIAL ACQUISITION. FREAKS AND HEADS ARE THE MORE DRUG-ORIENTED HIPPIES. THEY SURROUND THE USE OF DRUGS WITH AN ELABORATE MYTHOLOGY SUGGESTING A VARIETY OF BENEFITS TO BE DERIVED FROM "GOING OUT OF ONE'S MIND." MIDNIGHT HIPPIES ARE OLDER PEOPLE, MOSTLY IN THEIR THIRTIES, WHO, HAVING BECOME INTEGRATED INTO STRAIGHT SOCIETY, CANNOT ADOPT THE HIPPIE STYLE OF LIFE, BUT, WHO ARE, NEVERTHELESS, SYMPATHETIC TO IT. PLASTIC HIPPIES ARE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WEAR THE PARAPHERNALIA OF HIPPIES (BAUBLES, BANGLES, AND BEADS) AS A KIND OF COSTUME. THEY HAVE ENTERED INTO IT AS A FAD, AND HAVE ONLY THE MOST SUPERFICIAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE IDEOLOGY.

HOW THE VIETNAM WAR EMPOWERED THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT

THE HIPPIE COUNTERCULTURE REACHED ITS HEIGHT DURING THE ESCALATION OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM, AND SUBSIDED AS THE CONFLICT DREW TO A CLOSE. ON MARCH 8, 1965, TWO BATTALIONS OF U.S. MARINES LANDED ON BEACHES OF DA NANG, MARKING THE FIRST OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENT OF AMERICAN TROOPS IN THE VIETNAM WAR. OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS, AS THE UNITED STATES ESCALATED ITS ILL-FATED INVOLVEMENT IN THAT CONFLICT, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS JOINED IN MASS PROTESTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, REPULSED AND OUTRAGED BY THE TERRIBLE BLOODSHED TAKING PLACE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.

HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT

THE BEST YEAR TO BE A HIPPIE WAS 1965, BUT THEN THERE WAS NOT MUCH TO WRITE ABOUT, BECAUSE NOT MUCH WAS HAPPENING IN PUBLIC AND MOST OF WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN PRIVATE WAS ILLEGAL. THE REAL YEAR OF THE HIPPIE WAS 1966, DESPITE THE LACK OF PUBLICITY, WHICH IN 1967 GAVE WAY TO A NATIONWIDE AVALANCHE IN LOOK, LIFE, TIME, NEWSWEEK, THE ATLANTIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE SATURDAY EVENING POST, AND EVEN THE ASPEN ILLUSTRATED NEWS, WHICH DID A SPECIAL ISSUE ON HIPPIES IN AUGUST OF 1967 AND MADE A RECORD SALE OF ALL BUT 6 COPIES OF A 3,500-COPY PRESS RUN.SO THE HIPPIE IN 1967 WAS PUT IN THE STRANGE POSITION OF BEING AN ANTI-CULTURE HERO AT THE SAME TIME AS HE WAS ALSO BECOMING A HOT COMMERCIAL PROPERTY. HIS BANNER OF ALIENATION APPEARED TO BE PLANTED IN QUICKSAND. THE HIPPIES REVERSED THAT ETHIC. “ENJOY LIFE NOW,” THEY SAID, “AND WORRY ABOUT THE FUTURE TOMORROW.” MOST TAKE THE QUESTION OF SURVIVAL FOR GRANTED, BUT IN 1967, AS THEIR ENCLAVES IN NEW YORK AND SAN FRANCISCO FILLED UP WITH PENNILESS PILGRIMS, IT BECAME OBVIOUS THAT THERE WAS SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH FOOD AND LODGING. WHILE MOST HIPPIES ARE TOO DRUG ORIENTED TO FEEL ANY SENSE OF URGENCY BEYOND THE MOMENT. THEIR SLOGAN IS “NOW,” AND THAT MEANS INSTANTLY. UNLIKE POLITICAL ACTIVISTS OF ANY STRIPE, HIPPIES HAVE NO COHERENT VISION OF THE FUTURE WHICH MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT EXIST

THE DIGGERS

A PARTIAL SOLUTION EMERGED IN THE FORM OF A GROUP CALLED THE DIGGERS, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE “WORKER-PRIESTS” OF THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT. THE DIGGERS ARE YOUNG AND AGGRESSIVELY PRAGMATIC; THEY SET UP FREE LODGING CENTERS, FREE SOUP KITCHENS, AND FREE CLOTHING DISTRIBUTION CENTERS.THE DIGGERS WERE AN ANARCHIST ORGANIZATION FORMED IN 1966 IN SAN FRANCISCO. THEY WERE KNOWN FOR PASSING OUT FREE FOOD TO THE HIPPIES PANHANDLING IN GOLDEN GATE PARK, AND OPERATING A FREE STORE (STOCKED WITH STOLEN GOODS) THAT WOULD PROVIDE CLOTHING FOR DRAFT DODGERS AND AWOL SOLDIERS SEEKING TO GO INCOGNITO. LIKE THE DIGGERS, THE YIPPIES, OR THE YOUTH INTERNATIONAL PARTY (YIP) FOUNDED IN EARLY 1968, ALSO TRIED TO ATTRACT HIPPIES TO POLITICS, WITH LITTLE SUCCESS.

THE WOODSTOCK MUSIC FESTIVAL

IN ADDITION TO THE SUMMER OF LOVE, THAT HIPPIE HEYDAY IN 1967 WHEN SOME 100,000 PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY CONVERGED ON HAIGHT-ASHBURY, THE MOST FAMOUS CELEBRATION OF HIPPIE COUNTERCULTURE OCCURRED IN AUGUST 1969 AT THE WOODSTOCK MUSIC FESTIVAL. ADVERTISED AS “THREE DAYS OF PEACE, MUSIC AND LOVE,” WOODSTOCK “BROUGHT BOTH POLITICAL PEOPLE AND COUNTERCULTURE PEOPLE TOGETHER,” RORABAUGH SAYS. INDEED, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 300,000 AND 400,000 PEOPLE, FAR MORE THAN ITS ORGANIZERS ORIGINALLY EXPECTED, FLOCKED TO UPSTATE NEW YORK TO HEAR ARTISTS LIKE JOAN BAEZ, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, JIMI HENDRIX, JANIS JOPLIN, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, THE WHO, CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG AND CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL PLAY THE MUSIC THAT FUELED THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT.

HOW THE YIPPIES 'STUCK IT TO THE MAN' AT THE 1968 DNC OR HIPPIE?

IN LATE AUGUST OF 1968, AMERICANS FRESHLY TRAUMATIZED BY THE ASSASSINATIONS OF BOTH MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND ROBERT F. KENNEDY, FACED REPORTS ABOUT NEW VIOLENCE—THIS TIME AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION IN CHICAGO.AS THE EVENING NEWS BROADCAST IMAGES OF BILLY CLUB-WIELDING POLICE BEATING ANTIWAR PROTESTERS IN THE STREETS, AMERICANS WERE FORCED TO RECKON WITH A NEW POLITICAL REALITY, IN WHICH THE OLD GUARD POLITICAL MACHINE WAS BEING CHALLENGED BY A GROUNDSWELL OF LONG-HAIRED KIDS CALLING FOR REVOLUTION. AT THE CENTER OF THE CLASHES IN CHICAGO WAS AN EMERGING GROUP OF POLITICAL PRANKSTERS CALLING THEMSELVES THE YIPPIES. RUBIN PROPOSED ORGANIZING A COUNTER-CONVENTION CALLED THE “FESTIVAL OF LIFE” TO BE HELD IN A NEARBY PARK. THERE WOULD BE MUSIC, MARIJUANA AND CROWDS OF BEAUTIFULLY FREAKY YOUNG PEOPLE LAUGHING DOWN THE CONVENTION OF DEATH. THEY’D NOMINATE A PIG FOR PRESIDENT, DANCE THROUGH THE STREETS OF CHICAGO AND GRAB MEDIA ATTENTION FROM THE MEANINGLESS SPECTACLE INSIDE THE CONVENTION CENTER WALLS.

THE YIPPIES STAGE A COUNTER-CONVENTION

THE YIPPIES, FOR THEIR PART, PRESSED ON, ALTHOUGH THE NUMBERS THAT DESCENDED ON CHICAGO WERE A SMALL FRACTION OF THE 500,000 FIRST IMAGINED. AN ESTIMATED 10,000 PROTESTERS FROM VARIOUS GROUPS WERE IN CHICAGO FOR THE CONVENTION. DENIED A PERMIT TO HAVE A MUSIC FESTIVAL OR EVEN TO LAWFULLY PROTEST, THE YIPPIES STILL HELD A MOCK CONVENTION FOR THEIR CANDIDATE, PIGASUS, A 145-POUND PIG RAISED BY YIPPIE FOLK-SINGER PHIL OCHS.THE CHICAGO EIGHT GO TO TRIAL BUT THE TRUE WATERSHED MOMENT FOR THE YIPPIES WAS YET TO COME. SIX MONTHS AFTER THE CONVENTION, HOFFMAN, RUBIN AND SIX OTHER MEN—FROM THE STUDENTS FOR A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY (SDS), BLACK PANTHERS AND OTHER GROUPS—WERE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO INCITE A RIOT, OBSTRUCTING POLICE OFFICERS DURING A CIVIL DISORDER AND OTHER CRIMES. THEIR TRIAL, KNOWN AS THE CHICAGO EIGHT (LATER REDUCED TO THE CHICAGO SEVEN), BECAME A NATIONAL MEDIA SENSATION AND HOFFMAN AND RUBIN MADE THE MOST OF IT.

THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7

REFERENCES

• COGSWELL N. (2016) THE HISTORY OF THE HIPPIE CULTURAL MOVEMENT. CULTURE TRIP. ACCESSED ON 30TH AUGUST, 2021. AVAILABLE AT: HTTPS://THECULTURETRIP.COM/NORTH-AMERICA/USA/CALIFORNIA/ARTICLES/THE-HISTORY-OF-THE-HIPPIE-CULTURAL-MOVEMENT/
• CORDIAL M. (2004) WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE HIPPIE IN AMERICAN CULTURE? ACCESSED ON 30TH AUGUST, 2021. AVAILABLE AT: WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE HIPPIE IN AMERICAN CULTURE (BHSCLASSOF70.ORG)
• HOWARD, J. R. (1969) THE FLOWERING OF HE HIPPIE MOVEMENT. ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, VOL. 382, PROTEST IN THE SIXTIES (MAR. 1969), PP. 43-55. ACCESSED ON 30TH AUGUST 30, 2021. AVAILABLE AT: HTTPS://HIPPIESBYASHLEY.FILES.WORDPRESS.COM/2011/09/THE-FLOWERING-OF-THE-HIPPIE-MOVEMENT.PDF
• PRUITT, S. (2019). HOW THE VIETNAM WAR EMPOWERED THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT. HISTORY.COM. ACCESSED ON 30TH AUGUST, 2021. AVAILABLE AT: HTTPS://WWW.HISTORY.COM/NEWS/VIETNAM-WAR-HIPPIES-COUNTER-CULTURE
• ROOS, D. (2020) HOW THE YIPPIES 'STUCK IT TO THE MAN' AT THE 1968 DNC. HISTORY.COM. ACCESSED ON 30TH AUGUST, 2021. AVAILABLE AT: HTTPS://WWW.HISTORY.COM/NEWS/YIPPIES-1968-DNC-CONVENTION
• WOODSTOCK (2021) HISTORY.COM. ACCESSED ON 30TH AUGUST, 2021. AVAILABLE AT: HTTPS://WWW.HISTORY.COM/TOPICS/1960S/WOODSTOCK

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION!