November 15 1969

[underpants]

November 15
Things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school

1969: Over 500,000 people march on Washington, rallying in front of the White House, to protest war in Vietnam, while Pres. Nixon watches Purdue-Ohio State football game on TV. The rally concludes with nearly 40 hours of continuous reading of known U.S. deaths (to that date) in Vietnam War.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=18066#15




http://www.emystic.com/protest/moratoriumday.html

[lectrobyte]

1. Thanks for posting this, I'd never heard of it before.

[Minnesota_Lib]

20. If memory serves, this was the gigantic,nationwide moratorium...

I cut school and together with some friends marched with hundreds of thousands through the streets of San Francisco to Golden Gate Park where we were treated to a concert featuring Crosby, Stills and Nash (can't remember if Young was with them yet, but I think so) and Joan Baez (I think).

There were simultaneous peace marches all over the nation (and the world) that day as I recall.

Brings back great memories.....

[bryant69]

2. Hostory teaches the Vietnam War protests wrong

In part because newspapers studiously got it wrong at the time - check out "The Whole World is Watching" by Gitlin. It's very good. The pont is that despite the photogenic image of happy hippies protesting the war, plenty of mainstream people protested the war - in far greater numbers.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[leveymg]

3. Nixon even came outside in the early morning hours and briefly chatted

He was a paranoid and a hostile drunk, but he wasn't afraid to personally confront his opponents. How different he was from Dubya, who during the anti-war march in DC in September 2005 was whisked off in AF-1 to hide inside a mountain bunker in Colorado.

We live in an era of Pygmy tyrants.

[LiberalEsto]

4. I was there

and it was an amazing crowd.
It was my first big anti-war protest -- but by no means the last.

[leveymg]

5. Not the first. The 1967 Mobilization rally in NY drew 200,000

"End the War" Demonstrations in NY & San Francisco - Anti-war protests are held simultaneously in New York and San Francisco. The New York event, sponsored by the Fifth Ave. Parade Committee and the Student Mobilization Committee, draws some 200,000 people, including several hundred NYU students.

www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/collections/exhibits/arch/1967/Index.html

[LiberalEsto]

7. It was MY first big protest

not THE first big anti-war protest.

[leveymg]

10. Sorry, misread that.

I was 12-13 years old at that time, and didn't make to a BIG rally -- went to some smaller ones in my hometown -- until the one in Central Park in April 1975 comemorating the end of the war.

[BlueEyedSon]

17. Mine too!!!

:)

[underpants]

6. I was going to ask if any DU'ers were there

and remembered it ;-)

Amazing massing of people. It worked too.

[Karenina]

28. I was conservatory in NYC.

The hallowed halls emptied as we black clad apolitical types lay down on the cold plaza around the fountain at Lincoln Center. The kids at Columbia were RIGHTEOUSLY PISSED at the media coverage of the event...

[LiberalEsto]

30. I saw you there!

Really!

:hi:

[EST]

8. Ain't it hell gettin' old?

I remember it well because I was twenty one at the time and my country was doing its level best to get me killed. I was hoping desperately that Nixon would keep his promises (fat chance) and stop the war.

The standing joke at the time was that president Nixon was on his veranda, looking out at the city with beautiful, pristine snowfall covering the ugly, and, on looking down he discovered someone had urinated in the snow, spelling out "stop the war."

Understandably, he was pretty upset, so he called up Gray, over at the FBI and demanded to know who had pissed in his snow.

Later on at a meeting with Gray and several of his underlings, Nixon again demanded to know exactly who had pissed in his snow. On learning, from a urinalysis, that the culprit was Dr. Kissinger, he was furious.

The head of the FBI cleared his throat carefully and added, "it was in your wife's handwriting!"

[underpants]

9. HAHAHAHAHA

Too funny not the part about your country trying to get you kill though

[ThomWV]

11. On 11/15/69 I Was In A Hospital In Cam Rahn Bay

Not standing in front of the White House participating in a demonstration who's effect some think was to end the war. The war, of course, actually ended 6 years later.

[Alamom]

27. Thank you for your service. n/t

[Viking12]

12. That was my 3rd birthday...

You do the math ;)

[dubykc]

13. 11/15/69 was opening day of the first...

deer season in Northern Michigan that I was old enough to hunt with my dad, Viet Nam was the furthest thing from my mind.

Now, however, I was still unaware of this protest. Thanks for sharing.

[underpants]

14. Also

Wendy's hamberugers was opened in Dublin Ohio

[shadowknows69]

15. 9 months old

don't remember much. food was good and I kept shitting myself. that's it.

[Javaman]

16. A question about the protests, since I was only 6 when this happened...

Since the draft lottery started on Dec 1st 1969, was this protest solely in regards the Viet Nam war or was it also in regards to the coming draft?

If it was also because of the coming draft, would the size of the protest been as large as it was if there was to be no draft?

My postulations are in regards to our current protests of the Iraqi war.

There have been some humongous turnouts against the current war but certainly not on as wide a scale as was seen back then.
However, outrage that was part of the daily discourse back in the 60's seem to be missing.
From what my older sister says, she a major protester during the 60's, she believes that the daily reminder by the news of men dying and it being accurately reported were the impetus for the protests not just the coming draft.

On that note, is it fair to say that if the news was reported better and if there was a real threat of a national draft being suddenly enacted, the national discourse would change, thus causing more protests?

[TahitiNut]

23. The 'lottery' pretty much defused the dratt protests.

The best I can recall, as a pre-lottery draftee, the energizing element of the draft was the favoritism - privileged sons found deferments easy. The well-connected could easily place their sons in deferred jobs, the national guard, or sustain their 'professional student' status. The working class didn't have those advantages. Further, local draft boards were widely seen as corrupt - and it was the local draft board that decided who got drafted and who got deferments.

So, the burning draft cards and kindred protests morphed mostly into anti-war demonstrations in 1969 when the lottery-based draft was created.

[troubleinwinter]

25. You have this right. The first anti-draft demonstrations,

with burning of draft cards, was in 1965. I have a photo of my husband protesting at the Oakland Induction Center in 1967.

[truedelphi]

31. Actually I have always thought that the draft lottery

Dampened the protests- though the effect was not seen for twelve to twenty four months after its initiation

Before the draft lottery, when it was just a general draft, we were all one. Anyone could end up in Nam - have one lousy semster at college and you well might be getting your ar$e shot at three months later.

But after the lottery took effect, we were not all one. If your number was high- you did not go. So at least twenty per cent of the guys could feel safe - and the intensity drifted away from the protests.

[MamaBear]

18. I was there.

The 500,000 figure does not count the thousands of us penned up on side streets and not permitted to march past the White House.

It was windy. It was cold. It was huge. It was wonderful. We shared little boxes of cereal from our dining halls from all over the East Coast.

[TahitiNut]

19. That was the day I came back from Viet Nam.

Today is the 37th anniversary of that day. (Nightmarish.)

[wicket]

21. Wow

:hug: :hug: :hug:

[Alamom]

26. Thank you for your service & I'm so glad you got back ok.......

I was 17, (my senior year) and I was seeing older friends going and not coming back. Senior guys scared to death they were gone as soon as school was out.

I remember the Protest. These were some bad years. One future BIL (Navy) came home in 69 and the other one (Army)left about a week later.

One thing for sure,

EVERYONE WAS PAYING ATTENTION AND KNEW WE WERE IN A WAR AND PEOPLE WERE BEING KILLED.
NOT LIKE THIS "STERILIZED" NOT SEE ANYTHING BAD ON THIS MSM SHIT WE HAVE NOW.

[slackmaster]

22. I lived about a mile from UC San Diego

We had a major protest that day as well. It was unforgettable.

The protests went on daily and peaked in May 1970 when a student, George Winne, immolated himself.

[Tom Joad]

24. He said he was watching the game. In reality he was scared to death.

He kept on wondering what would happen if those protesters decided to scale the White House fence.

[truedelphi]

32. Nixon kept the NationalGuard here to protect the Powers that Be

In the Streets. (Remember that in the sixties - entire sections of cities - always poor black areas, went up in flames)

And in 1968 The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) trashed the near north side of Chicago - smashing up cars and store windows

Bush has sent our guard away.

[Keseys Ghost]

29. K & R

[vireo]

33. Had my glasses broken by a "freeper" that day

for wearing a peace dove armband in school.