Younger Generation Finally Getting Involved

I think 1968 was such an important year for demonstrations and for political activism within younger people. As Kurlansky explained, although some claimed that the giving eighteen-year-olds the vote would “decrease the frustration of the youth.” I agree with Hayden who said that giving younger people the vote would not cease tensions. I think what the younger generation stood up for domestically may have also reflected their frustration with foreign affairs. The Vietnam war had a huge impact on the younger generation, as young people were the people who fought—and died—in the war. It is great to see this shift from the 50’s which was so passive, to a time where it seems like people really cared about defending what they believed in. Making progress domestically makes it more acceptable for the US to be a “defender of the free world.”