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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Port Huron,

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a great port for a great lake.

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All right, give this excerpt a read. Right here.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right, and the question:

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Why would many Americans have felt "contentment amidst prosperity"

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at the time the Port Huron statement was written?

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And here are the potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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All right, well, even though America heaved a huge sigh of relief

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following World War II, groups like the Students for a Democratic Society

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were yearning to search for "truly democratic alternatives to the present,"

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and "a commitment to social experimentation with them."

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Let's see which answer best describes why many of

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the SDS's peers were perfectly happy being... happy. Heh.

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Would many Americans have felt contentment amist prosperity

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at the time of the Port Huron statement because of A -

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periods of detente in the Cold War?

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Well, while detente certainly made people feel warm and fuzzy,

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the Cold War was just heating up in 1962.

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So we're a little early for a cooling period.

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Could these feelings of contentment have arisen from B -

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recent gains of the Civil Rights Movement?

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Well, the Civil Rights Movement might have done a lot of good for the country,

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but it wasn't a time of contentment.

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It was a time to point out all kinds of societal unfairness.

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Was this contentment amidst prosperity a result of D -

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promotion of values by the growing Conservative movement?

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Well, while the Conservative movement was growing at this time,

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it didn't start dictating America's moral barometer until the 1980s.

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Thank you, Ronald Reagan.

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So if D is off the table, that means many Americans felt

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contentment amidst prosperity because of C -

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postwar economic growth and upward social mobility.

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After World War II, the imminent threat of the Axis Powers

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was removed and the economy was doing better than ever,

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giving rise to a perfectly content, nothing-to-fear, middle class.

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So the answer is C.

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With the Port Huron statement, the SDS wanted to show America

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that even in this prosperous time, the rising economic tide

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was not lifting every boat.

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[ ding ]

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