The counterculture went after another of America’s sacred icons in October. If the “March on the Pentagon” had proceeded with the initial plan of peaceful and serious demonstration, America would have seen only token news coverage. The Hippies decided to add a little spice to the occasion to stir up National interest. They claimed in interviews that the unholy five-sided shape of the Pentagon had always been a common symbol in witchcraft and black magic, and therefore a spell must be cast on the evil building to raise it off the ground as soon as possible to exorcise the demon spirits within. They volunteered to take measurements of the building to determine the exact number of (good) witches necessary to accomplish the task. Hoffman claims to have applied for a “raising permit”, but a sticking point of “How high?” delayed the process. Finally, an official decision stated that the demonstrators would be allowed to raise the Pentagon “up to, but not exceeding, an altitude of ten feet”. This confused the media, but they ate up every word. News leaked that mace had been issued to DC cops to use on the crowd, and the Hippies confessed to reporters that counterculture chemists had created a new weapon called Lace… LSD mixed with mace. “The acid penetrates the skin of the sprayee and makes him so horny that he is rendered helpless. Thousands of Lace squirt guns will be distributed to the demonstrators.” Allen Ginsberg chanted “O-o-o-o-m-m-m-m”, the Fugs sang “Kill For Peace”, 647 people (including Norman Mailer) were arrested and thousands of stoned-out hippies, to this day, swear that they saw the Pentagon rise up off the ground in the dawn’s early light.
One of the most powerful and well-known reflections of the Flower Power era happened right there, just outside the walls of the Pentagon at this demonstration. “Super Joel”, a streetperson from Berkeley, walked right up to one of the National Guard soldiers on the line, placed a flower into the barrel of his rifle, and then flashed him the peace sign. The photograph of the scene became the classic image of 1967, symbolic of the inevitable confrontation between the Great Society and “the rising tide of Hungry Freaks, Daddy”. What happens when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object? Boomers would see for themselves a few months later in Chicago.
Meanwhile, back on the six o’clock news… Communist China exploded its first hydrogen bomb, Israel emerged the victor in the “Six-day War”, hundreds died and tens of thousands were injured in ghetto riots in several American cities and Stokely Carmichael broadcast a message from Havana urging Blacks to arm themselves for “total revolution”. Muhammad Ali, who remade boxing into a popular sport, announced that he was willing to give up his career by refusing induction into the Army. “I’m doing this for my religion. I’m serious. I’m ready to die for my religion… why should they ask me and other so-called Negroes to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam when so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? I am not going to help murder and kill and burn other people simply to help continue the domination of the white slavemasters over the dark people the world over… The real enemy of my people is right here.” The news on New Year’s Eve told us that 9,378 American Boomers died during the year in Vietnam.
It was time for a change. The Rascals asked in August, “How Can I Be Sure” (“in a world that constantly changing?”), but in September, the Who boasted, “I Can See For Miles”. What had improved the perception of counterculture in such a short period of time? Gladys Knight explained, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”. A group of hippies held a Death of Hip ceremony in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in October. They cremated a coffin containing all sorts of hippie paraphernalia and marijuana cookies, sang “God Bless America”, and chanted, “Hippies are dead.” Now, Middle America was really confused. What were these kids trying to pull?