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Peace Rally at Michigan Stadium, October 1969

Peace Rally at Michigan Stadium, October 1969 image
Year:
1969
Published In:
Ann Arbor News, October 16, 1969
Caption:
20,000 Gather At 'M' Stadium In Moratorium Highlight Yesterday's "moratorium" protest against the Vietnam war remained peaceful through its climax last night with a Michigan Stadium rally, where approximately 20,000 persons, mostly University students and faculty, cheered a dozen speakers including Sen.Philip A. Hart, D-Mich. U-M class attendance was estimated by U-M officials as 60 per cent below normal for a Wednesday, usually a busy day on the U-M academic Schedule. Local expressions of criticism of the "moratorium" were also peaceful, consisting mainly of a few dozen porchlights and auto headlights turned on in daylight hours, a statement by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars commander, and a number of "Win the War" signs in store windows.

Vietnam, ROTC, Bookstore At U-M

Vietnam, ROTC, Bookstore At U-M image
Parent Issue
Day
5
Month
October
Year
1969
Copyright
Copyright Protected

The October 15, 1969 Peace Rally

The peace rally at Michigan Stadium on October 15, 1969, was the largest of all the anti-war protests in the 1960s in Ann Arbor. Including some 20,000 attendees, the rally was the culmination of Ann Arbor’s participation in a nationwide event -  The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam - that took place that day, with many businesses, churches, and colleges across the country closing to protest continued involvement in the War. Related events at the University of Michigan included teach-ins and forums, and the day concluded with a 6 p.m. torchlight parade winding from the University of Michigan central Diag to Michigan Stadium, followed by a rally inside the Stadium. 

Crowd at the Peace Rally
Crowd at the October 15, 1969 Peace Rally at Michigan Stadium

Rally organizers were New Mobilization leader Douglas Dowd of Cornell University and Ann Arbor Mobilization leader Eugene Gladstone. Speakers included U.S. Senator Philip A. Hart; SDS founder and Chicago 8 member, Tom Hayden; U. S. Representative John Conyers; State Senator Coleman Young; State Representative Roger Craig; Eugene Charles of the Black Panthers; Rhoades W. Murphy, U-M geography professor; and Ann Arbor City Councilman for the Third Ward, Nicholas Kazarinoff. The local rock band SRC performed at the Rally. Both the U-M parade and rally remained peaceful, a minor incident occurring when a participant near the speakers' platform spit on speaker Tom Hayden and was removed by Ann Arbor police.

Senator Philip A. Hart at October 15, 1969 Peace Rally
US Senator Philip A. Hart speaks at Rally

A month earlier, on September 19, in a speech at Hill Auditorium during the “Tactic-In” events on the University of Michigan campus, U-M President Robben Fleming came out against the war in Vietnam and promised to make University facilities available for the upcoming October 15 Moratorium. He further indicated that if enough people came out to express opposition to the War during the event, he would personally deliver their message to Washington. Fleming’s anti-war declaration was controversial at the time, as was his endorsement of a University venue for an anti-war protest; however, his decision, made on the heels of many contentious campus-wide protests that had occurred in preceding months - most significantly, the 1969 South University Riot - signaled his evolving belief that suppressing protests would only lead to violence. 

In the days after the Moratorium, President Fleming remained true to his word and wrote a letter to Washington stating that the mood on the University of Michigan campus was one of “broad and deep opposition. This opposition is not simply emotional, it is thoughtful. It does not occur because of ignorance, but only after sober reflection.”

Articles about the October 15, 1969 Peace Rally

Photographs of the October 15, 1969 Peace Rally

Buddhist Monk Burned In Effigy

Buddhist Monk Burned In Effigy image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
October
Year
1963
Copyright
Copyright Protected