“Flower power and the
hippie movement at large in the United States reached its zenith on Oct. 21,
1967, with a march on the Pentagon. More than 100,000 people gathered in
Washington D.C. for that peaceful Vietnam War protest, including an 18-year-old
aspiring actor named George Harris. A contingent of 2,500 Army troops wielding
M-14 guns surrounded the Pentagon, cordoning off the crowd from the protected
building. Undeterred, the protestors stood their ground, crowding in mere
inches away from the weapons. Embracing the flower power ethos of non-violence,
Harris calmly inserted the stem of a carnation into a soldier's gun barrel.”
“What happened to the
ideals of the counterculture?”
