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One thing is certain. From Bombay to Berkeley, Vinh Long to Volgograd, he has clearly signaled his determination to live according to his own lights and rights. His convictions and actions, once defined, will shape the course and character of nations.
Obverse Puritanism. This is a generation of dazzling diversity, encompassing an intellectual elite sans pareil and a firmament of showbiz stars, ski whizzes and sopranos, chemists and sky watchers. Its attitudes embrace every philosophy from Anarchy to Zen; simultaneously it adheres above all to the obverse side of the Puritan ethic—that hard work is good for its own sake.
Both sensitive and sophisticated, it epitomizes more than any previous generation the definition of talent by Harvard Dropout Henry James as "the art of being completely whatever it was that one happened to be." Yet it is by no means a faceless generation.
Its world-famed features range from the computerlike introspection of Bobby Fischer, 23, defending the U.S. chess title in Manhattan last week, to the craggy face of French Olympic Skier Jean-Claude Killy, 23, swooping through the slalom gates in Chile. It is World Record Miler Jim Ryun, 19, snapping news pictures for the Topeka Capital-Journal to prepare himself for the day when he can no longer break four minutes. It is Opera Singer Jane Marsh, 24, capturing first prize at Moscow's Tchaikovsky competition. It is Medal of Honor Winner Robert E.
O'Malley, 23, who as a Marine Corps corporal in Viet Nam was severely wounded by enemy mortar fire, yet succeeded in evacuating what remained of his platoon and killing eight V.C.s.
It is Folk Singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, 24, passionately pleading the cause of her fellow Indians when she is not recording top-selling LPs. It is Artist Jamie Wyeth, 20, improving on his father's style while putting in some 200 hours on a portrait of John F. Kennedy; Violinist James Oliver Buswell, 20, carrying a full Harvard freshman load and a 44-city concert tour simultaneously; Actress Julie Christie, 25, shedding miniskirt for bonnet and shawl while filming Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd and denouncing "kooky clothing" in the women's magazines. It is Sanford Greenberg, 25, president of the senior class at Columbia, Phi Bete, Ph.D. from Harvard, George Marshall Scholar at Oxford, special assistant to the White House science adviser and friend of Folk Rocker Art Garfunkel, saying: "You've got to live with the nitty-gritty, man."
Early & Earnest. The young have already staked out their own minisociety, a congruent culture that has both alarmed their elders and, stylistically at least, left an irresistible impression on them. No Western metropolis today lacks a discotheque or espresso joint, a Mod boutique or a Carnaby shop. No transistor is immune from rock 'n' roll, no highway spared the stutter of Hondas. There are few Main Streets in the world that do not echo to the clop of granny boots, and many are the grannies who now wear them. What started out as distinctively youthful sartorial revolt—drainpipe-trousered men, pants-suited or net-stockinged women, long hair on male and female alike—has been accepted by adults the world over.
If their