The sit-ins demonstrated the most important tactic used in during the Civil Rights, as nonviolence and "imagination" created a sense that all was possible - all over the nation. This erupted in a national protest because students now felt they were able to participate and make an impact. The decade fostered the abilities of its youth, and the students nourished their need to make a change - a dramatic change that was felt in more than 54 cities in nine states.
The sit-ins helped stimulate students because the film that was created by the HUAC was so scrambled and so untrue that it propelled students to join and laugh at was no longer a horror. The campus activists used this medium as inspiration to make one of the largest impacts of the 1960s.
In addition to the quick national spread of the sit-ins and the impact the young students could make, these young people picked up what their parents left behind. They felt a primary obligation to take action in common; many wanted to redeem what their elder generation had failed at, which was perhaps the ultimate motivator.

The sit ins were important because they showed other students in America that they could make a difference. This propelled the movement because other students quickly began to join the movement and started making a change in their areas. Operation abolition was important because it showed the activists that what they were doing was having an impact. It was so horrible and obviously untrue that it was seen as more of a propelling force, rather than a tale of caution.The committee did not have the type of intimidation that was previously seen and this only fueled the movement.

With the explosion of growth in America's heartland, the majority became not the students with political experience, but masses of passionate, action-focused individuals. Contrary to the older participants, the new participants believed in action and embraced all people without the limitations of old ideologies and political infighting. Instead, they saw young people as agents of change and organized around specific activities, leading to government opposition as "protests to resistance." These students became more radical through actually trying to impede government actions such as the draft, and also merged with the counterculture.
While their actions were useful for shedding light on issues without allowing the veil of propaganda to go unrevealed, their actions made them seem too radical. Also, this broad based acceptance let to splits in idealogo within the party. The joining with the counterculture would also diffuse their political credibility with people outside the SDS.

The sit-in movements propelled protest in California by inspiring and showing the students that they have the power to make a change. The 4 people who started the sit-ins were students, just like the people in California, and it was inspiring to see people there own age standing up for what they believe in. This was showed them that they had the power to do the same. Operation Abolition galvanized students by presenting false facts which just frustrated the students and made them work even harder. It "proved a camp favorite and an inspiration to campus activists more than a cautionary tale." Other factors which contributed to student protest were that "they wanted to live out what their parents had repressed or abandoned." They felt like the opression their parents had to face and tried to fight was never won, so they wanted to do something about it. They wanted to take action because it was the only way change would happen.

The sitin movement propeled protests in California because it showed the youth that by taking action they could get things done. Things in the past had not been taken care of effectively and when students saw how well the sit-ins got the civil rights message across, they caught on quickly. Operation abolition helped galvanize studetns because what was supposed to scare them only turned out to be overly played fiction. It just pushed them to show that what the believed was right and accomplish their goals. Things were beginning to change and the red diaper generation, after watching their parents fight for their beliefs, began to follow in their footsteps but with better tatics that would prove vital. Action was important because it was the best means for getting things done in the 60s.

The sit-in movement led the people into thinking that they can make a change, such as ending segregation, if they worked together as a whole. Operation Abolition was a “film which scrambled footage and invented facts to present the Committee as the victim of a Communist-run campaign." It helped galvanize the students by leading them to think that Communism is no longer a “universal horror” but actually it was “losing its power to intimidate.” Other factors also contributed to student protest. For instance, the young people “took their parents’liberal or radical values seriously.” So, this led students into taking action of ending segregation and to be successful in making changes since their parents had failed to do so.

The sit-in movements propelled protest in California by showing that change could come with direct action. The changes happening in the South as a result of the sit-ins inspired students in California to take action against what they believed to be unjust. In the case of San Francisco, it was hearings of HUAC. Operation Abolition helped galvanize students as it was a completely fictional and almost humorous attempt to improve HUAC’s reputation. The film was so ridiculous that many people were inspired to join in the demonstrations just to oppose them. The failures of the students’ parents played a big role in the protests. In fear of the dire consequences that came with political failure, and haunted by history, these students felt that the only way to make change was to take action. And so action became the core of the movement’s identity.

The sit-in helped propel protest in California because the students saw this as a great way to get your point across to the country and make changes for the better. They knew that if they all stuck together and worked as one that they could accomplish their goals. Operation Abolition helped galvanize the students because the movie was so terrible and untrue that it actually gave fuel to the fire for the students rather than scare them as it was meant to do. Students were ready to make changes for the better. The New Left generation of students would no longer sit there and allow things to happen that they did not want to happen. They would take it to the streets and get their ideas and values out for the world to see. Everything from houses to people were so cookie cutter in the 1950s and they knew a change had to be made. Action was essential in the 1960s because so many new things were coming of age such as race and gender. Self expression and group action was a way to show the world that change was needed.

Pardun begins “It Wasn’t Hard To Be a Communist in Texas” by explaining that he grew up in the McCarthy era he and his generation only knew that Communism was considered evil, but truly had no concept of its realities. In the opening paragraph he states that Communists “had no respect for human life.” So when he is younger and not completely educated, Pardun continues to see Communism as something corrupt and wrong. As he goes to college, meets more people and communities, Pardun finds the historical side to many opinions which give him context and thus changes his ideals. He then becomes involved with SDS and goes to demonstrations. Early in his college career in Texas, Pardun learned that it doesn’t take much to be considered a Communist, he simply said “The Russians are people too,” and got into a fight for his comment.

Pardun seems like a person who finally stepped away from his parent’s and generation’s ideals to find that by simply having an opinion of his own and being compassionate to other races and communities made him vulnerable to being called a “Communist.” Through his education and reasoning, Pardun finds that Communism is simply a socialist idea that is off base from the typical rigid Republican views that ruled his life as a child.

Robert Pardun’s attitude towards Communism when he first came to Texas is very representative of the kind of blind fear that came out of the McCarthy Era. People had become so afraid of being associated with Communism because of the political witch hunt Sen. McCarthy had been conducting. However, “It Wasn’t Hard to be a Communist in Texas” describes Pardun’s gradual enlightenment and realization that Communism had become a loosely defined term that meant anyone whose beliefs were different from what was the American norm. His beliefs at the beginning are so dramatic and skewed. He expresses the fear that “the world could end at any time” at the hands of the Communists. As he learns more about politics and history, and reads literature that he was not exposed to through traditional education, he begins to learn the true definition of Communism. He realizes that it is not an evil force that is pitted against the US; it is simply a political ideology that differs from that of the US. The fear was created because the term had become so loosely defined with widely different interpretations.

The sit-in movement propelled protest in California because it was an example of how action can bring change. No one had ever imagined that the youth could challenge American culture in such a way and make a difference. Watching blacks force change in the south was very inspiring. HUAC's Operation Abolition, designed to intimidate, proved to be inspiring to student activists. The times were changing, people were no longer as scared of communism as they had been the decade before. Other than the sit-ins, youth were enthused by their parents' liberal views and wanted to succeed where their parents had not. Action took precedence. Putting your body on the line was how one joined the movement. Getting down to business, and acting as if things were the way they should be, proved to be very empowering for the students of the 60s.

The sit-in movement caught the attention of college students in California as it provided them with an effective tool for causing change in the United States. The movement inspried youths in California to voice their social and political beliefs. They would not and could not be ignored by authorities after staging similiar acts of protest. Operation Abolition helped galvanize students as it presented them with a concrete example of highly fictionalized propaganda. The horribly-made film gave students something to laugh about as it was incapable of provoking fear in its audience. The Committee had lost its intimidation. Students were more willing to take action as the adoption of the New Left was taking place. Those who followed this ideological movement were not going to sit back and allow the country to remain the same place. People were going to stand up against political and social injustice.

The sit-ins propelled protest because the people involved were taking their ideas and putting them into action. Those involved saw that what they were doing was causing an upset and receiving a response. Before, authorities did not have to worry about these radical ideas because there was no actual movement going on. Operation Abolition helped rouse the interest of the students because it was such a mockery of a movie, presenting made-up facts and nonsensical claims. It appeared as a joke for the viewers and the Committee was losing its intimidation factor of making Communists scary. The student protest was also accelerated by the fear of history repeating itself. A lack of interest in change would have horrible consequences and accepting things as they were like in the fifties was not going to cut it for this new generation. The New Left valued action and this movement was going to involve more than just good ideas.

The involvement of “heartland” students changed the movement because they were very different from the students who began SDS in the first place. The “heartland” students’ parents weren’t involved in the movement; therefore their kids were not raised with “old left” views. They were able to form their own opinions about politics with out parental influence. This made them very different from the Northeastern SDS members who had been raised under “old left” ideals and were directly questioning their parents’ beliefs and way of life. There were conflicts over the role of the counterculture because it had begun to blend with politics. It changed SDS from just a “new left” into actually convincing people against the people in power at that moment. In the end, the tactics used were very successful in persuading people to think for themselves. They used honesty and historical references in order to inform people about what the government was doing. That was very successful in gaining support for the “new left” which lead to the growth of the student movement.

The sit in movement first put the idea into these people's heads about what they can do to affect change. Someone has to start it and thats exactly what the sit-ins did. Also the sit-ins were successful which made others want to go out and try something that they hoped would make an impact. So the people in CA were sick and tired of what was going on and figured since the sit-ins worked they might as well try something themselves.
Operation Abolition helped galvanize students mainly becasue it was so bad and very untrue. Everyone seemed to know if was untrue as well. It wasn't just the CA protesters that saw this. Since it was so badly made, it was somewhat of a joke and it was in a way a chink in the armor of the authority. This chink made more people want to get involved becasue they could see what they were doing was actually working.
The past was a huge factor that made most of these protesters do what they did. They saw what happened to earlier generations and weren't happy about it so they figured that since earlier generations didnt have as much action that they didn't to go out and do something, not just talk about it. In decades past a lack of action hurt certain movements effectiveness so they felt action was the only way.

Pardun opens the piece with his initial impressions on communism. He grew up hearing it was "evil incarnate." He, like all other Americans, assumed that communism was simply something bad and needed to be gotten rid of. As he progresses and learns more about politics and history through various groups, he expands how he views communism as well. Communism can be defined as a literal political view, or as anyone who is too far left. By the end of the piece, Pardun doesn't even realize that the government defines HIM as a communist. At this point, he realizes the differences between his conception of the term "communist" and what can be perceived by others. He spent his time reading books and materials that talk about social change and concepts, but he never thought of those things as anything evil. He thinks communism is evil, but he feels the history, theory, and logic found in many of the groups labeled "communist" is alright. This goes to show that all the fear was possibly based on something that everyone could define differently.

This sit-in movement propelled protest in California by showing other people that change could happen for the better if people stuck together. Operation Abolition helped to stimulate students by becoming an inspiration as opposed to a cautionary tale. Other factors which contributed to student protests were the mistreatment of Blacks and the Vietnam War. Action was very important because without it, there is no means for change.