Polarization in the 1960s
In November 1969, when Bob Hope asked the nation’s elected leaders to join him in celebrating a week of national unity no matter their political persuasion, one mayor, signing on, identified the period as “a time of crisis, greater today perhaps than since the Civil War.” The war in Vietnam, the counterculture, black power, and women’s liberation left the nation polarized between those who passionately protested the status quo and others who eagerly adopted the phrase popularized by President Nixon—“the silent majority”—to identify their adherence to traditional norms, mores, and values. Celebrities hoping to use their fame to publicize causes took on the roles of spokesperson and leader on each side of the divide as the worlds of politics and entertainment increasingly became interwoven.
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