March Against the Vietnam War

The March Against the Vietnam War was held April 17, 1965. The student activist group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held its first anti-Vietnam War protest rally in Washington, DC. It was co-sponsored by Women's Strike for Peace. 25,000 attended, including Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Phil Ochs. The host was I. F. Stone. He began by proclaiming: "Welcome to Washington." One of the two Senators who voted against the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that gave credence to U. S. involvement in Vietnam spoke (it was either Greuning or Morse). After the speeches and music the crowd started to move toward the Capitol, down the Mall from the Washington Monument. Joan Baez and some others intercepted the impromptu march (probably because they thought we were going to storm the citadel).