The Death of John Lennon and the End of an Era

The sixties and seventies were a time of war, peace and revolution, with “hippies” leading anti-war movements, and protests happening across the nation due to the administration of Richard Nixon and the Vietnam War. John Lennon originally a member of The Beatles, became a star in the anti-war subculture, and a hero to many, not only for his musicianship and the Beatle-mania that was spread across the country but for being a voice of the people. The Beatles were at the time, the voices of their generation and eventually became a product of their generation, with their songs highlighting the issues of the time. Even with the disbanding of The Beatles in 1969, Lennon continued to be a force in the culture, with his wife Yoko Ono and himself taking a prominent role in the media and movement against the war.
In 1969 the couple held a "Bed-In for Peace" on their honeymoon; Lennon wrote and recorded "Give Peace a Chance". Which was released as a single, it became a popular anti-war anthem and was sung by a quarter of a million demonstrators against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, on 15 November, the second Vietnam Moratorium Day. In December, they paid for billboards in 10 cities around the world which declared, in the national language, "War Is Over! If You Want It". Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971, and became involved in the protest against the imprisonment of John Sinclair, who had been given a ten-year prison sentence for giving two joints to an undercover police woman. In December, Lennon sang at the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, to call attention to the case and suddenly Sinclair was released from the states authorities three days after, which to some showed the potential force of popular pressure.
In December, ...

... middle of paper ...

...orial was dedicated to John called Strawberry Fields, by New York Mayor Ed Koch and Lennon's widow Yoko Ono. The memorials entrance is located directly across from the place where he had lived for the later part of his life and where he was murdered in 1980. “The memorial is a triangular piece of land falling away on the two sides of the park, and its focal point is a circular pathway mosaic of inlaid stones, with a single word, the title of Lennon's famous song: "Imagine". This was a gift from the city of Naples.”

Works Cited

Perone, James E. (2001). Songs of the Vietnam Conflict. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-31528-2.
Bill DeMain. "John Lennon and the FBI". Dangerous Liaisons: The FBI Files of Musicians. Performing Songwriter. Retrieved 19 January 2013.

1980 Playboy Interview With John Lennon And Yoko Ono, John Lennon.com, Accessed March 5, 2014