“We are people of this generation, bred in at least modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit. When we were kids the United States was the wealthiest and strongest country in the world... Many of us began to look upon our own lives and our own society with a new and critical eye. We saw that our comfortable existence was built upon a foundation of racial inequality at home and the constant threat of nuclear annihilation abroad. The search for truly democratic alternatives is the search for a way to overcome these anxieties.”
— Students for a Democratic Society, Port Huron Statement, 1962
Which of the following was a direct consequence of the sentiments expressed in the excerpt?
- AThe widespread public consensus in support of expanding containment policies in Southeast Asia.
- BThe unification of all civil rights groups under a single, nonviolent strategy to achieve integration.
- The expansion of student-led organizations advocating for participatory democracy and social reform.Answer
- DThe creation of federal relief programs modeled directly on New Deal initiatives to address urban poverty.
Answer
The expansion of student-led organizations advocating for participatory democracy and social reform
The correct answer is correct because the Port Huron Statement was the founding document of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). This manifesto articulated the frustrations of college-educated youth with societal conformity, the Cold War, and racial injustice, which directly led to the expansion of student-led organizations advocating for participatory democracy and social reform.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The rise of the New Left and student activism in the 1960s
Estimated Time:1m 30s