The Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco was the spiritual home of the hippie movement that swept through American popular culture in the 1960s. It was the sight of rampant drug use and rock-music culture. The significance of the hippie movement in creating a fractured America cannot be overstated; the next couple of decades would be culturally dominated by the radicals on one side and the reactionaries on the other. 

The term “Lost Generation” was coined by Ernest Hemmingway in his novel The Sun Also Rises. The term refers to the generation of young Americans (and Europeans) who fought in World War One and lost a large proportion of their youth and optimism. Upon returning to America, many of these individuals became disillusioned with the over-commercialized lifestyle for which they had fought. Jack London died during World War One, and he is generally remembered, through his literature, as an avid advocate of unionization and socialism.

Black nationalism is a broad term that helps describe figures ranging from Nat Turner to Marcus Garvey to Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan. At its heart, Black nationalism set itself apart by advocating for African-Americans to empower themselves through creating their own organizations and institutions. Black nationalism has given rise to groups like the Nation of Islam and the Black Panthers. Frequently, more mainstream African-American organizations would fight with Black nationalists over most issues.

The Feminine Mystique was written in 1963 by Betty Friedan, a notable member of the women’s rights movement. Friedan’s work focused on interviews with contemporary female housewives and found that many of them were dissatisfied with their lives.

In her book, Friedan concludes that a number of cultural forces have conspired to encourage women to seek fulfillment in domestic life. She contends that if women are to control their own happiness, they must resist these cultural forces and find fulfillment in work that brings out the full capacity of their minds. The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking a new wave of feminism.

In the lead up to the 1980 Presidential Election, a variety of conservative Christians, most notably Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority organization, began to coalesce behind Republican politicians. Many right-wing Christians became animated by a number of issues in domestic politics that they saw as threatening to traditional Christianity, especially the legalization of abortion after Roe v. Wade, the burgeoning gay rights movement, the sexual revolution, and the changing nature of women's roles as exemplified in the debate over the Equal Rights Amendment.