40 YEARS AFTER WOODSTOCK, A MORE HARMONIOUS SOCIETY

Historians often look at 1968 as the apex of that strange era known as
the '60s. But running through the many 40-year anniversaries this
summer, it is hard not to conclude that 1969 reveals more about where
the nation was then and how far it has come.

The moon landing, Sen. Edward Kennedy's accident at Chappaquiddick,
and the bizarre murders engineered by Charles Manson all happened
within a few dizzying weeks of each other in July and August 40 years
ago. And this weekend marks the anniversary of the ultimate '60s
happening - the Woodstock music festival in rural Bethel, N.Y.

Woodstock, like the moon landing, was supposedly going to usher in a
new era that never came. Today, we aren't living in space colonies.
Nor have we arrived at some utopian society dedicated to peace, love
and free music.

What has changed since then is almost all for the better. In 1969 the
fissures over the Vietnam War, racial tensions, and social and sexual
mores were incomprehensibly vast. The fabric of American society,
already strained by the assassinations the previous year of Robert
Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., seemed to be coming apart at the
seams.

The most radical of protesters were full of anger not just at
politicians but also at law enforcement officers and soldiers. Many
demonstrators showed little respect for private property or free
enterprise. Some preached outright anarchy or violent overthrow of the
government.

On the other side, the harshest critics of the protest movement were
sometimes so agitated by lawlessness, drug usage and assaults on
traditional values that they were willing to short-circuit the
Constitution.

In Washington, the newly elected president, Richard Nixon, conflated
opposition to his policies in Vietnam with a grave peril to the
nation's security. In short order, Nixon was already subverting the
Constitution in ways that would bring his presidency down five years
later. He urged tax audits of his political adversaries and began a
series of illegal wiretaps. Those subject to the president's
surveillance included politicians, journalists and even top officials
in his own administration.

Today, in contrast, even the raucous health care debate is a far cry
from the violent anti-war protests of the Vietnam era, which included
the gunning down of four protesters by national guardsmen at Kent
State University in 1970. Advocates on both sides of the Iraq war have
shown nothing but admiration for the men and women in uniform who have
served there.

Progress in race relations has been stunning, as evidenced by the
current residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Equally remarkable is how the generation gap of four decades ago has
narrowed from a chasm to a gully. A Pew Research Center poll out this
week found that only 10% of parents of older children said they
frequently have sharp conflicts with their kids; nearly twice as many
reported major disagreements with their own parents when they were
growing up.

One of the factors the Pew researchers identified as a reason for
mellower relations between Baby Boomers and their children: a mutual
affinity for rock 'n' roll.

The Age of Aquarius? Not yet. But closer.