Protests against the Vietnam War
Encyclopedia
Protests against the Vietnam War took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The protests were part of a movement in opposition to the Vietnam War
and took place mainly in the United States
were in 1945, when United States Merchant Marine
sailors condemned the U.S. government for the use of U.S. merchant ships to transport French troops to "subjugate the native population" of Vietnam; these protesters opposed the "recolonization" of Vietnam. http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i08/08b00701.htm
There are many other pro- and anti- war slogans, however the mere informational use of those are very small. The group that mostly used the anti-war slogans were called "doves"; those that supported the war were known as "hawks."
Opposition to the Vietnam War
The movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...
and took place mainly in the United States
Protests
The very first protests against U.S. involvement in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
were in 1945, when United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
sailors condemned the U.S. government for the use of U.S. merchant ships to transport French troops to "subjugate the native population" of Vietnam; these protesters opposed the "recolonization" of Vietnam. http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i08/08b00701.htm
1962
- June. Tom HaydenTom HaydenThomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden is an American social and political activist and politician, known for his involvement in the animal rights, and the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. He is the former husband of actress Jane Fonda and the father of actor Troy Garity.-Life and...
writes the Port Huron StatementPort Huron StatementThe Port Huron Statement is the manifesto of the American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society , written primarily by Tom Hayden, then the Field Secretary of SDS, and completed on June 15, 1962 at an SDS convention at what is now a state park in Lakeport, Michigan, a...
for the anti-anti-communist Students for a Democratic SocietyStudents for a Democratic SocietyStudents for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
(SDS).
1964
- March. A conference at YaleYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
plans demonstrations on May 2. - April 25. The National Guardian published a pledge of draft resistance by some of these organizers.
- May 2. Hundreds of students demonstrate on New York's Times Square and from there went to the United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. 700 marched in San Francisco. Smaller demonstrations take place in Boston, Madison, Wisconsin and Seattle. These protests were organized by the Progressive Labor Party, with help from the Young Socialist AllianceYoung Socialist AllianceThe Young Socialist Alliance was a Trotskyist youth group of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992...
. The May 2nd Movement was the PLP's youth affiliate. - May 12. Twelve young men in New York publicly burn their draft cardsDraft-card burningDraft-card burning was a symbol of protest performed by thousands of young American men as part of the opposition to the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. Beginning in May 1964, some activists burned their draft cards at anti-war rallies and demonstrations. By May 1965 it was...
to protest the war—the first such act of war resistance. - Fall. Free Speech MovementFree Speech MovementThe Free Speech Movement was a student protest which took place during the 1964–1965 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and...
at the University of California at Berkeley defends the right of students to carry out political organizing on campus. Founder: Mario SavioMario Savio""...But we're a bunch of raw materials that don't mean to be - have any process upon us. Don't mean to be made into any product! Don't mean - Don't mean to end up being bought by some clients of the University, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone!...
.
1965
- February–March. Protests at Kansas University, organized by the Student Peace UnionStudent Peace UnionStudent Peace Union was a nationwide student organization active on college campuses in the United States from 1959 to 1964. Its national headquarters were located near the campus of the University of Chicago....
. - February 12–16. Anti-U.S. demonstrations in various cities in the world, "including a break-in at the U.S. embassy in Budapest, Hungary, by some 200 Asian and African students."
- March 24. First SDS organized teach-in, at the University of MichiganUniversity of MichiganThe University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
at Ann Arbor. 3,000 students attend and the idea spreads fast. - March 15. A debate organized by the Inter-University Committee for a Public Hearing on Vietnam is held in Washington, D.C. . Radio and television coverage.
- March. Berkeley, California: Jerry RubinJerry RubinJerry Rubin was an American social activist during the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1980s, he became a successful businessman.-Early life:...
and Stephen SmaleStephen SmaleSteven Smale a.k.a. Steve Smale, Stephen Smale is an American mathematician from Flint, Michigan. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1966, and spent more than three decades on the mathematics faculty of the University of California, Berkeley .-Education and career:He entered the University of...
's Vietnam Day CommitteeVietnam Day CommitteeThe Vietnam Day Committee was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War...
(VOC) organize a huge protest of 100,000. - April 17. The SDSSDS-Science:* Safety data sheet or material safety data sheet, a form with data regarding the properties of a particular substance* Satellite Data System, a system of United States military communications satellites....
-organized March Against the Vietnam War onto Washington, D.C. was the largest anti-war demonstration in the USA to date with 15-20,000 people attending. Paul Potter demands a radical change of society. - May 5. Several hundred people carrying a black coffin marched to the Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, draft board, and 40 men burned their draft cards. - May 21–23. Vietnam Day Committee organized large teach-inTeach-inA teach-in is similar to a general educational forum on any complicated issue, usually an issue involving current political affairs. The main difference between a teach-in and a seminar is the refusal to limit the discussion to a specific frame of time or an academic scope of the topic. Teach-ins...
at UC Berkeley. 10-30,000 attend. - May 22. The Berkeley draft board was visited again, with 19 men burning their cards. President Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
was hung in effigy. - June 27. End Your Silence, an open letterOpen letterAn open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
in the New York Times by the group Artists and Writers Protest against the War in Vietnam. - July. The Vietnam Day Committee organized militant protest in Oakland, California ends in inglorious debacle, when the organizers end the march from Oakland to Berkeley to avoid a confrontation with police.
- July. A Women Strike for PeaceWomen Strike for PeaceWomen Strike for Peace is a United States women's peace activist group.-History:Women Strike for Peace was founded by Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson in 1961, and was initially part of the movement for a ban on nuclear testing and to end the Vietnam war, first demanding a negotiated settlement,...
- delegation led by Cora Weiss meets its North Vietnamese and Vietcong counterpart in JakartaJakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia. - July 30. A man from the Catholic Worker MovementCatholic Worker MovementThe Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on...
is photographed burning his draft card on Whitehall Street in Manhattan in front of the Armed Forces Induction Center. His photograph appears in LifeLife (magazine)Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine in August. - October 15. David J. Miller burned his draft card at a rally held near the Armed Forces Induction Center on Whitehall Street in Manhattan. The 24-year-old pacifist, member of the Catholic Worker MovementCatholic Worker MovementThe Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of Catholics and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ." One of its guiding principles is hospitality towards those on...
, became the first man arrested and convicted under the 1965 amendment to the 1948 Selective Service Act. - October 15–16.
- Europe, October 15–16. First 'International Days of Prostest. Anti-U.S. demonstrations in London, Rome, Brussels, Copenhagen and Stockholm.
- October 20. Stephen Lynn Smith, a student at the University of IowaUniversity of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
, spoke to a rally at the Memorial UnionMemorial Union (Iowa State University)The Memorial Union, or MU, at Iowa State University opened in September 1928, the building is currently home to a number of University departments, a bowling alley, the University Book Store, and the Hotel Memorial Union.-History:...
in Iowa City, IowaIowa City, IowaIowa City is a city in Johnson County, State of Iowa. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total population of about 67,862, making it the sixth-largest city in the state. Iowa City is the county seat of Johnson County and home to the University of Iowa...
, and burned his draft card. He was arrested, found guilty and put on three years of probation. - October 30. Pro-Vietnam War march in New York City with 25,000.
- November 6. Thomas C. Cornell, Marc Paul Edelman and Roy Lisker burned their draft cards at a public rally organized by the Committee for Non-Violent ActionCommittee for Non-Violent ActionThe Committee for Non-Violent Action , formed in 1957 to resist the US government's program of nuclear weapons testing, was one of the first organizations to employ nonviolent direct action to protest against the nuclear arms race....
in Union Square, New York CityUnion Square (New York City)Union Square is a public square in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York.It is an important and historic intersection, located where Broadway and the former Bowery Road – now Fourth Avenue – came together in the early 19th century; its name celebrates neither the...
. - November 27. SANEPeace ActionPeace Action is a peace organization formed through the merger of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy and the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign...
-sponsored March on Washington in 1965. 15- 20,000 demonstrators.
1966
- From September 1965 to January 1966, 170,000 men had been drafted and another 180,000 enlisted. By January, 2,000,000 men had secured college defermentsDraft dodgerDraft evasion is a term that refers to an intentional failure to comply with the military conscription policies of the nation to which he or she is subject...
. - March 25–26. Second Days of International Protest. Organized by the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam, led by SANE, Women Strike for Peace, the Committee for Nonviolent Action and the SDS: 20,000 to 25,000 in New York alone, demonstrations also in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Oklahoma City. Abroad, in Ottawa, London, Oslo, Stockholm, Lyon, and Tokyo.
- March 31. David Paul O'Brien and three companions burned their draft cards on the steps of the South BostonSouth Boston, MassachusettsSouth Boston is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay. One of America's oldest and most historic neighborhoods, South Boston was formerly known as Dorchester Neck, and today is called "Southie" by...
Courthouse. The case was tried by the Supreme Court as United States v. O'BrienUnited States v. O'BrienUnited States v. O'Brien, 391 U.S. 367 , was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that a criminal prohibition against burning a draft card did not violate the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech...
. - Spring. Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam founded.
- May 15. March Against the Vietnam War, led by SANE and Women Strike for Peace, with 8-10,000 taking part.
- Muhammad AliMuhammad AliMuhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...
(Cassius Clay) refused to go to war, famously stating that he had "got nothing against no Viet Cong" and that "no Viet Cong ever called me nigger." According to a writer for Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
, the governor of Illinois called Ali "disgusting" and the governor of Maine said that Ali "should be held in utter contempt by every patriotic American." http://www.gale.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/ali_m.htm In 1967 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but was released on appeal. - July. First national antiwar Mobilization Committee established.
- November 7. Protests against Robert McNamaraRobert McNamaraRobert Strange McNamara was an American business executive and the eighth Secretary of Defense, serving under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1968, during which time he played a large role in escalating the United States involvement in the Vietnam War...
at Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. - Late December. Student Mobilization Committee formed.
1967
- January 29-February 5. Angry Arts Week, by the Artists Protest group.
- April 15. At Sheep Meadow, Central ParkSheep Meadow, Central ParkThe preserve known as Sheep Meadow has a long history as a gathering place for large scale demonstrations and political movements. It is currently a favorite spot for families, sunbathers, picnickers, kite flyers, and other visitors to come relax and admire the New York City skyline...
, New York City, some 60 young men including a few students from Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
came together to burn their draft cards in a Maxwell HouseMaxwell HouseMaxwell House is a brand of coffee manufactured by a like-named division of Kraft Foods. Introduced in 1892, it is named in honor of the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. For many years until the late 1980s it was the largest-selling coffee in the U.S. and is currently second behind...
coffee can. More join them, including uniformed Green Beret Army Reservist Gary RaderGary RaderGary Eugene Rader was an American Army Reservist known for burning his draft card in protest of the Vietnam War, while wearing his U.S. Army Special Forces uniform. Afterward, he engaged in anti-war activism.-Background:...
. As many as 158 cards are burned. - April 15. Spring Mobe protests in New York City (300,000) and in San Francisco. Founded in November 1966 as the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. Its National director was Reverend James L. Bevel.
- May 20–21. 700 activists at the Spring Mobilization Conference, Washington, D.C. . A National Mobilization Committee to End the War in VietnamNational Mobilization Committee to End the War in VietnamThe National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam was a relatively short-lived coalition of antiwar activists formed in 1967 to organize large demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War. The organization was informally known as "the Mobe"....
(the Mobe) is created. - Sweden. May and November. International War Crimes Tribunal.
- June 1. The Vietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the WarVietnam Veterans Against the War is a tax-exempt non-profit organization and corporation, originally created to oppose the Vietnam War. VVAW describes itself as a national veterans' organization that campaigns for peace, justice, and the rights of all United States military veterans...
formed. Veteran Jan Barry Crumb participated in a protest on April 7 called the "Fifth Avenue Peace Parade" in New York City. On May 30 Crumb and ten like-minded men attended a peace demonstration in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution.... - June 23. The Bond, the first G.I. undergroundUnderground pressThe underground press were the independently published and distributed underground papers associated with the counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other western nations....
paper established. - In the summer of 1967, Neil ArmstrongNeil ArmstrongNeil Alden Armstrong is an American former astronaut, test pilot, aerospace engineer, university professor, United States Naval Aviator, and the first person to set foot upon the Moon....
and various other NASA officials began a tour of South America to raise awareness for space travel. According to First Man, a biography of Armstrong's life, during the tour, several South American college students protested the astronaut, and shouted such phrases as "Murderers get out of Vietnam!" and other anti-Vietnam War messages. - October 16. A day of widespread war protest organized by The Mobe in 30 cities across the U.S., with some 1,400 draft cards burned.
- October 20. Resist leaders present draft cards to the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. .
- October 21–23. National Mobe organized The March on the Pentagon to Confront the War Makers. 100,000 are at the Lincoln Memorial on the D.C. MallNational MallThe National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
, 35,000 (or up to 50,000?) go on to the Pentagon, some to engage in acts of civil disobedience. Norman MailerNorman MailerNorman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
's The Armies of the Night describes the event. - December 4. National draft-card turn-in. At San Francisco's Federal BuildingPhillip Burton Federal BuildingThe Phillip Burton Federal Building is a massive 21 floor, federal office building located close to San Francisco's Civic Center and the San Francisco City Hall. The building was finished in 1959, one of the earliest office towers for San Francisco....
, some 500 protesters witnessed 88 draft cards collected and burned. - December 4–8. Stop the Draft Week demonstrations in New York. 585 arrested, amongst them Benjamin SpockBenjamin SpockBenjamin McLane Spock was an American pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care, published in 1946, is one of the biggest best-sellers of all time. Its message to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do."Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand...
. - Sweden, December 20. Seventh Year of the Viet Cong (the Front National de Libération du Vietnam du Sud, or FNL) celebrated with violent clashes in Stockholm. Demonstrations in forty Swedish towns.
1968
- January 15. Jeannette RankinJeannette RankinJeannette Pickering Rankin was the first woman in the US Congress. A Republican, she was elected statewide in Montana in 1916 and again in 1940. A lifelong pacifist, she voted against the entry of the United States into both World War I in 1917 and World War II in 1941, the only member of Congress...
leads a demonstration of thousands of women in Washington, D.C. . - London, Sunday, March 17. Violent protest in London (street occupation), not supported by the Old Left. Over 300 arrests.
- Frankfurt, Germany, April 2. Andreas BaaderAndreas BaaderAndreas Bernd Baader was one of the first leaders of the German left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction, also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang.- Life :...
, Gudrun EnsslinGudrun EnsslinGudrun Ensslin was a founder of the German militant group Red Army Faction . After becoming involved with co-founder Andreas Baader, Ensslin was influential in the politicization of Baader's voluntaristic anarchistic beliefs. Ensslin was perhaps the intellectual head of the RAF...
and two comrades try to firebomb a major department store. - April 3. National draft-card turn-in. About 1,000 draft cards were turned in. In Boston, 15,000 protesters watched 235 men turn in their draft cards.
- April 4. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
assassinated. - Late April. Student Mobe sponsored national student strike, demonstrations in New York and San Francisco.
- April–May. Occupation of five buildings at Columbia University. Future leading Weather Underground member Mark RuddMark RuddMark William Rudd is a political organizer, mathematics instructor, and anti-war activist, most well known for his involvement with the Weather Underground. Rudd became a member of the Columbia University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society in 1963. By 1968, he had emerged as a leader...
gaines prominence. - Berlin, Germany, April 11. Rudi DutschkeRudi DutschkeAlfred Willi Rudi Dutschke was the most prominent spokesperson of the German student movement of the 1960s. He advocated 'a long march through the institutions' of power to create radical change from within government and society by becoming an integral part of the machinery...
shot and wounded. Massive riots against Axel SpringerAxel SpringerAxel Springer , was a German journalist and the founder and owner of the Axel Springer AG publishing company.-Early life:...
publishers. - May. FBI's COINTELPROCOINTELPROCOINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
campaign launched against the New LeftNew LeftThe New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
. - May. Agricultural Building at Southern Illinois UniversitySouthern Illinois UniversitySouthern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
(SIU) bombed. - June 4–5. The hope of the antiwar movement, presidential candidate Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
assassinated after celebrating victory in the California primary. He dies the next morning, June 6. - Late June. Student Mobe ruptures.
- August 28. Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Violent clashes.
- November 14. National draft-card turn-in.
1969
- The whole year major campus protests take place across the country.
- January 19–20. Protests against Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's inaugurationInaugurationAn inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's term of office. An example is the ceremony in which the President of the United States officially takes the oath of office....
. - April 5–6. Antiwar demonstrations and parades in several cities, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and others.
- March 29. Conspiracy charges against eight suspected organizers of the Chicago Convention protests.
- June. The Old Main building at SIU burns to the ground.
- June. Chicago. SDS national convention. The SDS disintegrates into SDS-WSA and SDS. The Worker Student AllianceWorker Student AllianceThe Worker Student Alliance in the United States was the section of Students for a Democratic Society led by the Progressive Labor Party. The WSA argued that the best way to build a movement in the working class, like SDS wanted, was for students to become involved in workers' struggles both on...
of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP) has the majority of delegates (900) on its side. The smaller Revolutionary Youth Movement fraction (500) divide into RYM-I/Weatherman, who retained control of the SDS National Office, and maoist RYM-II. This fraction will further divide into the various groups of New Communist MovementNew Communist MovementThe New Communist Movement ' was a Marxist-Leninist political movement of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States. The term refers to a specific trend in the U.S. New Left which sought inspiration in the experience of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Chinese Revolution, and the Cuban...
. - July 4–5. Cleveland: national antiwar conference established New Mobe.
- October 8–11. Weatherman's desastrous Days of Rage in Chicago. Only 300 militants show up, not the expected 10,000. 287 will be arrrested.
- October 15. National Moratorium against the WarMoratorium to End the War in VietnamThe Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a large demonstration against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War that took place across the United States on October 15, 1969. The Moratorium developed from Jerome Grossman's April 20, 1969, call for a general strike if the war had not...
demonstrations. Huge crowds in Washington and in Boston (100,000). - November 15. The MobeNational Mobilization Committee to End the War in VietnamThe National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam was a relatively short-lived coalition of antiwar activists formed in 1967 to organize large demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War. The organization was informally known as "the Mobe"....
's National Moratorium against the War mobilizes 500,000. March against Death, Washington, D.C. . - November 15. San Francisco.
- November 26. Draft-lottery bill signed.
1970
- April 4. A right-wing Victory March. organized by Reverend Carl McIntireCarl McIntireCarl McIntire was a founder of, and minister in, the Bible Presbyterian Church, founder and long president of the and the American Council of Christian Churches, and a popular religious radio broadcaster, who proudly identified himself as a fundamentalist.-Youth and education:Born in Ypsilanti,...
calls for victory in the Vietnam War. 50,000 attend. - February, March. Wave of bombings across the USA.
- March. Antidraft protests across the USA.
- March 6. Weatherman bombmaking attempt ends in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosionGreenwich Village townhouse explosionThe Greenwich Village townhouse explosion was the premature detonation of a bomb as it was being assembled by members of the American radical left group, Weatherman – later renamed the Weather Underground – in the basement of a townhouse at 18 West 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and...
, New York City. - April. New Mobe, Moratorium and SMC protests across the country.
- April 19: Moratorium announces disbanding.
- May 2: violent anti-war rallies at many universities.
- Kent State UniversityKent State UniversityKent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
, Ohio, May 4: Kent State ShootingsKent State shootingsThe Kent State shootings—also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre—occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970...
: U.S. National Guard kill four young people during a demonstration. As a result four million students go on strike at more than 450 universities and colleges. - May 9. Mobe sponsored Kent State/Cambodia Incursion Protest, Washington, D.C. 75 to 100,000 demonstrators converged on Washington, D.C. to protest the Kent State shootings and the Nixon administration's incursion into CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
. Even though the demonstration was quickly put together, protestors were still able to bring out thousands to march in the Capital. It was an almost spontaneous response to the events of the previous week. Police ringed the White House with buses to block the demonstrators from getting too close to the executive mansion. Early in the morning before the march, Nixon met with protesters briefly at the Lincoln MemorialLincoln MemorialThe Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
. - May 8, New York. Hard Hat RiotHard Hat riotThe Hard Hat Riot occurred on May 8, 1970 in Lower Manhattan. The riot started about noon when about 200 construction workers mobilized by the New York State AFL-CIO attacked about 1,000 high school and college students and others protesting the Kent State shootings, the American invasion of...
: after a student anti-war demonstration, workers attack them and riot for two hours. - May 14, Jackson State College. Jackson State killingsJackson State killingsThe Jackson State killings occurred on Thursday/Friday May 14–15, 1970, at Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi. A group of somewhat violent student protesters were confronted by city and state police. The police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve...
: Two dead and twelve injured during violent protests. - May 20, New York. An estimated 60,000 to 150,000 are at a pro-war demonstration on Wallstreet.
- June.
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, August 24. Sterling Hall bombingSterling Hall bombingThe Sterling Hall Bombing that occurred on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus on August 24, 1970 was committed by four young people as a protest against the University's research connections with the US military during the Vietnam War...
: aimed at the Army Math Research Center on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of the building, in missing its target, a Ford van packed with explosives hit the physics laboratory on the first floor and killed young researcher Robert FassnachtRobert FassnachtRobert E. Fassnacht was a physics post-doctoral researcher who was killed by the bombing of Sterling Hall on August 24, 1970 on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus....
and seriously injured another person. - August 29, Chicano MoratoriumChicano MoratoriumThe Chicano Moratorium, formally known as the National Chicano Moratorium Committee, was a movement of Chicano anti-war activists that built a broad-based coalition of Mexican-American groups to organize opposition to the Vietnam War...
. 20,000 Mexican-Americans participated in the largest antiwar demonstration in Los Angeles. Police are attacked with clubs and guns and kill three people, including Rubén SalazarRuben SalazarRubén Salazar was a Mexican-American journalist killed by a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in East Los Angeles, California. During the 1970s, his killing was often cited as a symbol of unjust treatment of...
, a TV news director and LA Times reporter.
1971
- March 1. WeathermanWeatherman (organization)Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
plants a bomb in the CapitolUnited States CapitolThe United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
building in Washington, D.C., causing $ 300,000 in damage, but no casualties.. - April 19–23. Vietnam Veterans against the War stages operation Dewey Canyon III. 2,000 camping on the MallNational MallThe National Mall is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Mall is a unit of the National Park Service , and is administered by the National Mall and Memorial Parks unit...
. - April 22–28. Veterans against the War (and also John KerryJohn KerryJohn Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
) testify before various congressional panels. - April 24. Peaceful Vietnam War Out Now rally on the Mall, Washington, D.C., with 200,000 calling for an end to the Vietnam War, 150,000 participate in the largest demonstration sofar on the Westcoast in San Francisco.
- April 26. More militant attempts in Washington, D. C. to shut down the government are futile against 5,000 police and 12,000 troops.
- May 3–5, May Day Protests1971 May Day ProtestsThe 1971 May Day Protests were a series of large-scale civil disobedience actions in Washington, D.C., in protest against the Vietnam War. These began on May Day of that year, continued with similar intensity into the morning of the third day, then rapidly diminished through several following days...
. Planned by Rennie DavisRennie DavisRennard Cordon “Rennie” Davis is a former, prominent American anti-Vietnam War protest leader of the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven....
and Jerry Coffin of the War Resisters LeagueWar Resisters LeagueThe War Resisters League was formed in 1923 by men and women who had opposed World War I. It is a section of the London-based War Resisters' International.Many of the founders had been jailed during World War I for refusing military service...
, later joined by Michael LernerMichael Lerner (rabbi)Michael Lerner is a political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue of San Francisco.-Family and Education:...
, militant mass-action tries to shut down the government in Washington, D.C. . 12,614 arrested, a record in American history. - December. VVAW protests across the USA.
1972
- April 15–20. May. New waves of protests across the country.
- April 17. Militant anti-ROTC demonstration at the University of MarylandUniversity of MarylandWhen the term "University of Maryland" is used without any qualification, it generally refers to the University of Maryland, College Park.University of Maryland may refer to the following:...
. 800 National Guarsmaen are ordered onto the campus. - Frankfurt am Main, Germany, May 11. Headquarters of the V CorpsV CorpsV Corps may refer to:*V Amphibious Corps *V Corps , an American Civil War formation*V Corps *V Corps , a non-French Napoleonic war formation*V Corps *V Corps...
at the IG Farben BuildingIG Farben BuildingThe IG Farben Building or the Poelzig Building was built from 1928 to 1930 as the corporate headquarters of the IG Farben conglomerate in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is also known as the Poelzig Ensemble or Poelzig Complex, and previously as the IG Farben Complex, and the General Creighton W....
: The Commando Petra Schelm of the Rote Armee Fraktion killed U.S. Officer Paul BloomquistPaul BloomquistPaul A. Bloomquist was an US Army officer in the Vietnam War and the first American killed in a bombing attack of the Red Army Faction....
and wounded thirteen in a bombing-attack. - May 21. Emergency March on Washington, D.C., organized by the National Peace Action Coalition and the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice. 8 to 15,000 protest in Washington, D.C. against the increased bombing of North Vietnam and the mining of its harbors.
- June 22. Ring around Congress demonstration, Washington, D.C. .
- In July Jane FondaJane FondaJane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
visits North Vietnam and speaks on Hanoi Radio, earning her the nickname Hanoi Jane. - August 22. 3,000 protest against the 1972 Republican National Convention1972 Republican National ConventionThe 1972 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States was held from August 21 to August 23, 1972 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. It nominated the incumbents Richard M. Nixon of California for President and Spiro T. Agnew of Maryland for Vice...
in Miami Beach. - November 7. Nixon defeats George McGovernGeorge McGovernGeorge Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
in a landslide election victory.. - December. Protests against Hanoi and Haiphong bombings.
1973
- January 20. Inauguration protests, March against Racism & the War in Washington, D.C. .
Common slogans and chants
- The slogan "One, two, three, four! We don't want your fucking war!" was chanted repeatedly at demonstrations throughout the U.S. in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
- "Draft Beer, not boys", "Hell no, we won't go", "Make love, not war" and "Eighteen today, dead tomorrow" were a few of the anti war slogans. "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" Was chanted during LBJ's tenure as President.
- "Love our country", "America, love it or leave it" and "No glory like old glory" are examples of pro-war slogans.
There are many other pro- and anti- war slogans, however the mere informational use of those are very small. The group that mostly used the anti-war slogans were called "doves"; those that supported the war were known as "hawks."