| By the end of the Sixties, the underground press in the United States grew from five papers in 1965 to hundreds by the end of the decade. As the underground press movement flourished throughout the counterculture, radical media spread from the college campus to the military town. In 1971, Pensacola, Florida, joined the growing ranks of American cities with an underground press. Pensacola's unique history as a military town with an engaged radical student element on its college campuses allowed for the rapid growth of local underground press. Furthermore, Pensacola's location between two major Southern cities, New Orleans and Atlanta, with established underground papers immensely aided Pensacola activists as they honed their craft. Pensacola's underground newspaper, Fish Cheer, soon acquired an active readership comprised of students, active-duty servicemen, veterans, and the general population. These readers entered the contentious public discourse over Vietnam, race relations, feminism, and more. As young people took notice, the government also paid close attention. Through F.B.I. surveillance records of the Fish Cheer's editorial collective, released under the Freedom of Information Act, a history emerges demonstrating the active role many local students and service members played in the rise and ultimate fall of the underground press movement. |
