I date the beginning of the decline of American civilization to 1965 for a "perfect storm" of reasons:
* The Baby Boom ended in 1964. Then Americans stopped having babies. An "era of bad feelings" began to set in.
* The civil rights movement ceased being a righteous cause after 1964.
* The Gulf of Tonkin resolution came in 1965 and the start of the Vietnam War.
* The Great Society began in 1965.
* Mainline churches started to decline in 1965.
* The sexual revolution was starting to take off.
* The drug culture was starting to take off.
* The end of clean, wholesome popular movies.
* There began to take hold a distrust of traditional authorities all across the board, on all levels of society.
Very good!
My Dad said we were sunk when we saw Woodstock.
* The civil rights movement ceased being a righteous cause after 1964.
* The Gulf of Tonkin resolution came in 1965 and the start of the Vietnam War.
* The Great Society began in 1965.
* Mainline churches started to decline in 1965.
* The sexual revolution was starting to take off.
* The drug culture was starting to take off.
* The end of clean, wholesome popular movies
* There began to take hold a distrust of traditional authorities all across the board, on all levels of society.
The Tonkin Gulf resolution was actually passed in 1964, the year the Great Society was announced, but combat units didn't start arriving in Vietnam until 1965, shortly after the bombing campaign against North Vietnam began. The Great Society also began to be implemented in 1965, when the 89th Congress opened for business.
But 1965 wasn't all bad--The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series and Occidental College beat Pomona 21-6 on the football field.