--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: By the early 1960s, there was a moral…" description: "\"By the early 1960s, there was a moral consensus on what needed to be done on civil rights.\" — H. W. Brands" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/529/h-w-brands-5491_1960s_by-the-early-1960s-there-was-a-moral-con_1419179.jpg" --- # By the early 1960s, there was a moral consensus on what… ![“By the early 1960s, there was a moral consensus on what needed to be done on civil rights.” quote by H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/529/h-w-brands-5491_1960s_by-the-early-1960s-there-was-a-moral-con_1419179.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/529/h-w-brands-5491_1960s_by-the-early-1960s-there-was-a-moral-con_1419179.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/529/h-w-brands-5491_1960s_by-the-early-1960s-there-was-a-moral-con_1419179.jpg) > “By the early 1960s, there was a moral consensus on what needed to be done on civil rights.” [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. By the early 1960s, a broad agreement existed on the actions needed for civil‑rights progress. **In simple terms:** 1960s had a clear civil‑rights plan. Key Takeaway Recognize past consensus, act today. Themes history civil rights consensus Mood thoughtful hopeful Type historical motivational When to use this quote - policy making - education - community organizing - activism Key Concepts social reform public opinion Questions to Reflect On - What voices were missing from that consensus? - How can modern movements build inclusive agreement? A Different Perspective Consensus can overlook minority perspectives. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [1960s](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zz-1960s-426/) [1960S Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/1960s-moral-4620213/) [Civil Right](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-right/) [Civil rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civil-rights/) [Done](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/done/) [Early](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early/) [Early 1960S](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/early-1960s-1633078/) [Moral Consensus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-consensus-3199618/) [Rights](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rights/) ## Related quotes > [In virtually every Western society in the 1960s there was a moral revolution, an abandonment of its entire traditional ethic of self-restraint.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-sacks/in-virtually-every-western-society-in-the-1960s-there-was-a-moral/) [Jonathan Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-sacks/) > [My father was a graduate student at Oxford in the early 1960s, where the conventions and etiquette of clothing were crucial to the pervasive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-smith/my-father-was-a-graduate-student-at-oxford-in-the-early-1960s-where/) [Russell Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-smith/) > [“It was true in the early 1960s, more women smoked than men.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-conrad-levinson/it-was-true-in-the-early-1960s-more-women-smoked-than-men/) [Jay Conrad Levinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-conrad-levinson/) > [The early 1960s, when I started my graduate studies at UC Berkeley, were a period of experimental supremacy and theoretical impotence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-gross/the-early-1960s-when-i-started-my-graduate-studies-at-uc-berkeley/) [David Gross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-gross/) > [When people discuss the 1960s and the great Civil Rights Era, they often speak in romantic terms as if there wasn't immense work put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-sharpton/when-people-discuss-the-1960s-and-the-great-civil-rights-era-they/) [Al Sharpton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-sharpton/) > [What this brings out is that modern politics cannot be a matter of genuine moral consensus. And it is not. Modern politics is civil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/what-this-brings-out-is-that-modern-politics-cannot-be-a-matter-of/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [I believe it is possible to bring an end to mass incarceration and birth a new moral consensus about how we ought to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-alexander/i-believe-it-is-possible-to-bring-an-end-to-mass-incarceration-and/) [Michelle Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-alexander/) > [The price of these failures has been a loss of moral consensus, a greater sense of helplessness about the human condition. ... The intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-o-wilson/the-price-of-these-failures-has-been-a-loss-of-moral-consensus-a/) [E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-o-wilson/) > [“We should not be surprised therefore if British conservative thinkers – notably Hume, Smith, Burke and Oakeshott – have tended to see no tension…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roger-scruton/we-should-not-be-surprised-therefore-if-british-conservative-thinkers/) [Roger Scruton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roger-scruton/) > [“There were elements of Mad Men at Newsweek, except that unlike the natty advertising types, journalists were notorious slobs and our two- and three-martini…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynn-povich/there-were-elements-of-mad-men-at-newsweek-except-that-unlike-the/) [Lynn Povich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynn-povich/) > [The notion of 'history from below' hit the history profession in England very hard around the time I came to Oxford in the early…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-darnton/the-notion-of-history-from-below-hit-the-history-profession-in/) [Robert Darnton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-darnton/) > [It was a very strange time in the late 1950s/early 1960s, when people were putting things in space, but that language of spacecraft hadn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trevor-paglen/it-was-a-very-strange-time-in-the-late-1950s-early-1960s-when-people/) [Trevor Paglen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trevor-paglen/) > [We are a nation of innovators and problem-solvers who sparked revolutions in democratic government, civil rights, communications, flight, rural electrification and technology. We are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-a-mcchrystal/we-are-a-nation-of-innovators-and-problem-solvers-who-sparked/) [Stanley A. McChrystal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-a-mcchrystal/) > [American civil rights leader, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? Lynching is a murder. For the past four hundred years our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-x/american-civil-rights-leader-where-do-we-go-from-here-chaos-or/) [Malcolm X](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-x/) > [Every one knows that the exercise of military power is forever dangerous to civil rights; and we have had recent instances of violences that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-adams/every-one-knows-that-the-exercise-of-military-power-is-forever/) [Samuel Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-adams/) ## More by H. W. Brands > [I certainly don't think that the heirs of the American Revolution were a particularly noble class.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/i-certainly-don-t-think-that-the-heirs-of-the-american-revolution/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [The Republican Party has moved substantially to the right of where Reagan was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-republican-party-has-moved-substantially-to-the-right-of-where/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [Reagan gave essentially the same speech from the beginning to the end of his political career, which was always, 'The American people are great,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/reagan-gave-essentially-the-same-speech-from-the-beginning-to-the-end/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [Presidents are evaluated not by what they did by the stroke of their own pen; it's what they persuade Congress to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/presidents-are-evaluated-not-by-what-they-did-by-the-stroke-of-their/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [In the business arena, the standard rules of morality don't apply. What we're really looking for is efficiency. It doesn't do anyone any good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/in-the-business-arena-the-standard-rules-of-morality-don-t-apply-what/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [There is a certain kind of sobering, civilizing effect that being president imposes on people. There is a certain kind of dignity with which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/there-is-a-certain-kind-of-sobering-civilizing-effect-that-being/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [The Founders were anything but demigods to themselves and their contemporaries, who recognized full well that the experiment in self-government had only begun.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-founders-were-anything-but-demigods-to-themselves-and-their/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [The American political system is based on the president taking the initiative and Congress responding. With President Trump, it's been the opposite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-american-political-system-is-based-on-the-president-taking-the/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [The president was not the most important political player in the 19th century. Besides Jefferson at the beginning, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-president-was-not-the-most-important-political-player-in-the-19th/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [The Reagan Revolution has had no second act.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-reagan-revolution-has-had-no-second-act/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [The shelf life of a seventh-year State of the Union address is about five minutes. Presidents can propose stuff. They're probably not likely to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/the-shelf-life-of-a-seventh-year-state-of-the-union-address-is-about/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [When you look at the development of the American presidency, you see that the presidents who have had the greatest impact are the ones…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/when-you-look-at-the-development-of-the-american-presidency-you-see/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [With my students, I always have to sell my subject because I know when you're 19, 20 years old, you've got other things on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/with-my-students-i-always-have-to-sell-my-subject-because-i-know-when/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [I'm the farthest thing from a bibliophile. I purge my collection regularly: If I haven't read a book in a couple of years, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/i-m-the-farthest-thing-from-a-bibliophile-i-purge-my-collection/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [If you wanted to, you could write history in Haiku.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-w-brands/if-you-wanted-to-you-could-write-history-in-haiku/) [H. W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) [Explore all 100 H. W. Brands quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) ## More 1960s quotes > [We do need different types of propulsion to get to Mars. I wrote one of the first Ph.D. theses on that in the 1960s.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-mitchell/we-do-need-different-types-of-propulsion-to-get-to-mars-i-wrote-one/) [Edgar Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-mitchell/) > [Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it. And if we cannot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lyndon-b-johnson/each-year-more-than-100-000-high-school-graduates-with-proved-ability/) [Lyndon B. Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lyndon-b-johnson/) > [Nearly all the writing of our time is likely to disappear in a hundred years. Certainly most readers - and nearly all critics -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-dirda/nearly-all-the-writing-of-our-time-is-likely-to-disappear-in-a/) [Michael Dirda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-dirda/) > [Sometimes a party must sail against the wind. We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-kennedy/sometimes-a-party-must-sail-against-the-wind-we-cannot-heed-the-call/) [Edward Kennedy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-kennedy/) > [ \[In the 1960s\]...you could take LSD but you couldn't wear a pantsuit. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsey-johnson/in-the-1960s-you-could-take-lsd-but-you-couldn-t-wear-a-pantsuit/) [Betsey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsey-johnson/) > [Is it a coincidence that stories from the private life became more popular just as the grand hope for public redemption through revolution was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-griffin/is-it-a-coincidence-that-stories-from-the-private-life-became-more/) [Susan Griffin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-griffin/) > [I think the general anxiety of the 1960s - '70s spawned our interest in the living dead. When people worry about the end of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-brooks/i-think-the-general-anxiety-of-the-1960s-70s-spawned-our-interest-in/) [Max Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-brooks/) > [“A friend once told me a story about a former Black Panther leader in a Midwest community who in the 1960s had his phone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luis-j-rodr-guez/a-friend-once-told-me-a-story-about-a-former-black-panther-leader-in/) [Luis J. Rodríguez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luis-j-rodr-guez/) > [I was never bothered about my position in the industry. If I had believed in it, I wouldn't have allowed anyone to get ahead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dharmendra/i-was-never-bothered-about-my-position-in-the-industry-if-i-had/) [Dharmendra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dharmendra/) > [Under the system that we now have to nominate presidential candidates, for instance, I would prefer that we have a system that is closer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-beschloss/under-the-system-that-we-now-have-to-nominate-presidential-candidates/) [Michael Beschloss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-beschloss/) > [My son Bill, who came to me in 1960-he was 14 then, quoted the old parable to me: "It is not by their words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madalyn-murray-o-hair/my-son-bill-who-came-to-me-in-1960-he-was-14-then-quoted-the-old/) [Madalyn Murray O'Hair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madalyn-murray-o-hair/) > [There is a book called San Francisco Tape Music Centre:1960s Counterculture and the Avant-Garde and this book describes everything that you want to know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-oliveros/there-is-a-book-called-san-francisco-tape-music-centre-1960s/) [Pauline Oliveros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-oliveros/) > [Much of the art of the 1960s, from body art to video and direct performance, was concerned with similar issues. And then there was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/valie-export/much-of-the-art-of-the-1960s-from-body-art-to-video-and-direct/) [Valie Export](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/valie-export/) > [I went through college in the 1960s without having any idea that I was going to have to make a living. When I graduated…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francine-prose/i-went-through-college-in-the-1960s-without-having-any-idea-that-i/) [Francine Prose](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francine-prose/) > [“At the beginning of a decade when everything was beginning to seem possible, nothing seemed impossible.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margot-lee-shetterly/at-the-beginning-of-a-decade-when-everything-was-beginning-to-seem/) [Margot Lee Shetterly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margot-lee-shetterly/) [Browse all 486 1960s quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/zz-1960s-426/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "By the early 1960s, there was a moral consensus on what needed to be done on civil rights.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. W. 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