No Later 20th century US Wars; What of the Hippies?

[oshron]

i was wondering about this a few days ago. what if the Vietnam War (and perhaps Korea as well) didn't occur? would the hippie movement still come about? keep in mind that this doesn't mean that no wars take place during the latter half of the 20th century, or that wars don't occur during the 21st century. what effects would the potential lack of a hippie movement have on American culture?

you can imagine whatever POD you want, but the World Wars must still take place and the Soviet Union must still come into existence.

 

[Emperor Norton I]

I don't know about Korea. I'm not going to deal with that. But No Vietnam =/= no Hippies. It was already coming and was already going to be what it was. If anything, it benefits the Hippies since you can keep peace and love and flower power with less Militancy and Radicalization taking over the counterculture.
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[The Ubbergeek]

There was the 50s Beatniks before, peoples forget them.. Jack Kerouak and the like already created the bases, in a way...

 

[FDW]

There was the 50s Beatniks before, peoples forget them.. Jack Kerouak and the like already created the bases, in a way...

Yeah, the Hippies had started to emerge out of the Beatnik culture well before Vietnam came onto the scene, though it's hard to tell how they might've changed without it. (though the pacifist streak remains definitely)

 

[King Midas]

I don't know about Korea. I'm not going to deal with that. But No Vietnam =/= no Hippies. It was already coming and was already going to be what it was. If anything, it benefits the Hippies since you can keep peace and love and flower power with less Militancy and Radicalization taking over the counterculture.
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On the other hand "Make love, not...um celibacy?" Doesn't have much of a ring to it.

I've maintained for years that the counter culture would have happened without Vietnam: Affluence, The Pill, and the discovery of adolescent rebellion as a common event ("Kids acting crazy is normal!? ) were bound to happen. OTOH, the draft resistance and the Credibility Gap wouldn't.

 

[Hyperbolus]

I could see a familiar looking conterculture arising, but it would basically remain 'on campus'. However, one knock on effect of the hippies not becoming a societal trope is they might spawn a more enduring movement. Absent Vietnam, I think hippies would emphasize environmentalism/sustainability to an even greater extent than OTL.

 

[UrbanRedneck]

Sex, drugs, and rock and roll would have still created a movement.