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Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Partner: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us Partner: Michael H. Steinhardt Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho agusho@renmedia.us How to reach us see page 10 Moratorium March to End the War in Vietnam was held in Washington D.C., November 1969. Whatever Happened to Protest Marches? T his month marks the anniversary of the largest political protest in U.S. history, a seismic event that gripped all of America and should be recalled and studied during these tur- bulent and deeply polarized times. Fifty years ago, on Nov. 15, 1969, the mas- sive Moratorium March to End the War in Vietnam was held in Washington, D.C., as well as many other cities across America and even throughout the world. More than 500,000 people of all ages and ethnicities — political leaders, celebrities, civil rights icons, veterans, students, entertainers, parents with young children in tow — descended on Capitol Hill to demand an end to America’ s involvement in Vietnam. Across America some 2 million people protested. By November of 1969, the war, which at that point had already claimed more than 45,000 American lives, was showing no sign of slowing down. Despite President Richard Nixon’ s campaign pledge a year earlier to de- escalate America’ s involvement, the number of U.S. troops had swelled that year to 550,000, an all-time high. America was angry and fiercely divided, and many peo- ple were in the mood to take action to express their outrage. In Detroit, the Committee to End the War in Vietnam organized a city-wide protest in which thousands converged on Kennedy Square. Wayne State University conducted “teach- ins, ” debates, and featured activ- ist speakers and films. Many other educational and religious institutions in Detroit and its suburbs coordinated seminars to protest the war. Across America, the Moratorium Marches were mostly peaceful. In Washington, D.C., Coretta Scott King led a candlelit vigil down Pennsylvania Avenue. Folk legend Pete Seeger led the sea of protesters in singing John Lennon’ s “Give Peace a Chance, ” which had become the unof- ficial anthem of the anti-war movement. The trio Peter, Paul and Mary came onto the stage, along with many other performers and activists, and joined in as Seeger repeatedly interjected “ Are you listening, Nixon?” Nixon, who was in the White House the entire time, was indeed listening and quickly issued a statement that “under no circumstances” would he be affected by the protest, stat- ing that “policy in the streets equals anarchy. ” Referring to the candlelight vigil led by Coretta Scott King, Nixon joked that he should “send helicopters out to blow out the candles. ” Vice President Spiro Agnew was also listening and charged that the protesters were “impu- dent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals. ” Both Nixon and Agnew placed the blame at the feet of the media, particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post. The Moratorium March, Agnew claimed, was the work of the media who were a “small and unelected elite that do not — I repeat, do not — represent the view of America. ” Fifty years later, the broader, lingering questions remain: Did the protests work? Do they today? Nathan Heller, a jour- nalist at the New Yorker, has his doubts. “Is protest a productive use of our political attention?” he asks. “Or is it just a bit of social theater we perform to Mark Jacobs WIKIPEDIA essay continued on page 10