Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty

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"Don't Trust Anyone Over Thirty" was a phrase coined by Jack Weinberg in the 1960s. Weinberg was a part of the Free Speech Movement while he was attending the University of California at Berkley. When asked about the origins of this phrase Weinberg stated, “I was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter and he kept asking me who was ‘really’ behind the actions of students, implying that we were being directed behind the scenes by the Communists or some other sinister group.” He goes on to say, “I told him we had a saying in the movement that we don’t trust anybody over 30. It was a way of telling the guy to back off, that nobody was pulling our strings.” After his statement, other leaders in the movement started to use the phrase and newspapers across the country picked it up, making the phrase extremely popular.