General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 1969 we had no cars, no computers, no phones, no money, no TVs...we had radios and our mouths and we [View all]The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,686 posts)with the more primitive resources that were available at the time. But there's no question that social media have made it much faster and efficient and capable of reaching many more people. I wouldn't say, however, that the institutions of government were functioning all that well in those days - police brutality is not a new thing, and demonstrators were routinely arrested and beaten by the police, without recourse. The 1968 Chicago convention was a good example of a public institution not functioning.
And for all the praise we're hearing about GOP politicians turning against Nixon after the Watergate hearings, the reality was that the articles of impeachment presented to the House Judiciary Committee were approved along party lines. 11 Republicans voted against the obstruction of justice article even after they heard the "smoking gun" tape. Had Democrats not controlled that committee 21-17, those articles wouldn't have gone anywhere and Nixon probably wouldn't have felt compelled to resign. You could say the system functioned, but just barely.