Hippies took off in the beginning of the sixties, an outgrowth of the Beat Generation of the late fifties. When was a 20 year old Hippie in 1962 conceived? A Hippie conceived exactly at the end of WWII (and born almost a year later) would have been 20 in ‘66 (and the war actually lasted beyond that for many, with occupations and reconstructions). Some Hippies were born after the War, but the surge of them, which created the movement during the first half of the sixties, was conceived during it.
Hippies peaked in ‘67 or so, but that was the maximum total number, including all those from previous years, not the most Hippies born as a percentage of their specific generation. Note, a 21 year old college kid in 66 would have been born in 45, and conceived in ‘44.
By 1969-1970, the movement was passing, just as the young adults of the boomer generation were becoming the predominate form of young adult. (boomers were technically born 1946-1964 but they were not predominately conceived within a year of the war’s end. Many War heroes literally took years to reintegrate, find a wife, settle down with a job, and then have children). That time frame correlates with the sudden fall of the Hippie movement among the youth around early 1970 or so.
Some Hippie leaders and SDS types I researched were a little older, usually born just before the war. Ayers was one, if I’m not mistaken. But every generation had defectives like them. When the mass of defectives conceived during the War surged, they just benefitted from the fact that they were a little older than the surge members, and could thus exert social dominance over their younger cohorts, and become leaders. Right place, right time effect. If the Hippie surge hadn’t happened right in front of them they would have just petered out as no-name Communnist party supporters, just as many others did before them.
Some kids of veterans might have gotten caught up in the movement once it had been going for a while in the late sixties, but the movement began and got moving right as the kids conceived during the war came of age. It ended (despite the masses of sixties Hippies still pushing the free sex/rock and roll/drugs product) as the boomers swelled into the young adult movement in 1969-1970 and beyond.
The Hippie movement wasn’t due to WWII vets being irresponsible parents. Hippie psychology was a gentically imbued predisposition, just as r-type reproductive strategies are genetically imbued, and just as political affiliation shows a strong correlation with genetic influences.
Seriously, suppose I said to you I was going to stop every male who would willingly serve in the military from mating, for a period of four years. Only guys who are not psychologically willing or capable of service are allowed to mate for that period. What do you predict the offspring produced during that period would be like?
Would they resemble, in any way, the Hippie?
That is interesting.