Well, the only "anthems" that come immediately to mind are "Blowin' In The Wind", "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (and on another less political level, that dumb Rainy Day Women thing - or could that even be considered political, a la Leary's "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" platform?).

I guess "Turn, Turn, Turn" would fit into that "peace, love, freedom" mood of the times as well. True, a strict reading of Ecclesiastes (sp?) and that lyric show that it's really a "circle of life" song, admitting in its wisdom that there is both time for war and time for peace, but the younger generation of that time certainly didn't focus on the true message, they only heard it as another protest song.

Even though none of the above are as explicitly "Peace & Love" as something like "Get Together" or "Reach Out In The Darkness" by other writers, they remain true political statements to the younger generation at that time...

And as you note, I was there in the midst of it and know how people considered those songs and under what guise they were sung, regardless of how others might want to interpret them nowadays. And that whole Woodstock Generation thing about peace and love also just as much about protest and activism, seldom peaceful or loving.

And that's the hypocrisy of the times about which I spoke. The younger generation and their heroes spoke of peace and love and change, but showed little peace or love to those they viewed as different (even from their own generation), and I think there's ample proof over the past thirty years that little has changed when that generation itself came of age, and the young hippies traded in their tie-dyed shirts and beads for ties and SUVs.

Indeed, our parents and grandparents, the alleged fascists of those times, showed a sight more personal restraint and decency to their neighbors than do the adults today... and their children even less so.

As far as true "peace, love, and understanding" go, whatever it was that was touted by Dylan and his ilk of that time turned out to be so much chaff.

This, of course, is all a side bar and has nothing to do with the fact that Dylan is a decent songwriter.

He's just not the 'giant' that some people make him out to be, and certainly no Nobel laureate of Literature.