Many people believed that the war in Vietnam shouldn't have happened. In defense many people burnt draft cards and even participated in many anti-war protests. There were many anti-war rallies but one seemed to stick out from them all.
The march in Washington D.C. was the largest anti-war demonstrations in the course of the Vietnam War. .
More than 250,000 protesters showed up in Washington D.C. for the demonstration (Barringer). The whole thing was organized by a group called "the Mobe" (National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam), which consisted of about 150 different types of groups who all wanted to end the War. Some of the main leaders and speakers of these groups consisted of David Dellinger, Mobe coordinator; Jerry Rubin, who had run many different anti-War protests on the west coasts; and Dr. Benjamin Spock, a well known man for his child and baby care books (Freeman). Many were afraid to speak out against the President and the American government, but as the situation grew worse, they felt as they had to (Farber). .
The protest started at the Lincoln Monument, which turned out to be the biggest rally (Washington). People lined up around the pool of water and listened to speeches and protests of many. Dr. Spock's speech seemed to stick out. He said he believed that the President betrayed him. Lyndon Johnson campaigned that he would not escalate any more conflict in Vietnam, and 4 months after being in office he sent many numbers of troops to go into battle. After all the speeches were made, 50,000 people sent off to protest at the Pentagon (Freeman).
After taking a grueling hour and a half/ two-mile walk across the Memorial Bridge and down a service road, the protesters were met by 2,500 federal troops and 200 U.S. marshals in the north parking lot of the Pentagon (Freeman). The troops formed a human barricade on the steps of the Pentagon and had ropes set up to keep the protestors back.
