Why do you think that S.E. Hinton didn't write about the political events that occured in the 1960's in her book, The Outsiders?

I would speculate that there are two reasons why she might
have done this:

First, when S. E. Hinton wrote this book,
she was very young.  In fact, the book was published when she was only 17 years old.  It
seems likely to me that she was not particularly interested in political events at that
stage in her life.  I know many teens are not.

Second, she
might not have wanted to "date" her book.  She might have wanted to make the book seem
more like it would fit in any time and place.  After all, the themes that she explores
about teens and their place in society seem to fit with pretty much any time period (one
reason why the book is still read now).  If she had put in political stuff, people
nowadays might feel less as if the book applies to them.