Charles Manson’s Influence

Charles Manson is one of the most sinister and evil criminals the world has ever seen. His troubled childhood and twisted view of society led him to organize a cult that committed bizarre and brutal murders that shocked media, and struck fear into the hearts of every American in the 1960s and still does today. Charles Manson and the Family had a huge and pivotal influence on American culture, which ultimately lead to the fall of the love generation and hippie counterculture.

Charles Manson’s illicit upbringing contributed to the manipulative criminal he grew up to be. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1934 to an unmarried 16-year-old mother, and to a father he never met. When he was only 5-years-old, his mother was sentenced to prison for armed robbery. After moving from household to household in foster care, then later being expelled from boarding school, Manson commit his first crime in 1948 when he was caught and convicted for robbing a grocery store. He spent the rest of his adolescence and early adulthood in and out of jail for car theft, forging checks, and running a prostitution ring. In between sentences he married and divorced two women, and had two children. In prison, where he did most of his growing up, he learned to play the guitar, and became obsessed with the Beatles. Manson was released in the spring of 1967, despite asking to stay (Bugliosi 14-38). Manson never felt like he belonged to normal society, as he spent so much of his time in prison. “I never realized that the people outside [of prison] are much different from the people inside. People inside if you lie, you get punched… There’s a certain amount of truth in prison. And being raised in prison, I was pretty much raised in light of that truth” (Journey). ...

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