I read about Tom Kearney, a police officer in the 1960’s. He described what it was like seeing all the protests for civil rights or ending the war in Vietnam. Kearney noticed that all these protests were supported by the younger generation. In the late 1960’s, college campus’s constantly protested the Vietnam War. The younger generation wanted change, but the older generation didn’t want change. “They trade views. I find they seldom argue in a – in disagreement. They give and take, back and forth, but they don’t stand on their points. They want to know the other person. They seem to accept other people more easily than we did” (Terkel 270). Kearney admired the capacity of younger generation to adapt to the changing world; they were more willing to accept others than the older generation was. The older generation was too stubborn to accept change. These two groups worked against each other over the years, but change finally came.

            I also read about Dennis Hart, a cabbie in the 1960’s. Unlike others, he treated blacks as equals, and didn’t despise the communists; rather than wanting to kill the, he wanted to convert them to capitalism. He was a man who believed there were two sides to every story. “The average individual, if he saw a communist on the street, he would pick up a stone and throw it at him. A John Birch member would identify him and he might try to bring him over to capitalism. Communists only know what they’re taught” (Terkel 242). Hart sympathizes with both sides of an argument, he will hear both sides of the story and choose which side he agrees with. Hart chose to support the civil right movement because he believed that this endless turmoil between the whites and blacks would destabilize the US; which is exactly what the communists want. The US would have to unify itself under democracy before it unifies the world under democracy.