The Constitution of the United States guarantees free speech and the right of the people to assemble peaceably and to petition the government for redress of grievances. In the 1950s, however, few Americans alive had ever seen any sort of massive outpouring of protest against government policy.

The people who ran the government, schools, police departments, and other institutions were raised during the massive poverty of the Great Depression and had fought side by side during World War II. To be sure, there were labor marches and rallies during the depression, but when the war came, millions of people complied with their government's orders, obediently joined the army, and fought a common enemy. The lives of those who remained in America during the war were rigidly controlled by government-ordered civil defense drills and the rationing of food, clothing, and gasoline...