DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM.
Agency: CIA
Originator: FBI
Document date: 8/8/66
Document type: PAPER - TEXTUAL DOCUMENT

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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

In Reply, Please Refer so

File No.

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535

August 8, 1966

DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

The Communist Party and other organizations are

continuing their efforts to force the United States to

change its present policy toward Vietnam.

There is set

forth below a summary of current activity through which

they hope to accomplish this end.

International Days of Protest

It was previously reported that the Fifth Avenue

Peace Parade Committee, New York City, the membership of

which includes members

of the Conmunist, Party and the

Socialist Workers Party, bothlof whigh have been designated

as subversive by the Attorney General pursuant to Executive

United States policy toward Vietnam.

The following activity

took place on August 6, 1966, as a part of International

Days of Protest.

A rally was held at Los Angeles, Callfornia, attended

by 2,500 indigiduals. The principal speaker vas United States

Senator Ernest/Gruening who called for additional demonstrations

until United States policy is changed and for negotiations with

the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.

members of the Conmunist Party participated in

the raliy.

Upon the conclusion of the rally, 1,000 of the demonstrators.

marched to the Armed Forces Induction Station at Los Angeles.

Signs carried by the denonstrators read "Johnson's War Stinks, "

"Fight Poverty - Not People," and "Negotiate With the NLF."

Four hundred individuals participated in a

demonstration at Balboa Park, San Diego, California.

After

several speakers hod criticized United States policy toward

Vietnam, 250 of the demonstrators marched through the park.

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DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

The march was led by an official of the Socialist Workers

Party.

Numerous members of the Communist Party and the

Socialist Workers Party participated in the demonstration.

Twenty-five hundred people marched through

San Francisco, California, to the San Francisco Civic

Center Plaza. The marchers carried signs critical of

United States policy. When the marchers

arrived at the Plaza,

they were addressed by several individuals, all of whom

demanded an end to the war in Vietnam. Four members of

the American Nazi Party, picketed the demonstrators.

Five individuals conducted a vigil at the

United States Naval Weapons Station; Capcora, California.

They carried signs condemning the usg of bombs in Vietnam.

These demonstrators attempted to place a sign on a train

carrying munitions butfraé unsuccessful.

The Denver Stop the War Committee, Denver, Colorado,

sponsored a march through Denver to the State Capitol Building®

A rally was held in front of the Capitol Building upon the

conclusion of the march.. Two hundred and fifty demonstrators

heard speakers, including Walter_Cranson, a Republican

candidate for the United States Senate; Stephanie Wishart,

a member of the l. E. B. DuBois Clubs of America, a communist

Inspired Marxist oriented youth group: Joseph Johnson,'a

Socialist Workers Party candidate for

the United States Senate

From i Desota a art didate ye this stat

Senate, criticize United States policy toward Vietnan. The

march was led by a former Communist Party member and two

members of the Socialist Workers Party. During the rally,

copies of "The Worker," an east coast communist newspaper,

and the "Militant," a publication of the socialist lorkers

Party; were distributed.

On August 5

1966, Haward Do Gottlick of the War

Resisters League and John Cook of the Catholic Peace Fello

Ship both of which are pacifist organizations, began a

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DENONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

vigil at the White House, Washington, D. C. They

Carried signs reading "Hiroshima Day Fast" and "Vigil

for Peaçe."

On the morning of August 6, 40 individuals

demonstrated near the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception

at Washington, D. Co

, The demonstrators were led by William I

HigEs, an attorney for the Student Non-Vlolent Coordinatinex

committee, & civil rights group.

Two members of the Young

socialist

Alliance, the youth group of the Socialist Workers

Party, participated in the demonstration. Higgs announced

that the wedding of the President's daughter on August 6

vas in very poor taste as all Americans should be mourning

the dead at Hiroshima.

He also announced that a rally would

take place at Dupont Circle during the "iternoon.

Approximately 200 individuals attended the rally

at Dupont Circle. Pat Cawood, the leader of the Washington

Chapter of the Young Socialist Alliance was in charge of it.

Speakers Included Professor David/ Berman 9f American University

and Willian Martin, Republican candidate for the United states

House of Representatives

from Maryland,

All of the speakers

condemned United States policy toward Vietnam. Upon the

conclusion of the rally, Cavood and Higgs led the demonstrators

In a march to the White House.

Many of the marchers carried

Viet Corg flags. Upon arrival in the vicinity of the.

White House, the marchers formed a picket line on the north

side of Pennsylvania Avenue opposite the White House. The

marchers carried signs reading: "Children Die While Profits

Go Up," "Condemn United States Imperialism in Vietnam," and

"Hiroshima - 60,000. Vietnam - I million plus." Several

former members of the Comnunist Party participated in the

picket line.

A Kiroshima Day Peace Talk and Rally was held

at Atlanta,

Georgia. The demonstrators picketed the Old

Post Office Building and then marched to the Ebenezer Baptist

Church where a rally was held. Reverend Martin Luther King, Sc

opened the rally. Speakers included Sanford Gottliebof the

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DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

‹National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Polloy, a pacifist

group, and Howard loore

an Atlanta attorney,

, who represents

the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Included

among the demonstrators was a former leader of the Communist

Party in Georgia.

"The Federal Building, Chicago, Illinois, was

picketed by 275 indiyiduals who represented the Women's

International League for Peace and Freedow, Chicago womer

for Peace, and the Chicago Peace Council, all of which are

pacifist groups. Placards carried by the pickets read

and "God Is With Us." After

Yo Boy Conto 20 one To a to plan be that tho

Federal Building• Speakers Condemned United States policy

In Vietnam, demanded inmediate withdrawal of United States

troops, and insisted on immediate negotiation with the

National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.

Numerous members of the Communist Party and the

Socialist Horkers Party participated in a car caravan and

rally at Detroit, Michigan. One of the demonstrators carried

a Viet Cong flag

and as a result was assaulted by a spectator.

The Detroit Police Department arrested eleven demonstrators

for disturbing the peace.

Three members of the Socialist Workers Party, led

240 marchers from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to the State Capitol

Building at St. Paul, Minnesota.

At the state Capitol Building,

it was announced that

there would be an evening meeting at

the University of Minnesota.

Approximately 300 individuals attended the meeting

at Mayo Auditorium, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

The meeting was directed by Laura Ickert, a member of the

Socialist Workers Party.

Numerous members of the Communist

Party and the Socialist Yorkers Party attended the meeting.

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DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

Ilterature of the Socialist Workers Party, the Communist

Party, the Wo Do Be DuBois Clubs of America, and the

-Students fora Democratic Society, a militant youth group

which has received support from the Communist Party, was

displayed at the site of the meeting.

The Committee for Non-Violent Action, a pacifist

sponsored a demonstration at Buffalo, New York.

Included among the small group of demonstrators were

members of the Workers World Party, a communist splinter

group, and several former members of the Communist Party.

A member of Studerts for a Democratic Society was arrested

for obstructing

the sidewalk.

march through

Ney York City Upon the conclusion of the march, the

5,000 demonstrators held a rally at 48th Street between

Park and Madison Avenues.

Some of the marchers carried

Viet Cong flags and United States flags with skulls and

dollar signs instead of stars.

Literature of the Socialist

Workers Party; the Communist Party; and the Progressive

Labor Party, a pro-Chinese Marxist

group, was distributed

during the march.

The demonstrators included members of

the Communist Party, the Workers World Party, the W. E. B.

DuBois Clubs of Anerica, the foung Socialist

Alliance, and

the Progressive Labor Party• During the rally;

; "peace

candidates" Herbert Aptheker, a member of the Communist

Party, USA, National Committee, and two members of the

Progressive Labor Party were Introduced

to the crowd.

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DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

01 Racial Equalits, a civil rights group; Ivanhoe Donaldson,

a representative of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating

Conmittee; and had Mallory, member of the Workers Worid

Party

Stokely Carmichael, Chairman of the Student/

Non-Violent Coordinating Conmitteey was the featured speaker

..at a denonstration at Cleveland, Ohio. Sidney Peck, a

former Communist Party member introduced Carmichael and

the two other speakers, both of whom are members of the

Socialist Workers Party, to the crowd. . Numerous members

of the Communist Party and the Socialist Workers Party

were observed participating in the demonstration.

Melvin Metelits, a memper of the District Board

of the Communist/Party of Eastern Pennsylvania,

was the

leader of a parade and rally held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Approximately 300 individuals attended the rally which vas

addressed by Paul Boutelle, the leader of Afro-Americans

Against the War in Vietnam, New York City; Peter/ Brooks,

an otticial of the Bring the Troops Home Now Newsletter

and Thomas Hayden of Students for a Democratic Society®

Boutelle attempted to equate aggression against the Vietnamese

with aggression against Negroes.

All of the speakers charged

the United States with

"imperialist aggression."

The Austin Committee

Against the War in Vietnam

sponsored a parade and rally at Austin, Texas.

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sentative of the demonstrators contacted the city editor

of the "Austin-American Daily" and asked that the paper

publish a column each week expressing the views of the

demonstrators.

They then marched to television station

KBC-TV where

they asked that they be given a half hour

on television to express their views. 'The marchers then

proceeded to the State Capitol where they held a rally

Three members of the Communist Party were among the 79

demonstrators.

Approximately 1,200 individuals participated in

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a neeting at Blaine, Washington, as a protest against the

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DEMONSTRATIONS PROTESTING UNITED STATES

INTERVENTION IN VIETNAM

war in Vietnam.

Speakers demanded an end to the war a

Telegrams are being sent by the demonstrators to Government

leaders in the United States, Canada, and England as a

protest against the war.

Members of

the Communist Party,

the Socialist Workers Party, the Progressive Labor Party,

the W. E. B. DuBois Clubs of America, and the Students for

a Democratic Society, participated in

the demonstration.

• Other demonstrations were held at Laguna Beach

and Fresno, California; Colorado Springs; Colorado;

Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans,

Louisiana; Boston and Roxbury, Massachusetts; Kansas City

and St. Louis, Missouri; Camden, New Jersey; Dayton, Ohio;

and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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