Before widespread use of the internet, protests and riots due to police brutality were waved off as "those people acting up". Progressive candidates never got any traction. No one had any real sense of what was happening on the other side of the country, let alone Europe or Asia. Information was controlled and broadcast by a few small entities that were mainly interested in propping up the establishment. Look up operation mockingbird. Let's not be Pollyanna-ish about pre-internet times.