The United States in the second half of the 20th century underwent a number of profound changes that we are still coming to terms with. This paper addresses three of the most important issues that we have talked about in this class and that marked those generations coming of age after World War II and that mark us still even now. They are the Civil Rights Movement (and the current nature of race relations in the United States), the womens movement (and the current status of women in the United States) and the rise of the environmental movement).