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    Maureen o'Connor was a VISTA volunteer in the late sixties. She says 1968 stood out as the year of the assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy. The u.s. Was relatively economically stable at the time, she says.

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    Maureen o'Connor was a VISTA volunteer in the late sixties. She says 1968 stood out as the year of the assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy. The u.s. Was relatively economically stable at the time, she says.

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    33 views3 pages

    Maureen o

    Uploaded by

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    Maureen o'Connor was a VISTA volunteer in the late sixties. She says 1968 stood out as the year of the assassinations of MLK and Bobby Kennedy. The u.s. Was relatively economically stable at the time, she says.

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    Maureen OConnor VISTA Volunteer 1967 Email Interview, January 25th, 2013 Where are you from?

    I was born in Hamilton, ONT, Canada, grew up in Detroit, MI.; moved to Boston 1970. What was your personal experience like in the late sixties? Did 1968 particularly stand out from the other years of the turbulent time period? I graduated from Marygrove, an all-female liberal arts Catholic college, in 1966. I was affected by the second Vatican ecumenical council in Rome and the outreach of the Catholic Church to other religions. (Im no longer a member of the Catholic Church). After teaching in upstate NY, I returned to Detroit the summer of 1967, taught Head Start in a poor black neighborhood, witnessed some of the effects on TV and in nearby neighborhoods of Detroit riot of 1967. The city was under 8 p.m. curfew; sister Sharon, who was working a summer job at Sears, heard about sniper on roof of store, called home asking my father to pick her up from work. He did. During the evening curfew, the family played Jeopardy in the rec. room of our basement. Yes, 1968 stood out as the year of the TET offensive in Vietnam (Jan.) and the assassinations of MLK (April) and Bobby Kennedy (June). I worked for Eugene McCarthys campaign, the peace candidate of the Democratic Party. I applied to VISTA in April 1968, after the death of MLK. From September 1968-69, I worked as a VISTA volunteer (doing community organizing and tutoring) in poor black neighborhood in North Carolina. The KKK was still active in Rowan County. In November 1968, Richard Nixon won the election. I mailed my absentee ballot to Michigan from NC. I believe I voted for Eldridge Cleaver of the Peace and Freedom Party instead of Hubert Humphrey. In retrospect, this was a mistake. Racist Governor George Wallace of Alabama also ran as a candidate for the American Independent party. He won most of the Southern states. What do you think was the reason so many people were riled up when the US was in a period of relative stability and confidence? The US was relatively economically stable then. Many were still experiencing the benefits of the post WW II economic boom. Housing prices and rents, college tuition all were low compared to today. My mother was a housewife who didnt work, but we managed on my fathers salary. All of my sisters worked part time jobs through high school and college. However, there was still a large minority of poor people (See VISTA memoir for total count). Most Americans didnt know about these poorblack, white, Native

    American, etc. until Michael Harringtons book The Other America was published in 1962. President JFK read it and it became a best seller. Also, many peopleyoung and old--became upset by what they saw on TV newscasts: Violence vs. voter registration of blacks in South as well as the atrocities committed by some US soldiers during the Vietnam War. By 1968, many students and others recognized that Sec. of Defense McNamara and General Westmoreland had been lying to the American people about how successful the war was being waged. This has been documented in the Pentagon Papers released in the early 1970s. What do you think went wrong with the student protests? (oral answer) Do you support one (or more) of the proposed theories? I dont support any of the 3 theories but can relate to comment #1. 1) permissive upbringing and relative affluence spoiled the generation . . . Folks accused Dr. Spocks baby book of creating a generation of permissive kids. I was raised pretty strictly by parents. Nevertheless, I was out of college when I became engaged in war on poverty and peace movementhad to do with timing of events. See the memoirs of Cathy Wilkerson (Flying Close to the Sun), Bill Ayers and Mark Rudd (Underground) for examples of SDS students who later became part of the violent Weatherman faction. All 3 were raised in affluent families. There were exceptions like Tom Hayden, the cofounder of SDS at the University of Michigan, and Abby Hoffman, co-founder of the Yippies, both of whom were from working-class families I dont think we can say that anyone is greedy by nature. Isnt greed a learned behavior? Maybe arrogant? 2) Liberal arts colleges . . . . Not my experience from liberal arts college I attended. I had no excess leisure time. It may have been true of others colleges, but I still think this is a generalization. 3) Definitely disagreealso too general of a statement. It sounds like there was group of people conspiring. You need to provide proof of this. Does the liberal elite only include those in government or does it include business and academic leaders? We cant lump all post-WWII folks (Baby boomers) into one. Most people I knew who were involved in war on poverty, civil rights, and anti-war movement were NOT using the ideals of pacifism and racial equality to cover up their true, power hungry intentions. We genuinely believed in our causes. Many of us went into social work, teaching, and other social service work like poverty law. The hippies who smoked marijuana and experimented with LSD would not even have considered establishing themselves as the liberal elite. They often didnt vote and dropped out of society, living in communes. The post WWII generation also included members of the Young Republicans, members of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), although they were in the student minority

    then. Then there were students in the middle who were neither identified with left or right. Probably also in the minority in the sixties. Having written this, some political leaders I can think of who are liberal and involved in civil rights and/or anti-war activities in the sixties are: Congressman John Lewis (SC) was a Freedom rider and friend of MLK. Senator John D. Rockefeller (West VA) was an early VISTA volunteer Bill Clinton organized anti-war protest in Britain and received a draft deferment. Senator John Kerry (MA) was leader of Vietnam Veterans vs. the War (VVAW) Sam Brown, a former Vietnam peace activist, became head of ACTION (VISTA, Peace Corps) in President Jimmy Carters administration.

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