City Star, June 1973, vol. 1, no. 2
New Left
The Liberated Guardian formed out of a workers strike at The Guardian newspaper in New York City in the Spring of 1970. The Liberated Guardian was notable for it strong stand in favor of armed struggle. An ideological and political split within the ranks of the Liberated Guardian staff led to the newspaper’s demise in late-1973 and the creation of a new, short-lived newspaper called the New York City Star.
In this issue, articles focus on the killing of Clifford Glover; Black Liberation Army; African Liberation Day; daycare centers; school board politics; a union drive at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital; Carlos Feliciano trial; defeat of a local gay rights ordinance; Rockefeller drug laws; bike trails in NYC; Head Start; May Day; energy crisis; Chrysler and racism; Wounded Knee; behavior modification in prison; international political briefs; Middle East politics; Quaaludes; gay liberation; women’s liberation poetry; Watergate crossword puzzle; and music, book and film reviews.
City Star
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
June 1973
newspaper
Moratorium
Anti-War Movement
The October 15, 1969, Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive, nationwide anti-war demonstration and teach-in organized by a coalition of organizations, including the National Mobilization Committee to End the War. Millions of people are estimated to have participated in cities across the country and around the world, with the largest turn-out in Boston, where more than 100,000 listened to a speech by Sen. George McGovern. One month later, on November 15, 1969, more than 500,000 people attended a second huge moratorium demonstration in Washington, D.C. The rally was preceded by the March Against Death, where over 40,000 people paraded silently down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, each carrying a placard with the name of a dead American soldier or a destroyed Vietnamese village. The march concluded in front of the U.S. Capitol Building, where the placards were placed in coffins. At one point at a rally in front of the White House, folk singer, Pete Seeger, led the crowd in a version of John Lennon’s new song, “Give Peace a Chance,” interjecting, “Are you listening Nixon?” “Are you listening Agnew? “Are you listening Pentagon?” Later, President Richard Nixon remarked, "Now, I understand that there has been, and continues to be, opposition to the war in Vietnam on the campuses and also in the nation. As far as this kind of activity is concerned, we expect it; however under no circumstances will I be affected whatever by it."
Columbia Advertising
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1969
Button
Physical Object
University Review, no. 30, June 1973
New Left
University Review was ;published was published by Entelechy Press in New York City. “Entelechy” is a term coined by Aristotle that has come to mean a force propelling one to self-fulfillment. According to the magazine front-matter, "UR. Universal Ragout. Ultimate Repast. Worldly in taste, stellar in ingredients, intergalactic in appeal... Food for thought. Month after month. Whet your appetite." This issue includes letters to the editor; Nixon and Watergate; media shorts; a review of Alistair Cooke’s show, “America”; Cambodia; the Union Grove Convention bluegrass festival; Joanne Grant reflection on the civil rights movement; cereal boxes and consumer culture; music reviews of Earl Scruggs and Sonny Rollins; book reviews on the Rosenbergs, the back-to-the-land movement, a Doris Lessing novel and SDS; and film reviews of “State of Siege” and others.
Entelechy Press
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
June 1973
newspaper
Fatigue Press, no. 33, September 1971
G.I. Anti-War Movement
Fatigue Press was one of a number of underground newspapers created by G.I.’s for G.I.’s during the Vietnam War. Fatigue Press was created by soldiers at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, and published from 1968 to 1972. Articles in this issue address summary court martials; wage-freeze; Ft. Hood United Front policy; pollution; torture of children in jails; prostitution at Fort Hood; war bonds; poetry; the murder of George Jackson; Laos air war; lettuce boycott; Nixon's trip to China; the arrest of a staff member; U.S. control of Puerto Rico; Fort Hood United Front platform.
Fatigue Press
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
September 1971
underground press
"Prisoners of War: The Case of the New York Three"
Black Panther Party and Prisoner's Rights Movement
On May 21, 1971, two New York police officers, Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagentini, were shot and killed in a Harlem housing project. The killings took place within the broader context of growing black militancy and governmental repression against the Black Panther Party. Initially, five men were arrested and charged with the crime, Anthony (Jalil Muntaqim) Bottom, Albert (Nuh) Washington, Herman Bell, Gabriel and Francisco Torres. Charges were later dismissed against the Torres brothers. Bell, Bottom and Washington were members of the the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army and all targets of FBI COINTELPRO operations. The Black Liberation Army was an underground wing of the Black Panther Party. The group's program was to wage war against the United States Government. Its stated goal was to "take up arms for the liberation and self-determination of black people in the United States." Some believed the killings of the two police officers was retaliation for the killing of George Jackson during an attempted break-out from Attica Prison a few weeks earlier. Richard Nixon and other members of his administration, along with J. Edgar Hoover and other members of the FBI worked with New York Police in a special operation, called, "Newkill," to apprehend the perpetrators of these killings. The trial was controversial and included a number of questionable practices by local and federal law enforcement. All three were convicted and sentenced to long prison sentences. In 2012, Herman Bell admitted to the New York Parole Board that he played a part in the killings. He was released in April 2018. Washington died of cancer while still imprisoned in 2000. Bottom remains incarcerated.
This pamphlet, published by Friends of the New York Three, provides an overview of the case and broader context on COINTELPRO.
Friends of the New York Three
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. mid-1970s
pamphlet
Humphrey
Electoral Politics
Following President Lyndon B. Johnson's surprising decision to not seek re-election in 1968, his Vice-President, Hubert Humphrey, ultimately earned the nomination Hindered by his connections to LBJ's policy in Vietnam, as well as a deeply divided Democratic Party, Humphrey lost the November election to Republican candidate, Richard Nixon.
Humphrey campaign
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1968
Button
Physical Object
Liberation News Service Promotional Insert
Underground Press
This two-page insert provides a promotional appeal for Liberation News Service, as well as a critique of the "Silent Majority."
Liberation News Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1969
underground press
May Day Tactical Manual
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
"If the government won't stop the war, we will stop the government.” In 1971 this was the call to direct action by the Mayday Collective, a de-centralized movement which grew out of youth and student activists' opposition to the Viet Nam War. Their solution was the actual, physical shutting down of the US government, including blocking intersections in the nation’s capitol. To this end, the decentralized, non-violent direct action for the beginning of May, 1971 was first carefully planned. These plans and tactics were shared nationally through the widespread distribution of this 24-page newsprint booklet. What bridges to close, what traffic patterns to disrupt (in the DC metro area) were described and photographed within, having the unintended consequence of alerting the authorities of the who, when, where and what of planned demonstrations. This resulted in the LARGEST sweep of citizens off the street in American history. Some 14,000 law enforcement officers arrested 13,500 people in an act of civil disobedience larger then any act of participation by followers of either Gandhi or King. On the first day of the demonstrations, as 35,000 demonstrators met in West Potomac Park near the Washington Monument, the Nixon Administration planned to use low-flying helicopters to disrupt the gathering. That effort was stymied when demonstrators released a large number of helium balloons. On the second day, U.S. Park Police and Washington Metropolitan Police moved on the demonstrators, firing tear gas, knocking down tents and expelling protesters. Around 10,000 demonstrators regrouped at local churches and college campuses. On the final day, a massive show of military force finally ended the demonstration. Rennie Davis and Jerry Coffin of the War Resisters League are often credited as the original instigators of this action in 1970, with Michael Lerner and other anti-war activists, including a number of Yippies soon joining. The May Day protests lasted from May 1-3, 1971.
May Day Collective
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1971
booklet
Unconventional News, August 20-23, 1972
New Left
This issue of Unconventional News focuses on protests against the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami, and includes essays on the protest planning, the War in Vietnam, Gay Liberation, Women's Liberation, George Jackson, internationalism and a poem by anti-war priest, Daniel Berrigan.
Miami Conventions Coalition
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
August 20-23, 1972
underground press
Mobilization to Stop Mass Murder in Vietnam
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
During the summer of 1966, the Inter-University Committee for Debate on Foreign Policy held a national conference for opponents of the War in Vietnam in Cleveland, Ohio. Activists at that meeting formed the November 8th Mobilization Committee to raise awareness about the increasingly brutal war in Southeast Asia during the fall election cycle and cultivate a broad-based national antiwar coalition that could mobilize large-scale anti-war demonstration in the U.S. Longtime pacifist and anti-war activist, A.J. Muste, was elected founding chairman of the group, while other notable anti-war figures also played leadership roles, including Dave Dellinger, the editor of Liberation magazine, and Robert Greenblatt, a professor at Cornell University. According to the organization’s newspaper, The Mobilizer, Muste was chosen because he “earned the respect of virtually every sector of the social protest movements in this country, displaying leadership in his work as a pacifist, radical, labor and civil rights [activist.]” Muste was particularly adept at synthesizing the competing philosophical and strategic approaches of individual groups within the broader coalition.
Following the November 1966 elections, the organization changed its name to the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, often referred to as “The MOBE.” The Spring Mobilization Committee was a broad anti-war coalition made up of students, unionists, progressive religious leaders, civil rights and black power groups, women’s organizations, Third World communities, and other members of “oppressed” constituencies, and was tasked with organizing massive demonstrations in New York City and San Francisco on April 15, 1967. Civil Rights and anti-war leader, Rev. James Bevel, now led the organization following the death of A.J. Muste in February of 1967. The April 15 protests attracted an estimated 500,000 participants (400,000+ in New York and 75-100,000 in San Francisco), marking the event as one of the largest days of anti-war protest of the Vietnam War era. The organizers of the Spring Mobilization Committee sought to combine mass action with local community organizing. Each participating group had distinct interests, spurring a variety of internal challenges and sometimes conflicts, which reveal many of the important fault lines within the New Left of the late-1960s.
The April demonstrations were peaceful, with only five recorded arrests, all of people who opposed the demonstration. During the event in New York, Martin Luther King, Jr. Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spock all gave speeches in front of the United Nations critiquing U.S. involvement in the war as well as the socioeconomic politics of the draft. Prior to the march, young men burned nearly 200 draft cards in Central Park. At the San Francisco event, Black nationalists led a march of mostly white demonstrators.
At a conference in the wake of the April demonstrations, the group again changed its name, this time to the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which functioned as a permanent national organizing committee to bring together existing anti-war groups, spur the creation of new ones and develop strategies to promote the anti-war movement among everyday Americans. The National Mobe, which adhered to a non-violent philosophy at a time when a growing number of other anti-war groups were questioning the effectiveness of non-violence, had headquarters in New York and San Francisco, as well as an office in Los Angeles.
Between 1967 and 1969, The MOBE continued to play a central role organizing and participating in several important anti-war actions. In October of 1967, MOBE participated in a protest at the Pentagon, which attracted more than 150,000 people and resulted in more than 700 arrests and numerous claims of police brutality. This effort to “confront the warmakers” was notable for the presence of anti-war activists and counter-culturalists, particularly the Yippies, who sought to “levitate” the Pentagon. In April 1968, MOBE supported SDS’s “Ten Days of Protest” and that August, MOBE had a significant presence at the anti-war protests that rocked the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In January of 1969, the organization, now called the New Mobilization Committee to End the War, or New MOBE, participated in the anti-Nixon demonstrations that took place during his inauguration in in Washington, D.C. And on October 15 and November 15, 1969, MOBE organized the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. The October event attracted hundreds of thousands of participants to demonstrations and “teach-ins” in cities across the country and beyond, with the largest gathering taking place in Boston, where more than 100,000 listened to anti-war Senator George McGovern. The November event drew more than 500,000 anti-war supporters to Washington, D.C., including a number of celebrities and performers. MOBE also coordinated a national anti-draft week between March 16 and March 22, 1970, but by that time, the group had begun to lose strength and ultimately dissolved, with some members drifting into the People’s Coalition for Peace and other joining the National Peace Coalition.
Here is a news footage of the April 15, 1967, march in New York:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=40m5gBgwjQE
National Mobilization Committee to End the War
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
April 15. 1967
Button
Physical Object
Mobilization to End the War Now
Anti-War Movement
During the summer of 1966, the Inter-University Committee for Debate on Foreign Policy held a national conference for opponents of the War in Vietnam in Cleveland, Ohio. Activists at that meeting formed the November 8th Mobilization Committee to raise awareness about the increasingly brutal war in Southeast Asia during the fall election cycle and cultivate a broad-based national antiwar coalition that could mobilize large-scale anti-war demonstration in the U.S. Longtime pacifist and anti-war activist, A.J. Muste, was elected founding chairman of the group, while other notable anti-war figures also played leadership roles, including Dave Dellinger, the editor of Liberation magazine, and Robert Greenblatt, a professor at Cornell University. According to the organization’s newspaper, The Mobilizer, Muste was chosen because he “earned the respect of virtually every sector of the social protest movements in this country, displaying leadership in his work as a pacifist, radical, labor and civil rights [activist.]” Muste was particularly adept at synthesizing the competing philosophical and strategic approaches of individual groups within the broader coalition.
Following the November 1966 elections, the organization changed its name to the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, often referred to as “The MOBE.” The Spring Mobilization Committee was a broad anti-war coalition made up of students, unionists, progressive religious leaders, civil rights and black power groups, women’s organizations, Third World communities, and other members of “oppressed” constituencies, and was tasked with organizing massive demonstrations in New York City and San Francisco on April 15, 1967. Civil Rights and anti-war leader, Rev. James Bevel, now led the organization following the death of A.J. Muste in February of 1967. The April 15 protests attracted an estimated 500,000 participants (400,000+ in New York and 75-100,000 in San Francisco), marking the event as one of the largest days of anti-war protest of the Vietnam War era. The organizers of the Spring Mobilization Committee sought to combine mass action with local community organizing. Each participating group had distinct interests, spurring a variety of internal challenges and sometimes conflicts, which reveal many of the important fault lines within the New Left of the late-1960s.
The April demonstrations were peaceful, with only five recorded arrests, all of people who opposed the demonstration. During the event in New York, Martin Luther King, Jr. Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spock all gave speeches in front of the United Nations critiquing U.S. involvement in the war as well as the socioeconomic politics of the draft. Prior to the march, young men burned nearly 200 draft cards in Central Park. At the San Francisco event, Black nationalists led a march of mostly white demonstrators.
At a conference in the wake of the April demonstrations, the group again changed its name, this time to the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which functioned as a permanent national organizing committee to bring together existing anti-war groups, spur the creation of new ones and develop strategies to promote the anti-war movement among everyday Americans. The National Mobe, which adhered to a non-violent philosophy at a time when a growing number of other anti-war groups were questioning the effectiveness of non-violence, had headquarters in New York and San Francisco, as well as an office in Los Angeles.
Between 1967 and 1969, The MOBE continued to play a central role organizing and participating in several important anti-war actions. In October of 1967, MOBE participated in a protest at the Pentagon, which attracted more than 150,000 people and resulted in more than 700 arrests and numerous claims of police brutality. This effort to “confront the warmakers” was notable for the presence of anti-war activists and counter-culturalists, particularly the Yippies, who sought to “levitate” the Pentagon. In April 1968, MOBE supported SDS’s “Ten Days of Protest” and that August, MOBE had a significant presence at the anti-war protests that rocked the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In January of 1969, the organization, now called the New Mobilization Committee to End the War, or New MOBE, participated in the anti-Nixon demonstrations that took place during his inauguration in in Washington, D.C. And on October 15 and November 15, 1969, MOBE organized the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. The October event attracted hundreds of thousands of participants to demonstrations and “teach-ins” in cities across the country and beyond, with the largest gathering taking place in Boston, where more than 100,000 listened to anti-war Senator George McGovern. The November event drew more than 500,000 anti-war supporters to Washington, D.C., including a number of celebrities and performers. MOBE also coordinated a national anti-draft week between March 16 and March 22, 1970, but by that time, the group had begun to lose strength and ultimately dissolved, with some members drifting into the People’s Coalition for Peace and other joining the National Peace Coalition.
Here is a news footage of the April 15, 1967, march in New York:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=40m5gBgwjQE
National Mobilization Committee to End the War
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1967
Button
Physical Object
Anti-draft Week
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
During the summer of 1966, the Inter-University Committee for Debate on Foreign Policy held a national conference for opponents of the War in Vietnam in Cleveland, Ohio. Activists at that meeting formed the November 8th Mobilization Committee to raise awareness about the increasingly brutal war in Southeast Asia during the fall election cycle and cultivate a broad-based national antiwar coalition that could mobilize large-scale anti-war demonstration in the U.S. Longtime pacifist and anti-war activist, A.J. Muste, was elected founding chairman of the group, while other notable anti-war figures also played leadership roles, including Dave Dellinger, the editor of Liberation magazine, and Robert Greenblatt, a professor at Cornell University. According to the organization’s newspaper, The Mobilizer, Muste was chosen because he “earned the respect of virtually every sector of the social protest movements in this country, displaying leadership in his work as a pacifist, radical, labor and civil rights [activist.]” Muste was particularly adept at synthesizing the competing philosophical and strategic approaches of individual groups within the broader coalition.
Following the November 1966 elections, the organization changed its name to the Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, often referred to as “The MOBE.” The Spring Mobilization Committee was a broad anti-war coalition made up of students, unionists, progressive religious leaders, civil rights and black power groups, women’s organizations, Third World communities, and other members of “oppressed” constituencies, and was tasked with organizing massive demonstrations in New York City and San Francisco on April 15, 1967. Civil Rights and anti-war leader, Rev. James Bevel, now led the organization following the death of A.J. Muste in February of 1967. The April 15 protests attracted an estimated 500,000 participants (400,000+ in New York and 75-100,000 in San Francisco), marking the event as one of the largest days of anti-war protest of the Vietnam War era. The organizers of the Spring Mobilization Committee sought to combine mass action with local community organizing. Each participating group had distinct interests, spurring a variety of internal challenges and sometimes conflicts, which reveal many of the important fault lines within the New Left of the late-1960s.
The April demonstrations were peaceful, with only five recorded arrests, all of people who opposed the demonstration. During the event in New York, Martin Luther King, Jr. Floyd McKissick, Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Benjamin Spock all gave speeches in front of the United Nations critiquing U.S. involvement in the war as well as the socioeconomic politics of the draft. Prior to the march, young men burned nearly 200 draft cards in Central Park. At the San Francisco event, Black nationalists led a march of mostly white demonstrators.
At a conference in the wake of the April demonstrations, the group again changed its name, this time to the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which functioned as a permanent national organizing committee to bring together existing anti-war groups, spur the creation of new ones and develop strategies to promote the anti-war movement among everyday Americans. The National Mobe, which adhered to a non-violent philosophy at a time when a growing number of other anti-war groups were questioning the effectiveness of non-violence, had headquarters in New York and San Francisco, as well as an office in Los Angeles.
Between 1967 and 1969, The MOBE continued to play a central role organizing and participating in several important anti-war actions. In October of 1967, MOBE participated in a protest at the Pentagon, which attracted more than 150,000 people and resulted in more than 700 arrests and numerous claims of police brutality. This effort to “confront the warmakers” was notable for the presence of anti-war activists and counter-culturalists, particularly the Yippies, who sought to “levitate” the Pentagon. In April 1968, MOBE supported SDS’s “Ten Days of Protest” and that August, MOBE had a significant presence at the anti-war protests that rocked the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In January of 1969, the organization, now called the New Mobilization Committee to End the War, or New MOBE, participated in the anti-Nixon demonstrations that took place during his inauguration in in Washington, D.C. And on October 15 and November 15, 1969, MOBE organized the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. The October event attracted hundreds of thousands of participants to demonstrations and “teach-ins” in cities across the country and beyond, with the largest gathering taking place in Boston, where more than 100,000 listened to anti-war Senator George McGovern. The November event drew more than 500,000 anti-war supporters to Washington, D.C., including a number of celebrities and performers. MOBE also coordinated a national anti-draft week between March 16 and March 22, 1970, but by that time, the group had begun to lose strength and ultimately dissolved, with some members drifting into the People’s Coalition for Peace and other joining the National Peace Coalition.
New Mobe
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1970
Button
Physical Object
Pac-O-Lies, March 1970, vol. 1, no. 3
Media Activism
Pac-O-Lies was published by the New York Media Project, which was dedicated to a critical perspective on mainstream, corporate media during the 1960s-era. Among the group's core goals were: to end "the lie of objectivity" in the media; eliminate all forms of censorship; give greater coverage to issues related to "black and female liberation"; work toward "worker control" of all media; and "eliminate all forces that use the mass media as a means of coercion and repression." This issue covers a range of topics, including media coverage of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, Women's Liberation, worker control of media in Europe and Nixon's "Vietnamization" policy.
New York Media Project
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
March 1970, vol. 1, no. 3
underground press
Phase 1: Nixon Eviction
New Left
This poster publicized the "Phase 1" of the "Evict Nixon" campaign, which featured a demonstration in Washington, D.C., in August of 1971. An estimated 1,000-1,500 protesters listened to speakers and marched toward the White House. Around 300 were arrested by police during the march, including Milwaukee civil rights leader, Fr. James Groppi, and anti-war activist, Rennie Davis. After Mayday demonstrations the previous spring, police over-prepared for this demonstration putting 2,000 Guardsmen, 2,000 federal troops and 5,100 police on alert. They also rented the Kalorama Skating Rink to use for mass arrests. Demonstration leaders also participated in a phone call with NLF representatives in Paris. It was hoped that the demonstration would kick off a year of anti-Nixon activism that would lead to his ouster from the White House in 1972. In reality, Nixon won re-election in a landslide.
People's Coalition for Peace & Justice, Washington, D.C.
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1971
poster
"War Is Peace," by Fred Branfman
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
On May 8, 1972, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation on the situation in Southeast Asia. Here, Fred Branfman, journalist, author, anti-war activist and Director of Project Air War, offers a detailed rebuttal of President Nixon's speech. Working initially as an educational advisor for the U.S. government in Laos, Branfman became concerned about what was happening there as he spoke with refugees and heard their stories. Branfman is often credited with exposing the covert operations of the U.S. military in Laos, including the bombing of civilians.
reprinted by Indochina Information Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1972
pamphlet
LBJ Yelling in 1960
1960 Election
This poster features a 1960 photo by Richard Pipes, a photographer for the Amarillo Globe-News, of then Vice-Presidential candidate, Lyndon B. Johnson, yelling at the pilots of a nearby airplane to shut off their engines so that Democratic Presidential candidate, John F. Kennedy, could speak. According to the U.S. Senate website, “In the fall, Johnson campaigned intensely, conducting a memorable train ride through the South. He also pressed for a joint appearance of the Democratic candidates somewhere in Texas. They arranged the meeting at the airport in Amarillo, where campaign advance men stopped all air traffic during the brief ceremonies so that the candidates could address the crowd. But they had not counted on the Republican-leaning airline pilots, who deliberately ran the engines of their planes in order to drown out the speakers. At the close of the ruined appearance, a photographer snapped a concerned Kennedy placing his hand on Johnson's shoulder, trying to calm his angry, gesticulating running mate.” Kennedy poked fun at the noise during his speech, quipping, "That is Dick coming in." (Richard Nixon was also campaigning in Texas that day) and "They can’t stop the truth anyway. I don’t care how much that engine warms up."
Richard Pipes, photographer
unknown
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
unknown
poster
Rising Up Angry, vol. 2, no. 10
New Left
Rising Up Angry was a radical organization compromised of working class youth from communities in Chicago, Illinois. The group published a monthly newspaper that ran from 1969 to 1975. This issue features articles about revolutionary organizing in Asian American communities in San Francisco and New York; a critique of President Richard Nixon's welfare program; and, a statement that explains the repression against the radical press. Also highlighted in this issue is an article about self defense, including information about possession and proper use of guns. Towards the back of the publication, there is an entire page dedicated to local community programs, most of which are medical or legal in nature.
Rising Up Angry
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1970
underground press
1968 New York Student Strike (51 images)
Black Power
Student activism hit a new high point in 1968, when dozens of campus protests broke out at colleges and universities across the country and internationally. Events evolved at a quick pace that year. In the wake of the Tet Offensive in January, an estimated 500 students at New York University demonstrated against Dow Chemical recruiters on campus. Dow was the manufacturer of napalm, a chemical agent used by U.S. military in Vietnam to burn plant life and human beings during the war. Students at NYU and elsewhere opposed the links between the university and what came to be known as the “military-industrial complex.” That same month, Minnesota senator, Eugene McCarthy, entered the Democratic presidential nomination process as an anti-war candidate, shocking Lyndon B. Johnson’s re-election campaign by earning 40% of the vote in the New Hampshire primary.
Shortly thereafter, Robert Kennedy entered the race and Johnson shocked the nation by announcing he was dropping out of the race. In Early-April, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, spurring dozens of urban rebellions in cities nationwide, including Harlem. At NYU, administrators suspended class for two days to hold a series of student-faculty seminars on race relations and formed a new committee to create a policy focused on African American students and other students of color.
From April 22-27, student activists in SDS and the NYU Committee to End the War in Vietnam (CEWV) organize and lead a week-long “International Student-Faculty Strike to Bring Our Troops Home, End the Draft and Racial Oppression,” consisting of a series of campus anti-war protests and discussions, a class boycott on Friday, April 26, and then a march down 5th Avenue the following day. That same day, members of SDS and the Student Afro Society at Columbia University seize several campus buildings in what will ultimately become a significant international incident.
In May, student activists in Paris trigger a nationwide strike there. In June, Robert Kennedy is gunned down in Los Angeles after winning the Democratic primary in California. In August, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, crushing the “Prague Spring” protest movement. A few days later, Chicago police attacked New Left protesters outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
In mid-September, a new controversy erupted at NYU surrounding the appointment of John Hatchett to head up the Martin Luther King Afro-American Student Center on campus. Hatchett had been a civil rights activist during the early-1960s, most significantly participating in sit-ins, marches and other demonstrations in Greensboro, North Carolina. In 1963, he moved to New York City to attend graduate school at NYU and Columbia University. He also taught in the New York public school system, where he continued to advocate for the interests of local black communities. On October 11, three months after Hatchett assumed his position as head of the AASC, administrators fired him amid claims that an article he wrote, “The Phenomenon of the Anti-Black Jews and the Black Anglo-Saxon: A Study in Educational Perfidy,” was anti-semitic and anti-white. In a speech, he had also referred to Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, Richard M. Nixon and the president of the United Teachers Federation, Albert Shanker, as “racist bastards.” NYU President, James Hester, told reporters that the primary cause of Hatchett’s firing was that he had “proved to be increasingly ineffective in performing his duties because of the incompatibility of many of his actions and public statements with the requirements of his position in the university.” The firing was applauded by many local Jewish, Catholic and Protestant religious leaders, but sharply criticized by campus militants. The American Jewish Congress stated at the time that they hoped the university would replace Hatchett with “someone who is more likely to guide black students into harmonious relationships with their fellow students and the communities in which they will live.”
In response to the firing, NYU student activists mounted a series of demonstrations, including a general strike that lasted for about ten days before fizzling. Student radicals also occupied two buildings on the NYU Bronx campus. The university ultimately offered a compromise, allowing Hatchett to remain an adviser to African American student groups on campus. In November, the AASC became independent of the university, run by a board made up of African American students and faculty.
The images in this set were taken by Roz Payne during the NYU protests of
Hatchett’s firing. Interestingly, a number of the signs also reference the local Ocean Hill-Brownsville “community control” movement that was powerful at the time in New York public schools. Activists saw both as examples of the need for greater autonomy for black and brown people within local educational institutions.
The Ocean Hill-Brownsville district had been reorganized as an experiment in local control of public schools, with a community-controlled school board instituted in the primarily African American neighborhoods. Rhody McCoy was appointed superintendent of the new board. McCoy, who was popular in the black community, was a controversial figure because he was a follower and friend of Malcom X. Some claimed he was heavily influenced by Harold Cruse’s seminal book, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, and believed Jews were too involved and powerful within the black freedom movement. McCoy also appointed Herman Ferguson as the principle of one of the schools in the district. According to an article he wrote in The Guardian, Ferguson advocated that schools offer "instructions in gun weaponry, gun handling, and gun safety" as important survival skills for children of color in a racist society. Ultimately, the appointment was withdrawn.
Over several months, tensions simmered between the new Ocean Hill-Brownsville board and a number of white teachers and staff who the board claimed were trying to sabotage the experiment in local control. In response the school board attempted to fire 83 teachers and staff, almost all of whom were Jewish. The teacher’s union balked at the move, which violated terms of their labor agreement with the district. Albert Shanker, the head of the teacher’s union called the board action, "a kind of vigilante activity." In response, teachers went out on strike. When they attempted to return to the school on May 15, a group of parents and community members who supported the board attempted to block them. Local police broke the blockade, allowing the teachers to return, though the board closed the schools. On May 22-23, teachers again protested by staying home, promoting the board to fire 350 more teachers.
At the start of the new school year in August and September, a city-wide teachers' strikes shut down the New York City public schools for 36 days. The strike caused divisions among civil rights leaders and union members. Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph supported the striking teachers, causing sharp criticism from many black parents, teachers and a new generation of racial justice activists. While large percentages of teachers participated in the strike, black and brown teachers, as well as white teachers who taught primarily black and brown students, tended to support the strike in much lower numbers.
The strike ended in mid-November with the state seizing control of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville district and reinstating the fired teachers. Some argued that militant black teachers were “purged.” Undoubtedly, the conflict heightened tensions between the African American and Jewish communities.
Roz Payne
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1968
Washington, D.C., Protest 1968
(52 images)
Electoral Politics
These images, taken by Roz Payne in 1968, may have been from protests that surrounded the inauguration of Richard Nixon, though it is unclear.
Roz Payne
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1968
New York City Anti-War Demonstration, 1968
(8 images)
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
Roz Payne took these photos at an undated 1968 nighttime anti-war demonstration in New York City.
Roz Payne
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1968
Nixon Inaugural Action
(1 image)
1968 Election
Roz Payne took this photo while in Washington, D.C., for a protest of Richard Nixon's inauguration in 1968.
Roz Payne
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1968
Stevenson for President
Electoral Politics
Adlai Stevenson was a lawyer, politician and diplomat known for his intellectualism, eloquent speaking and advocacy of progressive causes within the Democratic Party. Stevenson was the Democratic nominee for President against Republican Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956, losing both times. In 1960, he entered the Democratic primary for President again, but lost to John F. Kennedy, who ultimately defeated Richard Nixon in the general election. Kennedy appointed Stevenson to the position of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, where he served until his death in 1965.
Stevenson 1960
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1960
Button
Physical Object
GI Press Service, October 1971, vol. III, no. 7
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
The GI Press Service was established in 1969 by the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam and headquartered in New York. Published in October of 1971, this issue includes a call to participate in a mass protest of the Vietnam War on November 6th. Also in this issue is a statement from the National Peace Action Coalition about the need for an end to U.S. intervention in Southeast Asia, a petition to engage in peaceful protests against the Vietnam war, a comic strip mocking President Richard Nixon and "Vietnamization", as well as an article about the first International Military Rights and Antiwar Convention in San Francisco, California, hosted by Bay Area Concerned Military organization.
Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
1971
underground press
The Black Panther, October 16, 1971
Black Power
Articles in this issue of The Black Panther, include: prison riots in Joliet, Illinois, Baltimore, Maryland, Alderson, West Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Dallas, Texas, San Quentin, California and Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Attica, New York; the murder of Clarence Johnson; a boycott of Bill Boyette’s Liquor Store; extensive coverage of Huey Newton’s trip to China; an advertisement for a peoples tribunal aimed to indict New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and President Richard Nixon; criminal justice in Winston-Salem; a memorial poem devoted to fallen Panther George Jackson, who was shot during a prison escape attempt in San Quentin, California; and, artwork by Emory Douglas.
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
October 16, 1971
underground press
The Black Panther, October 9, 1970
Black Power
In this issue of The Black Panther, published on October of 1970, articles focus on the death of Joyce Annette Henderson; a tribute article and poem to Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter; diphtheria epidemic; the People’s Free Busing to Prison Program; police repression in Detroit; the aftermath and continued oppressive conditions inside of Attica Prison; the Angela Davis People's Free Food Program and the David Hilliard Free Shoe Program; a special tribute to "Heroic Guerilla’s”; a petition to indict Richard Nixon and Nelson Rockefeller; a notice of Huey Newton's trial at the Alameda Courthouse in California and artwork by Emory Douglas
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
October 9, 1970
underground press
Nixon's War Means Higher Food Prices
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
This leaflet provides information about the link between the war in Vietnam and inflation at home, particularly food prices.
The People's Assembly of Vermont
Roz Payne
ca. early-1970s
mimeograph
leaflet
Ten Days to Change the World
Yippies/Counterculture
This poster promoted Yippie protests at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Miami Beach, Florida, in 1972, the last time both major parties held their presidential conventions in the same city. Notably, these protests also included a break-away group from the original Yippies, led by Tom Forcade and called the "Zippies," for "Zeitgeist International Party." Contingents at the demonstrations also included the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and a large group of women’s liberation activists.
At the Republican Convention, about 3,000 anti-war activists, many wearing painted death masks and some splattered with red paint, confronted delegates, chanting, cursing, jostling and pounding on cars. Protesters aimed to force well-dressed delegates to walk through a "gauntlet of shame" as they approached the guarded gates of the convention. Protesters yelled, “Murderers, murderers” and "delegates kill!" Some protesters also broke windows along the main thoroughfare in Miami Beach during the protests, resulting in 212 arrests. Black Panther Party leader, Bobby Seale, who had recently been released from four years in jail as a result of his participation in the 1968 demonstrations outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago, participated in the protests and at one point led demonstrators in chanting, “One, two, three, four. We don't want your f---ing war.” Daniel Ellsberg, who was facing criminal prosecution for releasing the Pentagon Papers, spoke to a more subdued crowd of anti-war demonstrators outside the convention center as Nixon was being nominated inside. Vietnam war veteran turned anti-war activist, Ron Kovic, also participated in the protests at the Republican National Convention.
The Democratic Convention also saw a variety of protests, inside the conventional hall and outside of it. Inside, previously excluded political activists clashed with traditional party leaders and activists in sessions that often extended late into the night. Outside, anti-war, black freedom, feminist, gay rights and other activists rallied and demonstrated. Anti-poverty advocates constructed "Resurrection City II," named after "Resurrection City," which had been constructed in Washington, D.C. in 1968 as a part of the Poor People's Campaign. "Gonzo" journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, chronicled the 1972 Democratic Convention in his book, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1972
poster
Free Vermont
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
A New Left poster from Burlington, Vermont, that offers a variation on German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller's poem, "First they came ..." The poem offers a critique of the cowardice of German intellectuals who failed to act as the Nazis rose to power, targeting group after group, until the tragedy of fascism and holocaust was upon them. In this case, activists were protesting a visit by President Richard Nixon to Burlington in 1970. In Nixon's arrival speech, he said:
October 17, 1970
Governor Davis, Senator Prouty, Congressman Stafford, all of the distinguished guests on the platform, and all of the distinguished members of this audience:
As you probably are aware, this is the first campaign stop that I have had the opportunity to make in 1970, and I am proud that it is in the State of Vermont. There are personal reasons for that statement that would be of interest, I am sure, to the young people here. My two daughters have very fond memories of their visit to this State to Camp Teela Wooket. I am glad to be back because of that.
The other reason is that as I look back on the record of the State of Vermont, in a personal sense, again, on all the occasions that I have been on the national ticket, I have lost some States but I have always carried Vermont. Thank you very much.
A third reason is that I am very proud to be here on a special day which is nonpolitical in one respect, certainly, the homecoming day of the University of Vermont. I also want to say that, speaking of the university, lets pay our respects to the Rice Memorial [High School] Band over here. How about that? And to the Canadian Geese 1 in the back. The Vermont Turkeys are going to go up to Canada on an exchange visit for the Canadian Geese next week.
1 The Canadian Geese Rock Band of Saint Michael's College, Winooski, Vt.
But there is a more fundamental reason in this year 1970 that I am very happy to be here to open this campaign in Vermont. It has to do with the fact that I have enormous respect for the men who are candidates on your ticket here this year. Let me mention them each briefly. Bob Stafford, who has been formerly your Governor, then a Congressman.
One thing that you know about the people from Vermont is this--and it is true of all of those representing Vermont in Washington and in the statehouse-whether it is George Aiken, who is a man whose wise counsel I have benefited from as President of the United States and prior to that time, or whether it is a case of Bob Stafford, a man who came to the Congress in the 87th Congress, and all of the Congressmen in the country who were elected that year elected him as their leader.2
2Representative Robert T. Stafford was president of the 87th Club which was made up of freshmen Republican Members of the 87th Congress.
That is an indication of what they think of Vermont and Bob Stafford in Washington, D.C.
I have had the opportunity to meet all the Governors of the 50 States at various Governors' Conferences, and I respect them all. But there are some who stand out and one who stands out is your Governor because he has courage, the courage to do what is right for his State, to take a mess fiscally and clean it up in the State of Vermont.
There is another reason that I admire your Governor and also your Congressman and your Senator, and that is their tenacity. When anything involves the State of Vermont, they are down there in my office pounding on that door until we do something about it.
For example, over these past 2 weeks they have expressed concern about a possible fuel oil shortage in the State of Vermont. Let me tell you I talked to General Lincoln, the head of the Office of Emergency preparedness before I left Washington.
There will be no fuel oil shortage--we will see to that, thanks to what your Governor has told us and your Senator and your Congressman--in the State of Vermont.
Now I come to your Senator, Win Prouty, the man who is running in this State for reelection. Can I speak to all of you now about the importance of this one man, this one vote, and your one vote in this State of Vermont?
Let us understand that in 1968 the country elected a new President, called for new leadership. We also recognized that at that time we had the Congress, both the House and the Senate, under the control of Members of the other party. Nevertheless, we worked with that Congress. Sometimes they voted against, sometimes for.
But in the United States Senate particularly-and all of you, particularly you who studied political science at the university and those who studied it also in high school will know, and all of you who read your papers and listen to television-the United States Senate on the great issues, the issues that involve whether we are going to have a program to bring lasting peace in the world, the issues that involve whether or not we are going to have a program that will stop the ruinous inflation that is robbing your pocketbooks and making it impossible to balance your family budget--when we look at all of these problems we find that in the United States Senate on vote after vote a majority of one determines the outcome.
A shift of one Senator, sometimes two, will determine whether the President's program goes through or whether it doesn't go through. I want to say to you, without Win Prouty's vote I couldn't stand here today and speak with pride of a record of accomplishment in this great field. He is providing that majority of one.
I would like to take the three issues, and I think I am going to take the hardest one first. I hear some of the young people here say stop the war, and I heard it said outside. I understand that.
Let me tell you what we found and then you judge the record and you judge Win Prouty on the basis of that record. When we came into office, we found 550,000 Americans in Vietnam. There was no plan to bring them home. There was no plan to end the war. There was no peace plan that had been submitted.
And what have we done? Let me tell you. We have implemented a plan to bring Americans home, and during the spring of next year half of the men that were in Vietnam when we got there will be coming home. That is what we are going to do.
Second, we wound down the fighting by the strong stand that we took to clean up the sanctuaries in Cambodia. We have cut American casualties to the lowest level in 4 ½ years.
I am not going to be satisfied until not one American is killed in Vietnam, but we are cutting them down and we are going to continue on that course.
And third, my friends, we have presented to the North Vietnamese, over national television--and I am sure many of you heard it--a far-reaching peace plan. We have offered a cease-fire without conditions. We have offered to negotiate all the political settlements with regard to South Vietnam, one that would allow all those in that country to participate in the making of that settlement. We have offered also a plan that would provide for the release of war prisoners on both sides. We have offered a conference on all of Indochina.
Now let me tell you exactly where it stands today. As I stand before you today, I can say confidently the war in Vietnam is coming to an end, and we are going to win a just peace in Vietnam. It will come to an end either--if the enemy accepts our proposal for a cease-fire, it can come to an end more quickly.
If it does not accept that proposal, then we will bring it to an end by continuing to withdraw Americans and replacing them with Vietnamese and allowing the Vietnamese to have the right to choose their own government without having it imposed by North Vietnam or by the United States. Now, isn't that the fair thing to do?
Now let us see what the other side of the argument is. I know the people in this State. My good friend Consuelo Bailey, 3 who has always advised me about Vermont, she has said to me from time to time, "The people up in this State, they want to hear both sides of the argument and want to make up their minds."
3 Consuelo Northrop Bailey, National Republican Committeewoman for Vermont and Secretary of the Republican National Committee.
Let me tell you the other side. I know there are people who say: Why this long road? Why don't we just end the war? I could have done it the day I came into office.
I could have brought all the Americans home. Let me tell you ending a war isn't very difficult. We ended World War I. We ended World War II. We ended Korea. And yet, in this century we have not had a generation of peace.
My friends, what we want to do is to end the war so that the young people that are shouting "Stop the War" will have a generation of peace, and that is the kind of plan that we are trying to implement. So that is what we are doing.
We are ending the war in a way that will discourage those who might start a war.
We are ending the war in a way that will bring permanent peace in the Pacific. It is that kind of program that Win Prouty has stood firmly by.
So I say let us work for what all of us want, not just peace for the next election but peace for the next generation so that the younger brothers and the sons of those who have fought in Vietnam won't have to be fighting in some other Vietnam sometime in the future.
So there is the choice. It is a clear one. Win Prouty, who stands for a just peace and a generation of peace, and those on the other side who say without regard to the future, let's simply end the problems that we are in today.
This is real statesmanship. That is one of the reasons I am here for him.
Let me turn to another subject of equal interest, equal interest in the sense that it affects the pocketbooks of everybody and every family budget. You all know what has happened to prices. You know that when we came into office we found prices going up and up.
You will find also that the reason they were going up and up was that in the years previous to our coming into office that the previous administrations had spent $50 billion more than the economy would have produced in terms of taxes at full employment.
And what did that do? Because Washington spent more than it was taking in or that it could have taken in in full employment, it raised the prices for everybody.
I said when we came into office we were going to stop that. That is why I had to veto some measures--that I felt people were poor in many instances.
Let me just say this: What we have to realize is that we need Senators and Congressmen who have the courage to vote against spending programs that may benefit some of the people but that raise prices and taxes for all people. That is the kind of a program that we stand for. That is the kind of fiscal responsibility that your Governor stands for. It is the kind of fiscal responsibility that Win Prouty stands for.
And we come to a third area, the area of progress. The great choice that the American people had in 1968 and that we now have a chance to reaffirm in 1970 is this: Do we continue to pour good money into bad programs so that eventually we end up with both bad money and bad programs or do we reform the programs of America? That is why this administration says let's reform the welfare system, let's reform our educational system, let's reform our health system, so that America can move forward on a new road. That is the kind of proposal that we offer.
And here the issue is clear. On the one side there are those who say keep pouring the same amount of money, billions, into the welfare program. Let me tell you what I think. I say that when a program makes it more profitable for a man not to work than to work, it is time to get rid of it and get another program. And that is why Win Prouty's strong support of the Family Assistance Program in which we provide help for all of those who need it, but in which we provide that those who are able to work will not only have an incentive to work but a requirement to work--let them work, I say, and if they cannot work then, of course, the welfare will be provided. It is that kind of reform that we stand for.
I could go on in other fields. Take the environment. I noticed that as the plane came down and I looked down on this magnificent countryside, and I know that pretty soon the tourists, the winter tourists, will be coming in, the summer influx having gone home. I can only say to you this, that as I look over America, and I fly over it many, many times, of course, on the way to California, to Florida, and to other States, this is a beautiful country. But, my friends, what we have to realize is that because of our wealth, what we are doing is that we are poisoning our water. We are also poisoning our air. We are having our cities choked with traffic and terrorized by crime. So what we have to do now is to clean up the environment of America.
That is why we have presented to the Congress an historic new program to clean up the air, to clean up the water, to provide open spaces for these young people to go to in the years ahead.
And, my friends, that is the kind of progressive legislation that Win Prouty supports, and that is another reason we need him in the United States Senate.
Then one other program I should mention-and Governor Davis, you will be interested in this and all of your fellow Governors--I think back to the history of this country, to the fact that Vermont has played a proud role from the time of the beginning of America. I think back to the fact, too, that when America was young the States felt that they had responsibilities and then power began to flow, particularly in this century, from the people and the counties and the cities and the States up to Washington, D.C. And Government in Washington got bigger and bigger and bigger, and government in the States found that they didn't have the funds to handle their problems, and taxes, particularly on your property, went up and up and up. So I said this has got to change.
That is why we have authorized and asked the Congress to approve, and they will not yet act on it, a program of revenue sharing, where the Federal Government will turn over to the States funds that the States can use to handle their own problems.
Let me tell you why this is important. For 190 years, my friends, power has been flowing from the people, from you, and from the States, to Washington. I say that it is time now for power to flow back from Washington to the States and to the people of America. That is the kind of a program, again, that Win Prouty supports.
Now one final point. I realize that in this year 1970 there are those who have very deep disagreements with our country's policy, whether it is abroad or at home. I know there are those who demonstrate and say that America is a sick society, that everything is wrong.
Just let me say this: I can tell you, my friends, I have seen this country, and I have also been abroad. I have just finished a trip to Europe. I was in a Communist country, Yugoslavia, and 350,000 people stood out in the rain cheering, not for me but for the United States of America. I was in Spain, in Italy, in Ireland, in England, and the same thing happened. The same thing happened in Asia last year, in India, and other countries.
Let me tell you something: Yes, there are those that criticize America, many abroad among leaden criticize our policies. But to millions of people ca this earth we can be proud of the fact that the United States of America--not because simply we are the strongest country and the richest country but because we are a country that provides the greatest freedom and the greatest opportunity for people in the history of the world--the United States is respected, and let's be worthy of that respect.
Now the question is: The voices are being heard in the year 1970. You hear them. You hear them night after night on your television, people shouting their obscenities about America and what we stand for. You hear those who shout against speakers and shout them down, who will not listen. And then you hear those who engage in violence. You hear those, and see them, who, without reason, kill policemen and injure them, and the rest. And you wonder: Is that the voice of America?
I say to you it is not. It is a loud voice, but, my friends, there is a way to answer: Don't answer with violence. Don't answer by shouting the same senseless words that they use. But answer in the powerful way that Americans have always answered. Let the majority of Americans speak up, speak up on November 3d, speak up with your votes. That is the way to answer.
My friends, the people in this great State may well determine whether or not on the great issues which will determine whether we can have a program that will bring lasting peace for a generation, progress in the field of the environment and welfare, and all these other areas that I have described, a program of strong and fair law enforcement whether or not we have that majority of one in the United States Senate, a majority that crosses party lines, may well determine on what you do in the State of Vermont. I say this to you because Win Prouty not only provides that vote but because this quiet, confident man has such enormous respect among his colleagues.
Let me tell you something. I have known the Senate and the House, served in both, and anybody who has known those bodies will agree with me that there are the doers and the talkers. Win Prouty isn't a talker; he is a doer. He gets things done. He works for the elderly. He works for progress. He works for education. He is a man who for 20 years has given his life. There isn't a man in that Senate that works harder than he does for Vermont and America.
And because he is a doer and not a talker, send him back and give us that majority of one.
Thank you.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1970
poster
Oppose This Pro-War Ticket November Fifth 1968
Electoral Politics
This button features the caricatures of George C. Wallace, Hubert Humphrey, and Richard Nixon, the major presidential candidates in the 1968 election. It signifies the growing disillusionment among many New Left activists regarding traditional electoral politics and the major political parties. In 1968, many New Left and anti-war voters sat out the election, causing some to charge that they delivered the election to Nixon over Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey.
For more context on this election, see:
https://library.duke.edu/exhibits/sevenelections/elections/1968/issues.html
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Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1968
Button
Physical Object
Impeach Lindsay
Electoral Politics
John Lindsay was the liberal Republican mayor of New York City from 1966-1973. During the late-1960s, following labor and racial unrest, as well as his mishandling of a winter blizzard, Lindsay received a backlash from white conservatives who opposed his civil rights advocacy and campaign for increased low-income housing. Lindsay’s socially liberal platform challenged the growing conservativism of Nixonian Republicanism.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. late-1960s
Button
Physical Object
Strike 3
Electoral Politics
This button addresses New Left dissatisfaction with all three of the major presidential candidates in the 1968 election, Richard Nixon (Republican), Huber Humphrey (Democrat), and George C. Wallace (American Independent). Public disillusionment with the political process, the Vietnam War, and domestic social policies reigned throughout the late-1960s. In the end, Nixon and the GOP won the election, ushering in a new era of conservative politics, leaving many on the American political Left to continue to debate the best path for change, inside or outside "the system."
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1968
Button
Physical Object
Re-Elect the Dike Bomber???
Anti-Vietnam War Movement and Electoral Politics
Throughout the U.S. war in Vietnam, policy-makers debated whether to bomb the system of dikes in North Vietnam as a way to drive the Hanoi government to the peace table. In 1965 and 1966, American military and political leaders rejected the idea, but it was revived again during the early 1970s by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and the Nixon Administration. The bombing of North Vietnamese dikes became a powerful propaganda tool for the North Vietnamese government seeking global sympathy in its war with the U.S., as well as among anti-war activists in America. This button, created during the 1972 election season, plays on this controversy.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1972
Button
Physical Object
Inaugural Anti-War Mobilization
Anti-Vietnam War Movement
Following the 1972 presidential election, anti-war activists organized a protest in Washington, D.C. on January 19, 1973, during Richard M. Nixon's second inauguration ceremony. This button promoted that protest, which voiced opposition to President Nixon's expansion of the War in Vietnam despite his promises in 1968 to bring the war to an end.
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Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. late-1972 or early-1973
Button
Physical Object
No More Bullshit
Electoral Politics
In 1969, at the prompting of feminist leader, Gloria Steinam, author, cultural critic and activist, Norman Mailer, made an outsider bid for mayor of New York City. His campaign ran as a ticket with Jimmy Breslin, the raucous New York Daily News journalist who was seeking to become the President of the New York City Council. At the time, New York was facing a growing list of problems, including rising crime rates, increasing poverty and deindustrialization, middle-class suburban flight, congestion, pollution and political stagnation. In response, Mailer, whose campaign slogans were “No More Bullshit” and “Throw the Rascals In,” set out an outlandishly bold set of initiatives. His primary proposal was the “51st State” plan, a scheme whereby the five boroughs of New York would secede from the rest of the state in a bid to secure more independence, greater political representation, resources and power. Once independent, Mailer envisioned a radically decentralized political order with the city “splintering into townships and neighborhoods, with their own school systems, police departments, housing programs, and governing philosophies." In addition, he advocated a ban on private cars in Manhattan, replacing them with cabs and a monorail system that would circle the island; a citywide free bicycle rental program; and policies that would eliminate pollution, reduce taxes, and establish full autonomy for public schools. According to campaign literature, at the collegiate level, the campaign promoted “vest-pocket campuses built by students in abandoned buildings” that would restore “a sense of personal involvement that is lost in the large university campuses.” In perhaps his most utopian proposal, Mailer urged the creation of “Sweet Sundays,” which would mandate, once a month, that all mechanical transportation stop and elevators close down so that New Yorkers could decompress from their hectic urban lives and avoid breathing exhaust fumes.
Campaign events were often chaotic. At one, Mailer quipped, "The difference between me and the other candidates is that I'm no good and I can prove it." At another, he called his own supporters “spoiled pigs.” After learning that bars would be closed on election day, Jimmy Breslin complained, “I am mortified to have taken part in a process that required bars to be closed.”
Many New Left activists and libertarians supported the Mailer-Breslin ticket. The Black Panther Party also endorsed the duo after they backed the release of Panther leader, Huey Newton. To some, the campaign was a lark, to other a serious challenge to the established order, and to others an outright offense.
In the end, Mailer finished in fourth place during the Democratic mayoral primary, edging out state Assemblyman, Charles B. Rangel, who would go on to be elected to Congress in 1970 and remain in office until 2017. Even in defeat, though, Mailer’s campaign was seen by many leftists and libertarians as an important attempt to move from the realm of ideas into programmatic politics.
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Norman Mailer first gained fame in 1948 with the publication of his now-classic war novel, The Naked and the Dead, which was based in part on his own WWII experiences. In 1955, he was a part of a small group that established The Village Voice, an influential alternative newspaper located in Greenwich Village, which continued publication until 2018. Also an influential essayist, Mailer published “The White Negro” in Dissent in 1957, a controversial analysis of the “hipster” in post-war American culture.
Mailer became a ubiquitous cultural figure in the 1960s. In 1960, he published "Superman Comes to the Supermarket," an essay in Esquire on the rise of John F. Kennedy at the Democratic National Convention. He continued to see JFK as an “existential hero” for a new era. That same year, Mailer was convicted of assault for the stabbing of his wife, Adele, and served three years of probation. Mailer was also one of 29 prominent Americans who co-founded the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, which opposed the hardline anti-Castro stance of U.S. politicians and military leaders during the early-1960s. The group achieved widespread infamy in 1963, when it became public news that Kennedy assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a member. In 1967, Mailer made a mark with the best-selling political book, Why Are We in Vietnam? and played an ongoing role in the anti-war movement, including signing the 1968 “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest,” a pledge to withhold tax payments to the U.S. government as opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam. Again that year, Mailer covered the turbulent Democratic and Republican National Conventions, work that he later published as, Miami and the Siege of Chicago (1968). In that book, Mailer portrays American politics cynically as a crass and self-interested exchange of political power. Reflecting back later on the party politics of the 1960s-era, Mailer wrote, "If you played for a team, you did your best to play very well, but there was something obscene… with starting to think there was more moral worth to Michigan than Ohio State." To Mailer, there was little difference between the disgraced Richard Nixon who left the White House after the Watergate scandal and Lyndon Johnson, whose liberal Great Society was derailed by the failed Vietnam war. Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, Mailer is also seen as a pioneer in what came to be known as the “New Journalism,” a form of creative nonfiction that used some of the style and devices of literary fiction to write fact-based journalism. His most significant work in this vein was Armies of the Night (1968), a nonfiction novel about the October 1967 March on the Pentagon. The book won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. Mailer also wrote books about the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, a response to criticisms of him and other male authors by feminist author, Kate Millett, and an account of the 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle,” the heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Forman in Zaire.
In 1979, Mailer published The Executioner’s Song, for which he won his second Pulitzer Prize. The “true crime” novel focuses on the execution of Utah murderer, Gary Gilmore. His final novel, Harlot’s Ghost, published in 1991, explored the hidden history of the CIA from the end of WWII through the mid-1960s. Mailer, who also wrote drama and screenplays for films, died in 2007.
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Jimmy Breslin was an outspoken journalist and novelist who was known as a tough-talking representative of working-class residents in his hometown, Queens, New York. In 1962, Breslin wrote a best-selling book on the New York Mets baseball team, Can’t Anybody Here Play This Game? In 1963, he was covering southern civil rights activism in Selma, Alabama, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. While other journalists wrote stories about the fallen president, Breslin secured an interview with Malcolm Perry, the Parkland Hospital doctor who had tried to save him. He followed that up with a powerful column about Clifton Pollard, the man who dug Kennedy’s grave. As journalist David Shedden later wrote, “It’s a plainly told story -- no breathtaking sentences here -- but the style is effective in its Hemingway-esque directness. Breslin moves from the gravedigger’s perspective, to a more omniscient view of the funeral, back to the worker. We like the passage about Jackie Kennedy, its moving description of her particular, telling gestures. But the piece’s central power lies in Breslin’s juxtaposition of the cemetery workers, the small details of the scene’s sounds and sights, with the enormity of the event." From there, Breslin secured positions as a columnist for a succession of New York newspapers, gaining a reputation as a staunch opponent of corruption and injustice. Like Mailer, Breslin was seen as a pioneer of the New Journalism movement and often mixed his own experience with his journalistic reportage of political events. In 1969, he published the true-crime book, The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, about mobster “Crazy Joe” Gallo and his band of bungling baddies. The book was made into a film in 1971.
Breslin continued to be an influential writer until his death in 2017. In 1973, he wrote another novel, World Without End, Amen. In 1977, Breslin again gained notoriety for a series of compelling articles on the infamous “Son of Sam” serial killer, David Berkowitz. In response to those essays and in the midst of his killing spree, Berkowitz wrote to Breslin: “Hello from the cracks in the sidewalks of N.Y.C. and from the ants that dwell in these cracks and feed on the dried blood of the dead that has settled into the cracks.” The murderer continued, “J.B., I’m just dropping you a line to let you know that I appreciate your interest in those recent and horrendous .44 killings. I also want to tell you that I read your column daily and find it quite informative.” In 1978, Breslin received a sizable advance to co-write a book about the Son of Sam murders with Dick Schaap, titled, .44. Many viewed the book as exploitative and in poor taste so soon after the traumatic events. In 1986, Breslin won a Pulitzer Prize, in part for his writing about the AIDS epidemic in New York City, as well his broader work championing the causes of ordinary people. In later decades, he published a memoir, I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me (1996), as well as a non-fiction account of a Mexican construction worker in New York who was killed on site when a building collapsed, The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutiérrez (2002), and a final book about the mafia, titled, The Good Rat (2008). Los Angeles Times columnist Jack Smith described Breslin, "like an Irish wind that has blown through Queens and Harlem and Mutchie's bar. It is a pound of Hemingway and a pound of Joyce and 240 pounds of Breslin." Following his death in 2017, Tom Wolfe called him, “incredible, the greatest newspaper columnist of my era.”
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1969
button
Up From the Bottom, Vol. 1, No. 1
Anti-War Movement
First issue of Up From the Bottom. a G.I. Anti-War newspaper published in San Diego by active duty service members, veterans and their dependents. This issue includes content about a boycott of Tyrrell's Jeweler; the Farm Workers' Strike in San Diego; Nixon's military pay freeze; the case of a female service member held on the Constellation; comics; a reflection by a service member on a nuclear submarine; civil disturbance training in San Mateo; Article 138; George Jackson; counseling services; CIA counter-insurgency; drug abuse; the case of Marvin Jones; the case of Raymond "Charlie" Brown; astride at the Rohr plant in Chula Vista; racism in the labor movement; boycott of Mr. Dependable's; alliance with Vietcong.
Up From the Bottom
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
September 1971
newspaper
Wounded Knee Information & Defense Leaflet No. 4
American Indian Movement
This leaflet details the on-going struggle by the Oglala Sioux
People against the U.S. government and its representatives on the tribal council in the wake of the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation.
Wounded Knee Information & Defense Center
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. 1973
leaflet
Yippie, Miami 1972
Counterculture and Anti-Vietnam War Movement
This poster promoted Yippie protests at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Miami Beach, Florida, in 1972, the last time both major parties held their presidential conventions in the same city. Notably, these protests also included a break-away group from the original Yippies, led by Tom Forcade and called the "Zippies," for "Zeitgeist International Party." Contingents at the demonstrations also included the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and a large group of women’s liberation activists.
At the Republican Convention, about 3,000 anti-war activists, many wearing painted death masks and some splattered with red paint, confronted delegates, chanting, cursing, jostling and pounding on cars. Protesters aimed to force well-dressed delegates to walk through a "gauntlet of shame" as they approached the guarded gates of the convention. Protesters yelled, “Murderers, murderers” and "delegates kill!" Some protesters also broke windows along the main thoroughfare in Miami Beach during the protests, resulting in 212 arrests. Black Panther Party leader, Bobby Seale, who had recently been released from four years in jail as a result of his participation in the 1968 demonstrations outside the Democratic Convention in Chicago, participated in the protests and at one point led demonstrators in chanting, “One, two, three, four. We don't want your f---ing war.” Daniel Ellsberg, who was facing criminal prosecution for releasing the Pentagon Papers, spoke to a more subdued crowd of anti-war demonstrators outside the convention center as Nixon was being nominated inside. Vietnam war veteran turned anti-war activist, Ron Kovic, also participated in the protests at the Republican National Convention.
The Democratic Convention also saw a variety of protests, inside the conventional hall and outside of it. Inside, previously excluded political activists clashed with traditional party leaders and activists in sessions that often extended late into the night. Outside, anti-war, black freedom, feminist, gay rights and other activists rallied and demonstrated. Anti-poverty advocates constructed "Resurrection City II," named after "Resurrection City," which had been constructed in Washington, D.C. in 1968 as a part of the Poor People's Campaign. "Gonzo" journalist, Hunter S. Thompson, chronicled the 1972 Democratic Convention in his book, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72.
Youth International Party
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1972
poster