The Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, which became the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, was a coalition of American antiwar activists formed in November 1966 to organize large demonstrations in opposition to the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. The organization was informally known as "the Mobe". Individuals and organizations associated either with the Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam or the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam include Dr.

Benjamin Spock Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903–March 15, 1998), widely known as Dr. Spock, was an American pediatrician, Olympian athlete and left-wing political activist. His book '' Baby and Child Care'' (1946) is one of the best-selling books of ...

and SANE, Sidney Peck, Eric Weinberger,

David Dellinger David T. Dellinger (August 22, 1915 – May 25, 2004) was an American pacifist and an activist for nonviolent social change. Although active beginning in the early 1940s, Dellinger reached peak prominence as one of the Chicago Seven, who were pu ...

Jerry Rubin Jerry Clyde Rubin (July 14, 1938 – November 28, 1994) was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and early 1970s. Despite being known for holding radical views when he was a political activist, h ...

James Bevel James Luther Bevel (October 19, 1936 – December 19, 2008) was an American minister and a leader and major strategist of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. As a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and then as its direct ...

Stew Albert Stewart Edward "Stew" Albert (December 4, 1939 – January 30, 2006) was an early member of the Yippies, an anti-Vietnam War political activist, and an important figure in the New Left movement of the 1960s. N.Y Born in the Sheepshead Bay se ...

, A. J. Muste, Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968. As an advocate for African-Ameri ...

Rennie Davis Rennard Cordon Davis (May 23, 1940 – February 2, 2021) was an American anti-war activist who gained prominence in the 1960s. He was one of the Chicago Seven defendants charged for anti-war demonstrations and large-scale protests at the 1968 ...

, Karen Wald,

Fred Halstead Fred W. Halstead (April 21, 1927 – June 2, 1988) was the Socialist Workers Party's candidate for President of the United States in 1968. His running mate was Paul Boutelle. Halstead played a significant role in the movement against t ...

, Bradford Lyttle,

Charles Owen Rice Charles Owen Rice (November 21, 1908 – November 13, 2005) was a Catholic priest and an American labor activist. Background Rice was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrants. His mother died when he was four, and he and his brother ...

, Vietnam Summer, Cornell Professor

Robert Greenblatt Robert Greenblatt (born 1959/1960) is an American television executive, former chairman of NBC Entertainment and former chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment. He has since launched his production company, The Green Room. Early life and educati ...

(who became national coordinator of the Mobilization to End the War), and

Tom Hayden Thomas Emmet Hayden (December 11, 1939October 23, 2016) was an American social and political activist, author, and politician. Hayden was best known for his role as an anti-war, civil rights, and intellectual activist in the 1960s, becoming an i ...

History

Formation

The November 8 Mobilization Committee formed in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

September 10–11, 1966."National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam"
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

The Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam emerged from the November 8th Mobilization Committee, and was cemented at the Cleveland Conference on November 26, 1966.The Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, 1967: Historical Essay by John Penilla
/ref> The national director was Reverend

April 15, 1967, demonstrations

On April 15, 1967, the Spring Mobilization's massive march against the Vietnam War from

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

attracted hundreds of thousands of people, including

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

, and Dr. Benjamin Spock, who marched and spoke at the event. During the event many draft cards were burned, according to the ''New York Times''. Among the speakers at the simultaneous march in San Francisco were

Eldridge Cleaver Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an American writer and political activist who became an early leader of the Black Panther Party. In 1968, Cleaver wrote '' Soul on Ice'', a collection of essays that, at the time of i ...

, and

Julian Bond Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the ea ...

. At the New York march its last speaker,

, the Spring Mobilization's chairman and initiator of the march on the U.N. (until Bevel came aboard at the invitation of A. J. Muste and

the plan was for just an April 15 rally in Central Park), made an impromptu announcement that the next major anti-war gathering would be in Washington, D.C. Bevel's announcement brought about the Spring Mobilization Conference, a gathering of 700 antiwar activists held in Washington, D.C., May 20–21, 1967, called to evaluate April's massive antiwar demonstrations. It was organized to chart a future course for the antiwar movement, and set another large antiwar action for the fall of 1967 and created an administrative committee—the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam—to plan it.

1967 March on the Pentagon

Vietnam War protestors at the March on the Pentagon

The Mobe then planned and organized a large demonstration for Washington, D.C., on

October 21 Events Pre-1600 *1096 – A Seljuk Turkish army successfully fights off the People's Crusade at the Battle of Civetot. * 1097 – First Crusade: Crusaders led by Godfrey of Bouillon, Bohemund of Taranto, and Raymond IV, Count of Toul ...

, 1967. This demonstration was a rally at

West Potomac Park West Potomac Park is a U.S. national park in Washington, D.C., adjacent to the National Mall. It includes the parkland that extends south of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, from the Lincoln Memorial to the grounds of the Washington Monume ...

near the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a List of national memorials of the United States, U.S. national memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln, the List of presidents of the United States, 16th president of the United States, located on the western end of the Nati ...

and a march to

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

, where another rally would be held in a parking lot, followed by

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

on the steps of the Pentagon itself. The action was known as the "March on the Pentagon." Hoping to attract young, educated college students, Mobe coordinator David Dellinger appointed

, who led the large

Vietnam Day Committee The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War during the counterculture era. It was formed in ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

,Levitate the Pentagon
/ref> to organize the march. The initial D.C. rally, which was galvanized by a concert performance from counterculture folk singer

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter, protest song, protest singer (or, as he preferred, "topical singer"), and Political Activist, political activist. Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic h ...

, drew approximately 70,000 participants at the Lincoln Memorial. Following Ochs' concert, as well as speeches from Dellinger and Dr. Spock,The Day The Pentagon Was Supposed To Lift Off Into Space
around 50,000 of those attending were then led by social activist

Abbie Hoffman Abbot Howard Hoffman (November 30, 1936 – April 12, 1989) was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party ("Yippies") and was a member of the Chicago Seven. He was also a leading proponent of the ...

and marched from the Lincoln Memorial to

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

in nearby

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

to participate in a second rally. About 650 people, including novelist

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

, were arrested for civil disobedience on the steps of the Pentagon. A few individuals such as

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

Ed Sanders Edward Sanders (born August 17, 1939) is an American poet, singer, activist, author, publisher and longtime member of the rock band the Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and hippie generations. Sanders is considered to have bee ...

, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (Hoffman and Rubin would co-found the

Yippies The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented Radical politics, radical and Counterculture, countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the Free Speech Movement, free speech and an ...

later in '67) attempted by means of meditation and chanting to "levitate" the building and "exorcise the evil within." These events were chronicled by Norman Mailer in his

non-fiction novel The non-fiction novel is a literary genre that, broadly speaking, depicts non-fictional elements, such as real historical figures and actual events, woven together with fictitious conversations and uses the storytelling techniques of fiction. The ...

The Armies of the Night ''The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel/The Novel as History'' is a nonfiction novel recounting the October 1967 March on the Pentagon written by Norman Mailer and published by New American Library in 1968. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Ge ...

''.

1968 Chicago Democratic National Convention demonstrations

Following the Pentagon demonstration, the Mobe began discussion and planning for demonstrations at the

1968 Democratic National Convention The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held August 26–29 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Earlier that year incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek reelection, thus making ...

, to be held in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

was expected to be nominated for a second term.

and

were the key Mobe organizers for the Chicago demonstration, and would later be indicted for conspiracy and inciting a riot as members of the

Chicago Seven The Chicago Seven, originally the Chicago Eight and also known as the Conspiracy Eight or Conspiracy Seven, were seven defendants – Rennie Davis, David Dellinger, John Froines, Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Lee Weiner – c ...

. The Chicago demonstrations drew only 10,000 participants because it was widely anticipated that the mayor of Chicago,

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...

, would deploy his police to prevent marches to the site of the convention.

wrote a

about both the 1968 Democratic and Republican Conventions entitled ''

Miami and the Siege of Chicago ''Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968'' is a non-fiction novel written by Norman Mailer which covers the Republican and Democratic national party political conventions of ...

''.

Further activity

Following the election of

Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...

, the Mobe organized a "counter-inaugural" to take place in Washington, D.C., on the day of Nixon's

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

. This demonstration also attracted about 10,000 people and was accompanied by street violence. The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam then disbanded. Future national marches against the Vietnam war would be organized by other groups. The similarly named and inspired New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (New Mobe) was founded at a conference at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

in July 1969, and, together with the

Vietnam Moratorium The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive demonstration and teach-in across the United States against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It took place on October 15, 1969, followed a month later, on November 15, 196 ...

Committee and the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC), organized the October 15, 1969

Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive demonstration and teach-in across the United States against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. It took place on October 15, 1969, followed a month later, on November 15, 196 ...

which resulted in large demonstrations against the Vietnam War held nationwide.''Newsweek'' Magazine, October 27, 1969 The groups then organized another large demonstration in Washington, D.C., to occur a month later, on November 15, 1969, which was also attended by a large crowd.

Media

*''

'' (book by

) *''

'' (book by Norman Mailer) *''

The Trial of the Chicago 7 ''The Trial of the Chicago 7'' is a 2020 American historical legal drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. The film follows the Chicago Seven, a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and crossing state lines ...

'' (2020 film)

References

External sources

Walking tour of New York entry

National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam Records
in th
Swarthmore College Peace Collection

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

Spring Mobilization
performances and speeches given on April 15 1967 in th
Swarthmore College Peace Collection Sound Recordings
{{Authority control American anti–Vietnam War activists Anti–Vietnam War groups New Left Nonviolence organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1967 United States in the Vietnam War 1967 protests James Bevel Coretta Scott King Martin Luther King Jr. Phil Ochs