ABSTRACT

On June 29, 1965, rock ’n’ roll entered the chambers of the US Congress. Senator Gordon Allott, Republican of Colorado, announced to the President of the Senate (Vice President of the USA) and the assembled members of that body that, “last night, at approximately 9:30 p.m., I saw one of the most shameful and disgraceful exhibitions I have ever witnessed in the United States.” Even worse, he saw it on television. The offensive program was exhibited by CBS as a public service in the name of a government organization, the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO). 1 The object of outrage was It’s What’s Happening, Baby!, a ninety-minute television music special that used rock ’n’ roll to tell high-school dropouts, particularly African-American inner-city youth, about the OEO’s Neighborhood Youth Corps, a job-training program.