In 1962 America was going through a tough period, marked by the Cold War, against USSR and its communism. This was also the time of the Vietnam War and the Arms Race, with the possession of the nuclear weapon, and the president of the time, John F. Kennedy was a fervent believer in the “Domino Theory” and intended to contain communism. This situation was one of the elements that would lead to people’s dissatisfaction and fear, and to many contestations through popular means, like music, for example, with Jimi Hendrix. The Port Huron Statement written in 1962 is one of those movements raised to show this disillusionment many people were feeling in the 1960’s. It is the manifesto of the American activist movement Students for a Democratic
The Vietnam War lead people to disappointment and bitterness, because the way young people were sent to fight in a very critical situation revealed the Government and its political convictions were more important than anything else. These references that explain the feeling of discomfort do not only hint at History but also brings about a heavy criticism of the Government of the time. This criticism is very noticeable in this excerpt because the definition of men that is given by the Students for a Democratic Society is contrasted with the vision of men Government had at that time. This vision of man they oppose to is referred to as “the doctrine of incompetence” (line 16) which “rests essentially on the modern fact that men have been “competently” manipulated into incompetence” (line 16). This explains their idea that the society they lived in was no longer democratic, and refers to their firm opposition to the policies of the time, especially about economy and the oppression and disenfranchisement of Black Americans. They felt that democracy had gone because of the domination of Congress by southern segregationists who