The Big Question

How did Americans challenge the rigid social expectations that characterized the early Cold War period? What was the relationship between domestic changes of the 1960s and the US's changing foreign policy?
Section 1: Short Answer (30 points)
Write multi-sentence responses for the prompts below. Be specific and give examples from the history we have learned.
A. Read the statement below and then analyze what it is saying about being a young person in the United States in the 1960’s. Use these questions to help you write a commentary of 3-5 sentences: (10 points) * What events and changes in American society does the writer refer to? * How is this document an example of the ‘youth culture’ at the time?
"When we were kids the United States was the wealthiest and strongest country in the world; the only one with the atom bomb. . . . As we grew, however, our comfort was penetrated [filled] by events too troubling to dismiss [forget about]. . . . The Southern struggle against racial bigotry [racism], compelled [took] most of us from silence to activism. Second . . . the Cold War, symbolized by the presence of the Bomb, brought awareness that we ourselves, and our friends, and millions of abstract "others" . . . might die at any time."

—Port Huron Statement, Students for a Democratic Society

The writer is referring to how America changed as he grew up. He grew up during a time when America was the wealthiest nation, but there was racism in the south. The second part of this he was talking about the fears during the cold war. They did not know when they were going to be bombed or attacked. They were always aware of their surroundings and where always paranoid of the thoughts of being bombed.

B. In 1963, Betty Friedan wrote a book describing a problem facing middle-class American women. What problem did she describe, and why did she