Where did you live? Were you working or in school?
I was living at home (in San Diego) for the entire decade of the 1960s, and went off to college in 1970. As a general note, for late-end baby boomers (I was born in 1952), "the 60s" spilled over into the early 1970s, and some of the answers below may reflect my memories of and reaction to the early 70s.
Where were you when you heard about President Kennedy being shot? What was your reaction?
I was in Mr. Jones 6th grade class -- I don't recall the name of the (elementary) school. He was called out of the class, and came back to say "Oh, my aching back, the President's been shot." I was shocked, and went through the rest of the day in a haze, but I recall the phrase "state of the Union" going around through my mind.
At the time he was shot, I thought of him as the tame Old Negro, already bypassed by younger Black Power types like H. Rap Brown. To 16, 39 seems old! Not till many years later did I really grasp that MLK greatest contributions should have lain ahead of him.
He was not much on my radar at that time. My attitude was probably negative, but I didn't have much impression of him.
When they first appeared, about 1967, it all seemed pretty goofy. Later my reaction was more favorable, but I was never a member of the hippie contingent in high school.
The Free speech movement at Berkeley
It was sort of before my time in terms of awareness (1964), but by the late 60s my attitude would have been sympathetic.
In junior high (1964-67) I was supportive, but turned against it -- less from fear of being drafted than because it seemed like a disastrous blunder.
Betty Friedan and the Woman's Movement
I don't think this was on my radar in high school; in college (early 70s) I was vaguely supportive, but not concer
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