As a response to David's post, while I do agree with much of what you said about the testing of the government during the 60s there were moments during the 50s when the government was tested by the media and others. During the red scare and the McCarthy witch hunts, the media played an active role in testing the government's "big brother" mentality when Edward Murrow criticized McCarthy's unjustified questioning of patriotism of many american citizens(highlighted in the movie "Good Night and Good Luck"). I do agree with you on the topic of increased questioning of political decision making during Vietnam but keep in mind that the popular opinion of the war did not decline until many years after we had first sent troops over. In this way it was not the quick martyrdom that you describe in your post but more a steady decline of the popularity of the war that led to the despise of the government that we associate the 1960s with. After the public turned on the government and every aspect of American culture openly objected to the war then the political landscape of direct and quick critizicism of policial decision making which you describe in your post came about. In this transition between steadfast obedience to executive decisions to open rejection of governmental ideals America changed and new ideas about what was the best America emerged, allowing for all of the political, cultural, and ideological change that came out of the 1960s. I like to ramble.