The 1960's can be remembered as a period of growth and conflict in the U.S. and in New Mexico.
The state grew as an integral part of what President Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex which included the space race. New communities, such as Rio Rancho, welcomed residents and hippie communes added countercultural elements to an already eclectic state.
New Mexico also experienced turmoil. Some Hispanics, frustrated by the loss of their land grants, turned to an individual, Reis Lopez Tijerina and his originally peaceful Alianza Federal de Mercedes which was founded in 1963; Lopez Tijerina resorted to increasingly violent measures that ultimately ruined his movement. Taos Pueblo residents non-violently defended their sacred Blue Lake in the Carson National Forest.
The Vietnam war divided the state: abroad New Mexicans served in the military and at home, anti-war protesters sometimes turned violent, as when they clashed with opposing factions on Albuquerque's Central Avenue and National Guard troops were sent to the University of New Mexico. Peace was restored in New Mexico only when peace was restored in the nation and in Southeast Asia.
Taken from the New Mexico Magazine.
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