During the planning of the kickoff event of 1967, the Be-In, we see diverse idealists (The San Francisco Oracle’s euphoric poet-editor Allen Cohen; the toughly anarchist group the Diggers; the non-hedonistic Berkeley politicos) jostling like “Team of Rivals” strategists. Doubt clouds the rapture: After Timothy Leary exhorts “Turn on, tune in, drop out” at the huge celebration, Allen Ginsberg asks Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “What if we’re all wrong?” about the new world these Beat elders are helping the next generation usher in.
The New York Times, “1967: A Year in the Life of Idealism and Anarchy”
