Protests against the Vietnam War: Encyclopedia II - Protests against the Vietnam War - Protests

Protests against the Vietnam War - Protests

Protests against the Vietnam War - 1966

• Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) refused to go to war, famously stating that he had "got nothing against no Viet Cong." The governor of Illinois called Ali "disgusting". The governor of Maine said that Ali "should be held in utter contempt by every patriotic American." In 1967 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but was released on appeal.

Protests against the Vietnam War - 1967

• On June 1 Vietnam Veterans Against the War was born. 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.

• In the summer of 1967, Neil Armstrong and various other NASA officials began a tour of South America to raise awarness for space travel. According to First Man, a biography of Armstrong's life, during the tour, several college students protested the astronaut, and shouted such has "Murders get out of Vietnam!" and other anti-Vietnam War messages.

Protests against the Vietnam War - 1970

• Kent State/Cambodia Incursion Protest, Washington, DC A week after the Kent State Shootings, on 4 May, 100,000 anti-war demonstrators converged on Washington, DC to protest the shooting of the students in Ohio and the Nixon administration's incursion into Cambodia. Even though the demostration was quickly put together, protestors were still able to bring out thousands to march in the Capital. It was an almost spontaneus reponse to the events of the previous week. Police ringed the White House with buses to block the demonstrators from getting too close to the the executive mansion. Early in the morning before the march, Nixon met with protestors briefly at the Lincoln Memorial but nothing was resolved and the protest went on as planned.

• The Chicano Moratorium: on 29 August, 1970, 25,000 Mexican-Americans participated in the largest antiwar demonstration in Los Angeles. Police attacked with clubs and guns. Three people were killed. Ruben Salazar, TV news director and LA Times reporter was killed.

Protests against the Vietnam War - 1971

• May Day Protests, Washington, DC On Monday, May 3rd, 1971 one of the most disruptive actions of the Vietnam War Era occurred in Washington, DC, when thousands of anti-war activists tried to shut down the Federal government. The threat caused by the May Day Protests, caused the Nixon Administration to respond by creating a virtual state of siege in the Nation’s Capitol. Thousands of troops, along with local police, suppressed the disorder and by the time it was over several days later, over 10,000 had been arrested. It was the largest mass arrest in U.S. history.

• Protests escalated during the late 1960s and early 1970s, particularly among college students, during the height of America's participation in the Vietnam War. Urban areas, particularly college campuses, were the scene of many riots and peace rallies, some of which turned violent.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Protests", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki