In the years following World War II, many hip young men resisted conformity to new ideals of masculinity. In Hollywood, hipsters were seen as a problem, and hipness was equated with juvenile delinquency. Offscreen, the Beats formed a loyal opposition to Cold War domestic values, crossing racial and sexual boundaries and rejecting an imagined life of white America. For this they looked to outcasts of the American dream, particularly African Americans, immigrants, and the poor and working class. Although the self-interested, inward-focused aspects of hipsterism limited its political potential, resistance to Cold War domestic values provided a foundation for a more radical critique of American imperialism to emerge by the 1960s. Together with a new generation of youth, hipsters—some of whom rejected that identity—found inspiration in revolution as opposed to simple non-conformity. The shifting ideals of hip during the Cold War years represented the changing character of the U.S. political environment.