A portion of the crowd -- primarily Staples students -- protesting the Viet Nam war in 1969. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
For nearly 10 years, America’s all-volunteer military has fought 2 costly, controversial wars.
Protests have been muted. A few people stand on the Post Road bridge every Saturday morning. Someone writes an occasional letter to the editor.
At Staples, high school students — few of whom even think of serving — scarcely give Iraq and Afghanistan a passing thought.
How different things were in 1969. Vietnam was a quagmire — and Westport was up in arms, on both sides of the issue. Loud anti-war protests took place at Town Hall every Saturday. After 3 hours of raucous debate the RTM passed — 17-15 — a resolution asking immediate action to withdraw from Southeast Asia.
Many Staples students — though certainly not all — were fervently anti-war. On October 15, 1200 students — joined by some from the 3 junior highs — celebrated a national Moratorium Day.
They — actually “we,” because I was among them — marched from the Staples tennis courts, down North Avenue and Long Lots Road, all the way to the steps of the YMCA.
The long line of marchers headed downtown. The A&P was near what is now the firehouse; the Esso gas station is now a Phillips 66. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
We carried American flags and wore buttons saying “Peace Now” and “Hell No, We Won’t Go.” Along the way, other students threw eggs at us.
At the Y, we listened to speeches (including one by Iowa Senator Harold Hughes). We waved our fingers in the peace sign. We looked around, and were stunned at our numbers.
A year earlier, we had helped drive Lyndon Johnson from the presidency — but our new president was Richard Nixon. Finally, in 1973, a peace treaty was signed. Two years later the last Americans were evacuated from the U.S. Embassy roof.
In 1969, Adrian Hlynka was a Staples student. A gifted photographer, he took dozens of shots on Moratorium Day. Here is what it looked like to protest a war, more than 4 decades ago.
A portion of the crowd in front of the Y. The Fine Arts Theater (now Restoration Hardware) was showing "Alice's Restaurant" and "Medium Cool." Police stood on the roof next door. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
More of the enormous downtown crowd. The current Max's Art Supplies is on the extreme left; what is now Tiffany is at the far right. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
Rabbi Byron Rubenstein of Temple Israel addresses the crowd from the steps of the Y. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
The crowd was predominantly -- though not entirely -- made up of Staples students. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
A Staples student states his case. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
Junior high students joined Stapleites at the 1969 Moratorium rally. (Photo/Adrian Hlynka)
The main difference between now and then – they protested because there was a good chance they may be drafted. Unlike today, students know they ‘won’t go’ unless they join the military.
BTW – I’m pretty sure those protest at the downtown bridge have ceased since a democrat has taken office in spite of us still being in Iraq, more troops in Afghanistan and now Libya. Cindy Sheehan where are you?
Great pictures too!
My lasting memory of that day was not the picture you show but that of Arnie Berglund and others locking themselves in large dog cages (Tiger Cages) to protest the Communist treatment of US POWs. Not many remember that event. Today almost all honor our soldiers, who sacrefice for us, then soldiers were demonized, spit upon and treated horribly.
Great pictures of Westport Then, The A and P store still stands as the Piano Store at thesame location.
We also had a Saturday morning vigil in those years. We stood on the steps of the old Town Hall with signs that say the same thing we are say now on the bridge! “Bring Them Home!” There is a photo in the Fairpress, May 11, 1972, taken when we blocked traffic on the Post Road one rainy day. My sign says “Bring Our Men Home Now!” About 25 women were arrested. There was a truck driver in front of us who was so mad I thought he would run us over. I called Manny at work and he and a number of other lawyers got us out of jail.
Manny represented Tim Breen. A college student from Westport who had a student deferral. He attended a peace rally and Revered William Sloan Coffin at Yale to his draft card and many other,
to Washington to protest the Viet Nam war.
Tim was immediately reclassified One A and called to induction in the Army. Manny took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and won! He kept his student deferral and finished college.
We were on the old Town Hall steps for many years.
We are now on the bridge close to SIX YEARS! There are now only four of us and our signs read, you guessed it, “Bring the Troops Home, NOW”
Where are the Staples students now? Are they so oblivious to the fact that we are in these obscene wars? Is it because there is no draft that they are totally uninvolved in what is happening? Are we so isolated and comfortable here that the killing of people thousands of miles away doesn’t matter? There are now over 6,000 of our young men and women who have been killed, over 4000 wounded, hundreds of thousands with Post Traumatic Stress and many more who are ashamed to talk about it.
Will it take a draft to wake up the students to the horrors of these wars?
Estelle T. Margolis
As long as Obama is in the White House there will be no large protests against the wars. Once a Republican becomes President, the protests will start again; not much principle involved, just partisanship.
Thank you for stating the obvious.
Not nary a word was uttered when we started bombing Libya to keep the oil flowing to Europe, nor did Congress vote on it. This time it really is ‘blood for oil’ and the left’s silence is deafening.
P.S. Correction: There are over 40.000, not 4,000 wounded.
Estelle T. Margolis
The difference is the DRAFT. Reinstate the draft and see how quickly these attitudes will change: “At Staples, high school students — few of whom even think of serving — scarcely give Iraq and Afghanistan a passing thought.”
END the senseless wars. If it takes the draft to end them, then do so.
I enlisted vice the draft but I am not sure why I spent a tour in Vietnam
while others did not. Interesting enough, once the draft went to the lottery, protests were curtailed on many campuses. Bring the troops home now!!!
The draft is a major violation of individual rights. I too enlisted to avoid the draft. I never saw any benefit to the draft or any of these wars the political class require. We need a better leaders, not a draft.
Since when did they draft women????
We keeping having these wars and we will need a draft as a necessity for enough troops.
Ms. Margolis and Ms. Wheeler indict Staples students for apathy – they both seem quite certain in their knowledge of how our high school students feel. Wonder if they have any additional apercus on Westport teen attitudes?
I enjoyed reading this and seeing the old pictures of Westport. I’m particularly interested in, but not surprised, by your observation that “at Staples, high school students — few of whom even think of serving — scarcely give Iraq and Afghanistan a passing thought.” I’ve lived in Vermont since graduating from Staples and coming here to go to college. My observation of students in and around central Vermont is that they are much more aware of our involvement in these two wars. I think this stems from the fact that virtually every community in this state has been affected by the deployment of our National Guard; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, friends and co-workers have been deployed (often for more than one tour) to fight these wars. It has been the largest mobilization of the Vermont National Guard since World War II.
How many kids in Westport actually know someone that has deployed? And, given the obscene wealth and privilege in Westport, how many kids actually might consider leaving the lap of luxury to go serve in the military? The idea of volunteering to serve becomes much more likely when one actually knows a service member or when one comes from a community or family with long traditions of volunteering to serve.
Neither seem to be the case in Westport. That’s my view from here in Vermont.
Clarification: My comments above were confined to those community dynamics that might influence the likelihood of students volunteering to serve in the military. I’d suggest that those same dynamics contribute to the seeming apathy about the wars; when wars seem remote or taken care of by others, there’s little incentive to voice dissent.
Excellent post. Great photos. What memories it brings back. I was 10 or 11, driving by the old Town Hall protests and my father (decorated US Marine, Iwo Jima) jumped out of the car and got in a scuffle with the protesters. Mom was screaming, we were all scared. I remember the Long Lots band wearing black arm bands during Memorial Day parade – put on secretly just as we started.
No draft = apathy. My son in law just returned from Afghanistan, and I always felt like only those with loved ones there even know or care we are at wartime. Let’s bring back the draft, draft a bunch of Westport kids – and we’ll see people wake up.
Side note – those pictures of remind me of what a artsy, “small town” feel it had then.
People will “wake up” when a Republican is in the White House. People aren’t asleep, they are just partisans. They are not appalled when their guy is running the war, and killing people they don’t like for whaterever reason. The hypocrites will be back out in strength protesting if their guy loses. If these wars were illegal when Bush ran them, they are still illegal. If these wars were wrong when Bush ran them, they are still wrong. Now we are killing people we don’t know in Libya for no discernable purpose. Clinton wagged the dog when “the dress” was found; could Obama be wagging the dog now that gasoline is $4 a gallon? We should bring all of our troops home now!
Well said my friend, well said.
They also blamed Bush for the high gas prices back then (which weren’t nearly as high) funny thing, Obama still blames him! Yet the state media says nothing now.
They didn’t wake up for 8 years with Bush and he started all this nation building. You have a long wait until a GOP is in the White House again. Try looking to the military and the military contractors as a major reason why we continue to engage and promulgate these wars. Indeed the tail is wagging the dog but we should be in the streets and not on the blogs protesting.
No private sector country can put American troops anywhere. Blaming military adventures on the evil doings of the military industrial complex is just a lame excuse for inept foreign policy. No one forced Obama to get us involved in Lybia, just as no one forced Truman to send Americans to die in Korea or forced LBJ to get Americans killed in Vietnam. And no one is forcing Obama to keep troops in Iraq and Afghanistan or keep Gitmo open. The stupidity and mendacity of these men are not to be blamed on any private sector actor. At some point “the devil made me do ” must be recognized for what it is; a bald face lie. There are not people in the streets protesting the needless deaths of American troops because Obama is in the White House, and opposition to the wars is unprincipled.
While I agree out leadership is lacking in military foreign policy, Ike
was not a dummy when he forewarned about the military industrial complex. I have seen, first hand, what inaction there is between the Generals and Congress with their pressure on the White House. The lobbyists are there just waving the flag, cheering for more and more. The reason there is little opposition to our Democratic President in terms of foreign policy is that most GOP members agree with him on the stupid wars. The radical left is so diminished and ineffectual that could not rally cows home for dinner. Thus the wars continue with merely a wimper on Main Street. The Agatha had me fooled.
Ike was the president who threatened publicly to nuke the Chicoms if they did not cease and desist; not a shrinking violet. There are lobbyists in DC for every special interest, from NFL football, to NPR, to defense contractors. The fact that they offer lucre for votes does not compel those in the political ruling class to sell their votes. Those who blame others for their poor choices and behavior tend to be weak in both character and mind.
I never pretended to be strong and not simple minded. The NFL may have their lobbyists but not appropriations of 800 billion bucks. The tail IS wagging the dog and that is the dysfunctional aspect of our government. Get the money out of the equation and we have better reps in Congress.
Totally agree, and didn’t Obama promise no lobbyist in his administration?
Along with ending the war(s), closing Gitmo (on his first day no less), ending Bush tax cuts, having the health care debate televised live on C-Span, have the most transparent administration, work to bring all sides together, yada, yada, yada…
(not that I’m for all of these things or believed any of it).
We also NEED term limits, and not the kind Mayor Bloomberg has.
It’s not the money in politics that creates the dysfunction, it is the lack of scruples on the part of politicians. No one forces the political class to accept a bribe, that is a matter of choice. Taking the money out of the equation will change little if the character of the members of the political class does not improve; they will merely sell out for less. The political class is not held accountable for its actions. But then, we get the governement we deserve. The conditions you deplore did not come about by chance. We elect feeble minded liars and thieves and they act like feeble minded liars and thieves; what would you expect?
Well, John, the Tea Party elected officials also bemoaned the use of lobbyists but 16 have them as their chiefs of staff in the House.
I never understood the Gitmo facility. It hasn’t produced any meaningful information. I am afraid our President is caught up in the inner loop politics of Wasington that he (and every other politician) seems to find vulgar until they are entrapped within. No, to term limits. In this country, we vote for who you want.
Lucas,
Sheikh Khalid Mohammad has confessed plenty at Gitmo as many others have which has thwarted other attacks.
This from the left leaning Wikipedia:
Transfer to Guantánamo and hearing before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal on September 6, 2006, then-American President George W. Bush confirmed, for the first time, that the CIA had held “high-value detainees” for interrogation in secret prisons around the world.[80] He also announced that fourteen senior captives, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were being transferred from CIA custody, to military custody, at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and that these fourteen captives could now expect to face charges before Guantanamo military commissions.
In a September 29, 2006, speech, Bush stated “Once captured, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were taken into custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. The questioning of these and other suspected terrorists provided information that helped us protect the American people. They helped us break up a cell of Southeast Asian terrorist operatives that had been groomed for attacks inside the United States. They helped us disrupt an al Qaeda operation to develop anthrax for terrorist attacks. They helped us stop a planned strike on a U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti, and to prevent a planned attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, and to foil a plot to hijack passenger planes and to fly them into Heathrow Airport and London’s Canary Wharf.”[81]
In March 2007, Mohammed testified before a closed-door hearing in Guantánamo Bay. According to transcripts of the hearing released by the Pentagon, he said, “I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z.” The transcripts also show him confessing to:
Organizing the 1993 World Trade Center bombing,
The Bali nightclub bombings,
Richard Reid’s attempted shoe bombing,
Planning the attacks on Heathrow Airport and Big Ben clock tower in London,
Daniel Pearl’s murder in 2002,
Planned assassination attempts on Pope John Paul II, Pervez Musharraf and Bill Clinton.[82]
“Because war, for sure, there will be victims. When I said I’m not happy that three thousand been killed in America. I feel sorry even…Killing is prohibited in all what you call the People of the Book, Jews, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You know the Ten Commandments very well. The Ten Commandments are shared between all of us. We all are serving one God.”
—Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, before his tribunal[36]
P.S. There was a time when I was naive and thought the same as you on the subject of Term Limits.
Talk to any FBI or CIA counter terrorist specialist and you will be told that torture, in the fashion that they used at GITMO, is not productive. I am well aware of our electoral college system but in very few instances, a person’s vote for President does correlate an indirect vote for Prez. As to term limits, I think it severely restricts your ability to vote for whom you wish and thus, against my principles. As any fan of John Sanford will tell you, Lucas Davenport is hardly naive.
While I hate to disagree with you Dude, but a CIA agent who was directly involved in the interrogations has said, they worked and ‘…saved lives’.
Good enough for me.
Link for CNN: http://articles.cnn.com/2007-12-11/politics/agent.tapes_1_waterboarding-cia-director-michael-hayden-cia-agent?_s=PM:POLITICS
And I know who Lucas Davenport is, and while he use to be a bad ass, he now describes himself as (from Wikipedia):
“Davenport has a strong interest in reading, poetry and war gaming. As the series develops, Davenport exhibits a number of anxiety disorders, including depression and a chronic fear of flying on commercial aircraft. Davenport refers to himself as a Democrat.”
Lucas has become a wimp since he got married to the doctor. There is a book out by a FBI interrogator who strongly believes that water-boarding, dog fright, music all night for nights, etc. do not produce valuable information. Instead, most of it is just lies to satsifty the torturers. CIA interrogators don’t take prisoners. Perhaps their methods are best??
More proof positive that interrogation at Gitmo yeilded results. This from the NYT that the beginning of the end for Osama Bin Laden begun at Gitmo with KSM.
Link from the NYT here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/world/asia/02reconstruct-capture-osama-bin-laden.html?hp
And Dick Cheney says, “You’re welcome”.
Lucas: In this country you do not vote for whom you want. In the presidential election you vote for people who then vote for the president. You do vote for the president.
“You do not vote for president.”
I remember this as being held in May 1970 a few days after Kent State. The march followed a teach-in at Staples in the morning. My group for the teach-in was lead by Karl Decker and we were outside in the sunny weather on the grass.
Different tragedy, different event.
I guess I wasn’t there after all.
Maybe you were at Woodstock 😉
Wrong year. Woodstock was in ’69. I returned from ‘Nam to Kent State to be spit upon. It was a mixed up crazy time.
Are you sure it was an anti-war protestor and not a jilted lover who spat on you upon your arrival?!
Oh yeah, that’s it! The guy with the beard looks like he just heard the Rabbi warn about the brown acid….about 20 minutes too late!
The “guy with the beard” next to furry and fearsome Jim Bratz SHS ’64 is Myles MacVane ’63 whose brother Matt MacVane ’64, when this photo was taken, was a Marine in Vietnam having already been awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, a couple of Purple Hearts and assorted other decorations for valor in combat. Myles’ dad, former longtime ABC News correspondent John MacVane, had been badly wounded on Omaha Beach during WWII. Acid or no, Myles probably had a reason to be at the protest march.
It was a guy by the last name of Newman at Washington College. Ring bells?
Dude, I take it you’re no fan of Keith Hernandez?
Or maybe it was a magic loogie after all.
John: I do believe it was Ron Darling who hurled the deadly saliva at Newman vice Keith “Third Base” Hernandez. My jilted victims (few as they are) usually resort to the judicial system vice projectiles.
Really? Is that what the answer is”…draft a bunch of Westport kids and we’ll see people wake up?” Honestly, Mr. Stalling, do you think that is the best answer? I truly don’t think that the majority of people don’t “even know or care we are at wartime.” I protested the VietNam war on my college campus. And today I read every name of every soldier killed in these atrocious wars and support the brave men and women who are still there. I don’t think the apathy is confined to high school students. I think it is widespread. The most despicable thing is when the news stories mention the price of gasoline in the same story as the soldiers who’ve died. Bring the troops home..yes ! Reinstate the draft…no.
My 28 year old son is due home any day now from his 3rd deployment. Never did I think I would have a child go to war. I was such a hippie! Truly, I find people supported of soldiers and their families and I appreciate it. Kids @ Staples might not think about the war (s) but I suspect they will at some point, maybe when they are parents and there’s another war. Sadness. I had no idea what hell war really is until…
I myself served during gulf war 1 (’88-’92) and was proud to have served as payback to the privilege of having grown up in Westport. I was not alone at that time either. 1 of my classmates went to Annapolis (now a commander) and 2 that I know of the year before went to the service academies.
My science teacher Wilson Hopkins (Naval Aviator) was a great mentor in this regard towards the honor and sacrifice of service, but indeed that was a different time, with the Soviet Union and its organized uniformed enemy playing the role of our adversary as opposed to ideological terrorists or civilian-insurgents repelling invaders.
Wow, Chi-Chi, I still think of you as a kid! God speed your son’s return. My own son will be heading back for his 3rd later this year and it makes me feel so helpless. Attitudes have certainly changed since that day in ’69 and at least our soldiers are treated with the respect they deserve this time but it doesn’t make it ok. It was a crazy time back then. My memory consists of being in Spanish class with very few other students wishing I had gone on the march.
There are no right or just wars, there are only aggressors and defenders and these wars, even more so than Vietnam is sad because we cannot see the difference. Our servicemen and women are honorable but these current wars are not.
I am afraid Afganistan will be Obama’s Vietnam.
I’m with Buck52.
As to Dan’s original question, I don’t think the lack of a draft explains the lack of political engagement. Much of it has to do with the widespread belief, way back in 1969, that if you took part in the political system (voting, protesting, advocating), you might actually help change the world. Doesn’t really feel that way now, does it?
I stood on the bridge in 2003, before the war, with a small coterie of folks who got no press and had things hurled at us out of cars. I’ve gone to BOE meetings and open town meetings and had private meetings as well, to speak out for what I believe (mostly on issues of toxicity), and nothing I did ever made a lick of difference. The one time I thought “my side” had “won” — on full-day kindergarten — the issue just came back a few years later. Everything that can be developed will. Bigger is better. More, more, more. (And if you think politics isn’t ultimately a fist fight between our values and our money, you weren’t paying attention in History at Staples or New Trier or Greenwich High….)
It don’t mean to suggest any of this is unique to Westport, and I’m certainly not the first to believe that everybody and everything can be bought, including (and especially) the media. Nor am I the first to note that while accountability and rule of law make great sound bites, they are really rather antiquated notions when it comes to the way we live today, when “freedom” means freedom to do just about anything other than commit one-on-one crime (note there’s a lot of talk but little action when it comes to issues of enforcement, from cell phone use to SEC regulations the the Clean Air Act). Maybe it’s because critical thinking and “values” have given way to fear. Maybe it’s because working to be as fully informed as possible takes a lot of time and energy, and who has that, when taxes are up, salaries are down, and hope is in the toilet? Maybe it’s because it’s just so much more fun to foam at the mouth over divisive issues that are, at best, small or discrete pieces of the problem pie. Or to enjoy the distractions (TV drama, sports, computers) that keep us from rising up and saying WTF?!
Not to put too fine a point on it, but we invaded Iraq in 1991. Clinton enforced the no-fly zone and bombed Iraq for no legitimate reason. The current phase in our wartime activites in Iraq and Afghanistan, which began in 2003, is really the third act in this particular unncessary waste of lives and fortune. Obama has increased the scope of the crime by risking lives in Libya. All three wars are now his wars. We must bring the troops home now.
I really enjoy reading your comments Stacy (as always).
Obviously you are very smart and more importantly, you give the issues thought with an open mind.
I wish you were my neighbor (not that I don’t have nice neighbors), but I would enjoy discussing it all with you.
I can empathize when you say, “… and nothing I did ever made a lick of difference”, but please don’t give up. Argue the issues, debate their merits, stand up for your principles, we need you to do so.
All the best, John
FUBAR!
Incredible pictures of an incredible time. Thank you for reminding us. I wasn’t here in Westport, nor was I old enough to have participated in events which occurred at that point but I remember. I also try to remember to communicate those memories to my children who luckily grew up in Westport, but who fortunately/unfortunately haven’t had the experience of this kind of emotional movement.
I entered the military a scant 18 months after Siagon fell. I suspect I was one of very few Fairfield County 18 year olds who joined at that time. The military had ceased the draft just the year before, but I wanted to grab the old GI Bill and serve, so I enlisted. These were dark days indeed for members of the Armed Forces, but overall, my 4 years in the Air Force and the ensuing five years I went to college and graduate school partially on the GI Bill certainly benefited me tremendously.
Dan, I’ve been pondering the Hell No We Won’t go post for the last few days, thinking about those days of large protests and why we see that less and less. Is it that there is no longer a draft? Is it that kids are apathetic? Is it that kids can vote at 18 when we couldn’t? Is it that social media has changed how we protest?
My own kids, now in their 20s (and this will not come as a shock to you) pay close attention to the news, to campaigns and vote regularly on everything from school board elections to Presidential races. They are much more likely to make a phone call or send an email to their elected representatives than show up to a large gathering. But that doesn’t garner media attention the way 12 Tea Party protesters can on Tax Day.
Last night, I listened to another form of protest: poetry. At the 30th anniversary party for a local children’s advocacy organization, a young man in his 20s got up and delivered a powerful set of poems on education inequity. Perhaps it should have been videotaped and put it on YouTube.
In short, I don’t think youth and young adults are any less involved than we were. I think the delivery mechanism has changed to include electronic communication, poetry jams, YouTube and things like City Year and Americorps.
Thanks for making me think, as always.
Ann
Good observation Ann. So instead of taking it to the streets, today the younger generation is taking it to the Net and Blogs.
I am sure the protestors of the 60’s-70’s had far more SEX than our current electronic revolutionaries. And when it all comes down it, isn’t that what it is all about??
That was the San Francisco hippies and the ‘Summer of Love’.
From what I hear, plenty of hook-ups (and divorces) can be attributed to social networking.
Not to mention STD’s.
Nonsense. Look at the passion in those protestors’ eyes. Once the rally was over, they were heading to the beach for a little submarine race watching!
Miles : what a great pic of you 3. Great memories. Eternal brothers. I was in Staples in 65′ but don’t remember the rally. I hope I was there!!
Love you bro.
The Choad
Choadie, I hear you, babe.
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