What Was the Purpose of the Peace Marches of the 1960s?

The main purpose of the peace marches in the 1960s was to protest the Vietnam War.  They were successful as eventually the United States involvement in the war ended.

The purpose of the peace marches of the 1960s was primarily to protest the Vietnam War, but also to protest other political decisions and things going on in the world at the time:

• Before the 1960s, the United States was in a Cold War and many Americans were very concerned about nuclear proliferation and a nuclear war. 
• The National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) was formed in 1957 with a goal to reduce nuclear weapons. 
• A group founded on college campuses was the SDS, who not only wanted peace but for society to improve, which included civil rights.
• 1964 saw the formation of the Free Speech Movement (FSM) at the University of California at Berkeley.
• These organizations were in place and the catalyst that started the peace movement was the bombing of North Vietnam in 1965.
• Starting in February, SDS organized peace marches at the Oakland Army Terminal, where many soldiers headed for Vietnam were shipped out. 
• Thus, the main purpose of the peace marches of the 1960s was to try to get the government to end involvement in Vietnam.

Timeline of the Peace Marches

Here is a brief timeline of the 1960s peace marches and other activities of the peace movement.

• 1964 - First large student march in New York City and San Francisco.  Smaller protests were held in Seattle, Washington and Madison, Wisconsin.
• 1965 - March 24th, the first “teach-in” was held at the University of Michigan.  This was a series of seminars to educate students about the moral and political implications of war. These were held at campuses throughout the U.S.
• 1965 - April 17th, first march on Washington with 15,000 to 25,000 people in attendance.
• 1965 - November 27th, 40,000 protesters surrounded the White House then marched to the Washington Monument. 
• 1966 - Protests continued with 20,000 participants in New York City on March 26th and 10,000 picketers at the White House and the Washington Monument on May 15th. Gallup polls show anti-war sentiment growing.  
• 1967 - March 17th march at the Pentagon; March 25th march in Chicago, Illinois led by Martin Luther King, Jr.; April 15th march from Central Park, New York, to the United National Building with 400,000 people, and 100,000 people marched in San Francisco, California.
• 1968 - After the Tet Offensive in January, many Americans changed their opinions about the war and protests occurred more often and became stronger and more violent. Riots ensued and many were arrested as exemplified by the demonstrations at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August. The Gallup poll showed that 53% of Americans now thought that our involvement in the Vietnam War was a mistake. 
• 1969 - Demonstrations were held on October 15th called the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. Millions of Americans took the day off from school or work to demonstrate against the war.
• 1969 - March on Washington, DC by 500,000 people and another march was held in San Francisco.
• 1970 - May 4th saw four students shot and killed at a Kent State University demonstration. A week later, there was a demonstration in Washington to protest the Kent State killings and the U.S. incursion into Cambodia. Also, there was a nationwide student strike by four million students.
• 1970 - National Chicano Moratorium March - On August 29th, Mexican Americans were involved in the largest anti-war protest in Los Angeles.  Two people were killed by police and later that day, Ruben Salazar, the news director of KMEX and a writer for the Los Angeles Times, was killed in a bar by police with a tear gas projectile.

The purposes of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 were to bring peace and an end to the war, and end U.S. involvement. The Accords did not stop the fighting and Saigon was captured by the North Vietnamese in April of 1975, and this ended the Vietnam War. Millions of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians were killed as were over 58,000 Americans.

Doves Versus Hawks

The 1960s was a divisive time for the United States. Anti-war sentiment was not just felt by college students but permeated every race and class in the country. The peace movement was in full force by 1965 and did not end until 1975, when the final troops were withdrawn. However, there were some who were in favor of a continued U.S. presence in Vietnam.

Supporters of the war, called "hawks," claimed that pulling out of Vietnam would cause more deaths and the U.S. needed to remain until there was no longer a threat from the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong.