“There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”
— Mario Savio, spokesperson for the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, December 2, 1964
The sentiments expressed in the excerpt most directly reflect which of the following developments in the United States during the 1960s?
- A growing youth rebellion against the bureaucratic conformity and institutional authority of the post-World War II eraAnswer
- BThe complete withdrawal of youth from political participation, mirroring the cultural isolationism of the 1920s Lost Generation
- CThe rapid formation of a politically dominant 'silent majority' that successfully dismantled the federal government's regulatory power
- DA unified and unanimous consensus among civil rights groups to abandon nonviolent protest in favor of militant separation
Answer
A growing youth rebellion against the bureaucratic conformity and institutional authority of the post-World War II era
The correct answer is correct because the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley in 1964 was a foundational event in the 1960s youth rebellion. Students protested the university administration's restrictions on political activities, framing the university and the broader societal establishment as an impersonal, bureaucratic machine that demanded conformity and suppressed individual liberties.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
Counterculture and Youth Rebellion