These 1960s Rich Privileged Teen Baby Boomers DIDN'T Rebel 

I remember that the first time I realized that my parents both lived through the 60s without ever becoming hippies I was horrified.

Every middle class and up baby boomer was privileged. They had THE BEST ECONOMY in US history.

75 year old here….was 17 in 1966. I got decent grades, but one of the main reasons I wanted to attend college was to stay out of Vietnam. I got a 2-S deferment for four years. I will never forget the first lottery (after my 4 yr deferment) where I came up number 278 so I didn’t have to go into the service but two of my friends were killed in ‘Nam. I remember much of the craziness from 67 to about 72 with all the free love, hippies and tuning out. I was not one of them.. i’ve lived a good life made a good living had kids, and I still think of my two friends who didn’t have the chance.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="420">7:00</a> The term “normie” is over sixty years old. I wonder how much boomer slang zoomers are using without even knowing it. 🤔

I'm 73. I live in WV which means I live in the 50's again except with Fentanyl and Facebook. I can't wait to leave. I have no desire to return to the 50's. I was not considered college material in the 60's. This looks like the HS I dropped out of in 1965. I talked my parents into moving. I got a job and went to night school. Yes I did go to college. My parents were shocked but were ok with it. Even today I tend to have friends that are older or younger. I didn't, nor do I now, have anything tin common with these people. I think allot are having cognitive dissonance. Me, I'm doing okay. I guess I didn't have to deal with the same pressures from educated controlling parents others did.

My dad used to tell me they called them "the ME generation," and I thought they made fun of us millennials!

I was born in 1956 and one of the "shop kids". I went to a trade high school and studied to be an electrician, and so glad I did. I actually wanted to be in the electronics class, but it was full. Anyway, they got me my first job, which wasn't in electrical, but electronics, so it worked out in the end. I worked in tech for about 45 of my 50 years, so my time in a trade school was well spent. Even though I didn't have the easy life that these kids had growing up, I managed just fine without college.

I was raised in the 60s and 70's. I didn't fit in to any particular group very well. My family was not wealthy enough to fit into the rich people's group but also was Christian and so didn't fit into the group that wanted to drop out and party and rebel. We just went to school and church and had friends and watched TV and rode small motorcycles and went on family vacations and had picnics and such. We just lived life and enjoyed it the best we could. So when I see this film about Webster Groves I don't feel like they were my kind of people but I don't hate them either. I probably was just a typical fairly conservative American kid who loved rock music and girls but also didn't want to be a rebel. I got married and had 5 kids and just lived a lower middle class American life. I'm 66 now and retired. I am still pretty happily married but am a little sad about America because I think it is falling apart.

It would be cool to see how life turned out for those people now.

Wow, if there's EVER a case of, "the more things change, the more they stay the same..." Webster Groves is STILL a relatively elite older inner suburb, though it's slightly more diverse now than then. There are so many "Webster Groves" type of communities across the country who basically exist to maintain the status quo as much as possible. Biggest difference is nowadays, most of those types of families don't even bother with public schools.

"I don't think any 16 year old child should be burdened by the problems of the world" I was also impressed by how well spoken the 16 year olds were in this video.

Watching this, It’s strange that this hs in Missouri projected perfection while most of Missouri, The South & Middle America pride themselves on a blue collar mentality relying on common sense values with minimal education, which is not a bad thing. The parents in this footage felt uncomfortable when asked about civil rights, wars, and the uncertainty of the future.

I’m a millennial and my parents are boomers. Growing up in the 90s my dad experienced wealth but that lead to him becoming increasingly irritable. My mom left him for his drinking. Just this past year they reunited. Boomers were so focused on image, money and success they forgot the importance of family and love. The happiest homes I’ve been in are not the families with a lot of money. That’s not to say hard work and money aren’t important because they are but coming home to an empty mansion has to be the most miserable feeling in the world. Love grows inside homes where people live and people are able to put differences aside and work together to make a better life. I live alone and never had children because my childhood and young adulthood were spent in deep depression. I never dreamt of a future due to my heartbreak from not having a home to come to. My parents reunited and live together again which has helped heal the hole in my heart. I don’t hold them accountable for the times they grew up and the messages they received effecting them negatively. With age comes wisdom and grace. God bless ❤

I’m 73. This isn’t how I grew up. Most of the kids I grew up with had working class parents. I lived in the north where there were good paying union jobs. If you didn’t go to college there were still decent paying jobs

For me, the sound drops out around <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="600">10:00</a> for about 30 seconds.

This documentary reminds me of the 1962 song "Little Boxes" By Malvina Reynolds Little Boxes Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes made of ticky tacky Little boxes on the hillside Little boxes all the same There's a pink one and a green one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same And the people in the houses All went to the university Where they were put in boxes And they came out all the same And there's doctors and lawyers And business executives And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same And they all play on the golf course And drink their martinis dry And they all have pretty children And the children go to school And the children go to summer camp And then to the university Where they are put in boxes And they come out all the same And the boys go into business And marry and raise a family In boxes made of ticky tacky And they all look just the same There's a pink one and a green one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the same

Thanks So Much for your lifetime of work 🙏🏼💗🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🐈‍⬛🧙🏼‍♀️🥃🥃

The guy saying he must be looked at as a guest Villan on Batman,,made me smile😂keep these clips coming David,they are great!

This is from 66, and just shy of the Summer of Love. I think the draft and Vietnam had a big effect by 68. I love seeing the creative ways in which the younger people live now. I doubt anyone is being shamed for simply buttoning a top button or wearing the wrong loafers now. Many boomers have worked hard to gain economic and social change and it is sad that has been swept under the rug as far as later generations awareness. I doubt that the corporate hold on information helps them learn about that sometimes. Lol on the car...so true. And most of the boys knew how to repair them. I wouldn't want to go back though.

THREE HOURS STUDYING??? That's why genX was starting to mentally check out of school in the 80s and 90s

I’m still young. I’m just a baby to you guys, but realistically, I love learning from this channel, I can’t really relate at that time, but I can take my mind back in time to see how it was and that amazes me. thanks David Hoffman for the video. You have a wonderful evening.

Why would they rebel. They had everything. Gen X was the first generation to do worse than their predecessors. They had a reason to rebel.

Look at all that diversity! These “kids” saying they wanted to be financially successful grew up in the BEST time to do it in. Cost of living was insanely low, and you could work making minimum wage and afford a decent home. Compare that to today’s standards. We’re in the late stages of capitalism in my humble opinion, the sheer level of greed, the corporate income tax being as low as it is, and now the “conservative” politics are turning this country into something unrecognizable

Yeah, "rebelling" was great fun until the hippies realized being dirty, smelly, drug addicted and penniless wasn't as much fun as they thought. So they became the "yuppies" of the 80s.

Rich white Mormons always raised their families with very high expectations and very strict rules.

2024, little boxes on. the hillside, little boxes made of ticky tacky and they grow to go to university where they all protest and cancel anyone who is different and does not think like them. Delia Morris

If these families are truly the wealthy....isn't this still the way it is now for the rich? They live in a different world

This was FASCINATING. Thank you for sharing this, David 🤯

People back then seemed so much more serious, better dressed and well spoken than they generally do today. And this was the 1960s!

This was a SEGMENT of the population. Not everyone was rich. I was part of the middle class population as were my friends. Yes, it was a great place to grow up in many way ( class of '66). I also knew of those who DID rebel, early hippies. I mixed with them all.

"You label me, I label you!" 🎶 It's cyclical, seems to never end! ☮✌

Thank you so much for your videos and work David Hoffman. I always enjoy watching your videos whenever they pop up in my feed. Keep up the good work!

Thank you for the video 😊

I'm 47, and you're documentaries have peppered my tv viewing for years. Thank you for yet another amazing peek at the life that was, in a time where those same people are now in power. ❤

Oh wow, what I coincidence, I just finished watching your video on Webster Grove from 3 years ago, clicked on your channel for similar content and I see a similar video uploaded right this minute. Definitely watching this one as well.

Well, anyone who says kids are the same now, and these kids were only hiding the truth, I think is pretty clueless. While 95% didn't believe in premarital or promiscuous sex at 16, todays 12 and 13 yr olds are already addicted to pornography and know more about sexual promiscuity than their parents do. As for their appearance and mannerisms, and their ability to articulate their thoughts, again, what I see in many of today's kids is borderline illiteracy, and a lack of any future goals. I make this comment fully understanding I'm speaking in "general" terms, and today, certainly not all kids fall under the categories I've mentioned, and their ate kids today that excel. I'd just say that the percentage is FAR below what it was in those days. I was also in school at that time and remember! These kids are a fee years older than I am, but nevertheless I still remember.

"So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark-that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back."- Hunter S Thompson

Brilliant. Thank you😎

I am 71, went through only military schools, as a dependent. I'm grateful...❤

A weirdo and rebel here. Still happy with that decision. I could never conform.

Great documentary David! Thanks for sharing 😁

great job David! keep up the good work

It would be Nice to see how things turned out for them!

I grew up next to a town like this. My town was straight up middle class, and we always felt our neighbors were looking down on us, although no one I knew experienced this in a real-life example. My household emphasized hard work. I recently "worked with" a young woman who grew up in that town. Her desire for success and need for expensive items was almost nauseating. Me, I like to have fun, and I pursue artistic endeavors on the side.

Why did the sound drop out when those tuxedoed middle-aged people were dancing? Looks like that school had a pretty strict dress code. Same with mine here in Florida in those days. I certainly don't miss all the hairspray, curlers, and rollers it took to make a girl's hair do those impossible things!

Loved this! Truly!

Outstanding!!👏 Your documentary mirrored so much of the small town Midwestern views/ way of life in the 50's & 60's. I feel fortunate to have grown up (in a smaller city) in the 70's. There was still pressures but not comforming as it had been. 😀

Wow…. That’s a fascinating perspective. It explains a lot about my parents. They came from the group that did not “rebel” also.

Like this channel. It is a window for me to know or confirm whether it is right compared to what I had in mind about America when I was a kid in 2000s (in PRC). Like watching a movie but in fact they are all real people. Grateful to your work here sir.

Lol, they didn't like the documentary because they couldn't control it & show Webster Groves to be a little Peyton Place town

Its funny how the lingo changes... "necking" I asked my 12 year old if she knew what that was. She didn't know. "retarted" My 12 year old said that noboy uses this bad word anymore. "two timing" She thought this was a dance that old people did in the old days. "The Soviet Union" She said that this is something that old people say. I graduated in '94 by the way.

I googled this docu it was huge at the time & many of the these kids, married each other & stayed in area. They still come together for reunions etc

I love this look at the past. Thank you for sharing it. God Bless You and stay safe.

Social media has ruined our youth

Thank you Sir.

This is a really interesting look at the 50s american community and mindset, I love their reaction to theirselves. Appreciate your work David

God Bless David Hoffman! I'm in my mid 40's. I went to a private school, but I always wondered where all these formalities came from. It's so icky. I play rock, and punk, and I understand why everybody was so hung up back then.

Wow. When the white 1960s cop is the voice of reason...

I would have parroted the same thing when I was 16 because that was what I was taught to want. I didn’t realize that I was abused, physically and mentally. It took years to learn to think for myself. This “study” is crap

Thankyou, this was an interesting viseo, thank you. Did I see charles Curalt interviewing? Your channel is one of my top 5!

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="154">2:34</a> - An acronym or something she wants to do?

Hello David, big fan here! In the beginning you mentioned 'clips from the doc' - do you usually post just clips from your films or do you upload the whole thing? If the first one is true, are you open to posting the full versions more often? You're a real one, best wishes

Well in 1966, in San Francisco, I was 15 year old girl & decided to live a gypsy type life for my survival- I had 1 parent - a alcohol mother..so i became a hippe not by choice , i suppose.: .never took drugs Kept my nose clean, because if I got nabbed , they would throw me in a juvenile detention center, foster home or Group home....bounced around to Aunts & Uncles good family friends homes age 14 to 19... By 15 I was cleaning houses, and doing gardening work for neighbors & babysitting 24/7. I went on to get A A. Degree & a B. A. from San Francisco state university. I was lucky...all my friends took all kinds of drugs..it never tempted or appealed to me. Yeah so I was a hippee chick & kept on keeping on!

Ah but the "Socies" only inherit the earth within the city limits of Webster Grove!!!😂😂😂 I grew up in a small town like this as a late baby boomer & I couldn't wait to escape.

I love watching these types of documentaries. I’m a millennial and my parents are boomers. These kids have a certain sense of certainty about life that the kids I grew up with and myself didn’t have. We were all too aware that nothing is guaranteed

I feel like I'm watching a cult.

Wow look how well-spoken and thin everyone is.

Pleasure to watch another vid and story from you

Did not realize the term normie was this old. I'm glad its being recycled and getting new use.

thank you for reminding me why i subscribe to you, why i like film

Mr. Hofffman you do great work.

Fascinating

My aunts and uncles did everything you were supposed to do at that age, singed up for military service & went to college through a G.I. bill. They weren't phased by Vietnam War protests or counter cultures of that era. I did have one Uncle receive a draft notice & was disappointed to fail the physical for the simple fact he was deaf.

I liked the way they talked at that time.

I grew up in a progressively suburbanizing town in Suffolk County NY with a continual flow of city folk buying small homes in the area. I became a teen ager in the mid 60s and became interested and involved with the sub cultural influences that were being promoted on radio stations like WNEW out of NYC. These FM radio stations were like transmitters for all of the locations in the area where “underground” bands were surfacing whose music was greatly influenced by the Timothy Leary LSD doctrine as well as bands like the Greatful Dead, who were huge proponents of the drug culture in general. I was infected with this new “culture” through my older siblings. In retrospect, I have come to believe that if the majority of parents in any given community understood the value of education and were playing a major role in their chlidren’s lives, and was widespread within that community, I believe most young people wouldn’t pay much mind to the alternative cultural influences in those places. All it took for my older siblings to go wrong was to meet and develop friendships with other kids who were already being indoctrinated and experimenting with drugs. It was like a virus at the time that was spread from one person to another through acquaintance. It is my understanding that many baby boomer parents didn’t have a clue on how to intentionally raise their kids, thinking that they would just grow up and become what they were supposed to become in the way that they themselves did. How wrong they were.

Fascinating!

Hi David... Thank you! for your work as a filmmaker, and thank you for sharing it with us on RU-vid now days! Otherwise chances are most of us would have probably never seen your work. I've already left a rather lengthy comment, which focused on the differences in youth of this film (1966) in stark contrast with today's youth. But on a completely different thought, but a thought the film shows clearly, is it exposes the wildly accepted myth people talk about and also believe today, that any and every young person of the 1960's, was a draft dodging, long haired, unkempt, counterculture advocate, smoking marijuana, dropping LSD and carrying around a sign of protest that reads "Turn On...Tune In...Drop Out"... SO many people today, especially millennial aged young adults, believe that every one of us who lived through that period of time are former "hippies". And obviously that's just not true. That's something Hollywood for one, has impressed upon the minds of people via popular films etc.. Along these same lines, I'll offer up another false belief people have today about that era, which has also been accomplished primarily via Hollywood films and is believed practically as 'gospel' today. The false idea that every Vietnam veteran, experienced massive, non stop drug use through their time fighting in Vietnam in the service. It seems almost everything we see today that comes out of Hollywood regarding Vietnam, shows a bunch of enlisted Army grunts sitting around smoking a joint, 'high as a kite' and then going ballistic with their M14's & M16's in close range jungle fighting. This simply is NOT true. All the stuff we see depicted in that way, is an absolute fairy tale. Were there some "stoners" there, who did these things? Yes, of course. But FEW. They were definitely the rare exception, NOT the norm. And unlike the movies, it certainly wasn't the 'war hero' types as depicted in films doing it. Hollywood has done all they can, to glamorize the drug smoking/drug taking "cool" looking Vietnam soldier image. Sorry folks, that wasn't the case in real life. First off, if caught with drugs, even in Vietnam, you'd be court-martialed. The military doesn't allow drugs now, and they didn't allow them then. Many of my buddies who went to Vietnam, some on multiple tours, when asked told me they never ever saw not even a single occasion, where a fellow soldier was smoking grass, or taking anything else. And THAT is the reality of the situation. I realize this comment is off topic regarding the film, but this false belief so many people have today of drug use in Vietnam, closely parallels the false belief this films exposes, being that children of the 60's were all long haired hippies, who attended Woodstock screaming Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out at every chance they had! It's simply NOT true, and is a product of Hollywood false "pop culture". Thanks again David for presenting us with your wealth of films and clips! They're truly enjoyable to watch! PS*... Just FYI in case you're unaware. There's a problem with the audio cutting out about half way through your film. It then comes back on as a close shot of you narrating comes back on screen.

Blows my young boomer (b.1959) mind why the generations are supposed to resent each other so much

Of course these robotic people were in the majority back then. The revolution of the 60's affected every thinking person but most didn't drop out, they continued with their education and careers, but with a more open attitude.

That cop was spot on. Great commentary on your documentary, David! I agree with your final analysis. They weren't comfortable with the country seeing them as they were. Thanks so much!😊🩵

I believe Life magazine did a photoessay sometime in the late Forties about Webster Groves teenagers.

It seems that at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="599">9:59</a> YT copyright filter is muting the video due to the music. It cuts out abruptly there, and picks back up at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="626">10:26</a>.

My mother was born in 47. She often says about her generation "We were so sure of ourselves." And thats all she's willing to say about the subject. I do get that personal responsibility finger wag.Its a little hard to take.

good video

This is my Grandfathers theory of why society isn't doomed to fail and that there is a way to prevent it. You allow small cycles to occur within society so that natural tendency has an outlet, rather than let it spread through repression. The Romans could have used this philosophy... wouldn't you think? I'd argue although moments like this didn't become the norm, it's actually perfectly natural and going according to plan. And ironically, it's for the same reason... Being Rich and Priveleged. People who are Rich and Priveleged who do rebel usually do so because they have the safety net of their family. They will go off and feel free because they know there is something there to catch them if it goes wrong. And often it is the case that every single one of them ends up working in line with their family tradition.

Oh wow. My Dad was 16 in 1966. My Mom 13. Definitely their era LOL

I live a little south of Webster, even into the late 90's the educational system acted like this was the norm (talking about the professor at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="330">5:30</a>) I cried every single day in elementary school because I got up at 4 to catch a bus at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="345">5:45</a> and then rode the bus for 3 hours to school (was usually late to 1st class because busses were late) and then was expected to do the same in reverse in the evening PLUS 6 hours of homework a night. I stopped doing homework. Totally shut down in 5th grade.

Love to see how they turned out

The amount of anxiety these kids had!

Mr Hoffman, there's a company called Celemony who has a product called Capstan which can correct the warped artifacts from these older tapes having aged, at least for their digital re-recording off of the tape/vinyl. may be of interest to look into if you'd like to remove those artifacts from your uploaded versions of these older film.

Thanks for a very enlightening film! I especially got a kick out of the woman @17 mins. Thankfully, we've come a long way baby!

As a member of "Generation X," I find it fascinating to discover what the Baby Boom generation was rebelling against. I still believe at least some were rebelling because that remains the portrayal of mainstream media. Nevertheless, I take it from this video that many were not rebels, and along those lines, I make the following observation: Despite whatever "rebellion" took place in the 1960s, the classism of the 1960s remained remarkably intact throughout 1970s and the 1980s. So long as you came from a rich, well-connected family--or were extraordinarily athletic or good looking (though in the long run it was probably best to be rich)--virtually everything was forgiven and the world was there to help you, privilege you, and cheer you on. If you weren't in that elite, you could get still ahead, but you needed high marks and high test scores to go much beyond high school and would probably be invisible. The differences between the decades seem to me largely superficial: the later decades were more casually dressed and more prone to slang (though take note: make sure you wear the right casual dress and use the correct slang); instead of the "friendship dance" I heard only of the prom; the waltz gave way entirely to rock music; instead of having a "nice personality" you needed to be "cool." But whatever the changes in fashion, underlying it all was the same golden rule: he who has the gold makes the rules.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="308">5:08</a> 16h of class per week? we had up to 40h of classes in the 90s

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="157">2:37</a> happy but has the K.I.L.L. on her shirt 😂

My mother grew up in Australia but she would have been 16 in 1966. I'm trying to see her in my mind as 16.

It's an interesting thought they are perceived as conforming and the 60s a downfall. Around 1950 the USA did decide it had a homicide problem, it was around something like 40 per 100,000 in the 1950s and steadily has decreased with spasmodic spikes in numbers (smaller and smaller spikes) to recent years where all USA has had as little as average 6 per 100,000 homicides nationally despite the mass killings. * Note , statistics annoyance is often the "total population" is used as denominator , rather than actual number of adults or (and or) relevant age totals along with not enough label of the graph result "title" defined properly if the sectioning is drawn properly from parameters input. E.g. Australia has a population total of 25 million and a homicide rate 2 per 100,000 a year but only 8 million relevant people , so therefore a homicide rate of 6 per 100,000 relating perpetrators valid (and usually many more joint responsibilty homicides where more than one murderer is part of the actions and activity). Perpetrator based statistics , it's more like 12 to 24 per 100,000 relevant! Australia and Britain's Commonwealth colonies also has a phenomenally high portion of murderers that are females, and too, as violent as the males!

_"Didn't participate in the 1960s."_ You had to drop out and take acid in order to have "participated"? How do you participate in a calendar date?

This was the 1980s high school experience among affluent kids who had both parents and both sets of grandparents with college degrees. Poorer high schools were more violent but no more politically aware.

I wish I didn’t care what people said and dated someone from this generation when they were in their late 50s and 60s

Amazing today to hear about 90% of young people being happy with their lives back in 1966 affluent America. Nowhere in America are young people happy today. And older people aren’t happy either. We’ve lost happiness.