The Anti-War Movement: Protests and Demonstrations

A toolkit that changed over time

Opponents of the Vietnam War did not rely on one method. They drew on an older American repertoire of protest and added new forms as the war grew and as the movement’s members changed. Understanding the tactics separately helps explain why the movement could appear polite in one place and violent in another: different groups chose different tools, and the choices often reflected different beliefs about what would work.

Teach-ins

The teach-in was an innovation of the early war years. The first was held at the University of Michigan in March 1965, where faculty and students stayed through the night for lectures and discussions about the war, as an alternative to a class strike. The idea spread quickly to other campuses, and a large national teach-in was broadcast to many colleges in May 1965. Teach-ins were used mainly by academics and students who believed that information and argument could change minds. They remained common at universities throughout the war, but by 1967 many younger activists regarded them as too gentle.

Marches and rallies

Mass marches were the best-known tactic. Students for a Democratic Society organised an early march in Washington in April 1965, which drew a crowd in the tens of thousands. Larger coalition events followed, including the Spring Mobilization of 15 April 1967 and the Pentagon demonstration in October 1967. Marches were used by almost all parts of the movement, particularly by those who wanted to show strength in numbers. Their weakness was that they could be ignored once they became familiar, and that press coverage often dwelt on the most unusual participants.

Vigils and silent witness

Vigils belong largely to the pacifist and religious tradition. Quakers, members of Women Strike for Peace and other church groups stood in silence outside government buildings or in town centres, sometimes reading the names of the dead. They were a low-risk way for ordinary people, including older and more conservative ones, to take part. They also gave the movement a presence in places that never saw a large march.

Civil disobedience

Civil disobedience meant deliberately breaking a law, usually in a peaceful way, and accepting the penalty. Pacifists such as A. J. Muste and Dave Dellinger had used it for decades. In the Vietnam era it took forms such as sit-ins at induction centres and blocking entrances. The Oakland action of October 1967 and the Pentagon sit-in were examples. Civil rights veterans, who knew the technique from the South, helped to teach it to students. Some actions went further, such as the raids on draft board offices in 1967 and after, when Catholic activists poured blood on or destroyed records, an approach associated with figures such as Philip and Daniel Berrigan. These were rarer and more controversial, and many in the movement did not support them.

Draft resistance

Resistance to conscription grew in importance from 1967. It included draft card burning, which became a federal offence after a 1965 amendment to the law, as well as returning cards, refusing induction, applying for conscientious objector status and moving abroad, often to Canada. The organisation known as the Resistance asked young men to turn in their cards publicly in October 1967. Draft resisters were generally young men of draft age, many of them students, though supporters included clergy and older adults. The tactic carried real legal risk, which gave it moral weight, and also tested the Selective Service System, which depended on compliance.

Electoral work and petitions

Not all tactics were street protests. Letters, petitions, newspaper advertisements and referendum campaigns were used from early on. In 1967 and 1968 a growing share of the energy went into electoral work, with antiwar Democrats seeking a challenger to the president. These activities appealed to liberal supporters who disliked confrontation.

Moratoriums

The moratorium came later. On 15 October 1969, millions of Americans took part in local events, in schools, churches and workplaces, in what was called the Vietnam Moratorium. A second larger one followed in November 1969. These were designed to be broadly acceptable, with many events held in daytime in towns across the country, and they showed how far the movement had spread into mainstream life since the first teach-ins. They do not belong to 1967, but they reveal where the earlier tactics led.

Who used what

The pattern was loose but recognisable.

Debates about which tactic was best never ended. Supporters of marches said that only numbers would persuade politicians. Advocates of resistance replied that numbers had not worked and that direct action was needed. The movement’s history can be read as a long argument between these positions, with each side finding evidence for its view.