1967 March on the Pentagon

1967 American anti-war protest August 2026 August 2026 March on the Pentagon the opposition to the Vietnam War Vietnamprotestors.jpg Protesters face troops guarding the Pentagon October 21, 1967 Washington D.C., United States Focus attention on the Anti-Vietnam War movement Protesters disbanded Protesters National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam Government 82nd Airborne Division Military Police Corps U.S. Marshals Service David Dellinger Abbie Hoffman Allen Ginsberg Jerry Rubin Gary Snyder Michael Bowen Lt. Gen. Richard J. Seitz 100,000 attendees (50,000 marchers) The 1967 March on the Pentagon was a massive demonstration against the Vietnam War that took place on October 21, 1967. The protest, organized by the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam, was one of the first major national protests against the Vietnam War, marking a significant escalation in the anti-war movement. The event began with more than 100,000 protesters at a rally near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Later about 50,000 people marched across the Potomac River to the Pentagon and sparked a confrontation with U.S. Army paratroopers who were standing guard there. The demonstration was notable for its diverse coalition of participants, including students, clergy, and countercultural figures, as well as for the symbolic acts such as the attempted "levitation" of the Pentagon. The demonstrations were highly polarizing, and also produced iconic imagery, including a photograph of a protester placing flowers into the barrel of a paratroopers' rifle, symbolizing peaceful resistance.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/21/1967-vietnam-war-protest-american-division How this 1967 Vietnam war protest carried the seeds of American division The Guardian October 21, 2017 November 3, 2020 December 31, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20191231125915/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/21/1967-vietnam-war-protest-american-division live Following a concert by Phil Ochs, as well as speeches from David Dellinger and Dr. Benjamin Spock,The Day The Pentagon Was Supposed To Lift Off Into Space https://web.archive.org/web/20051219220648/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20051021-pentagon-vietnam-protest-washington-dc-lyndon-johnson-jerry-rubin-david-dellinger-allen-ginsberg-yippie-robert-mcnamara.shtml 2005-12-19 around 50,000 of those attending were then led by social activist Abbie Hoffman and marched from the Lincoln Memorial to The Pentagon in nearby Arlington, Virginia to participate in a second rally. Background Human Be-In In the evening of January 14, 1967 various countercultural figures celebrating the Human Be-In converged in artist Michael Bowen’s San Francisco painting studio. Bowen's guests in the room included Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Timothy Leary, Ed Sanders,Laycock Joseph P. 2011-10-25 Levitating the Pentagon: Exorcism as Politics, Politics as Exorcism https://journal.equinoxpub.com/IR/article/view/3494 Implicit Religion en 14 3 295–318 10.1558/imre.v14i3.295 1743-1697 subscription Laycock Joseph P. 2011 Levitating the Pentagon: Exorcism as Politics, Politics as Exorcism https://gwern.net/doc/history/2011-laycock.pdf Implicit Religion 14 3 295–318 10.1558/imre.v14i3.295 1463-9955 2025-07-31 and Jerry Rubin. The small group would eventually conceive of a plan to make a protest march to the Pentagon, Gary Snyder would suggest the need for an exorcism of the Pentagon. Abbie Hoffman, separate from the group, would propose that in order to draw attention to the Pentagon through shock value, which activists saw as the epicenter of military aggression, they should employ the use of psychic energy and physically levitate the building.Hamilton Neil A. The ABC-CLIO Companion To The 1960s Counterculture in America Bloomsbury Publishing 1997 Michael Bowen would suggest the purpose of the march be to actually levitate the building.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/how-rag-tag-group-acid-dropping-activists-tried-levitate-pentagon-180965338/ Fifty Years Ago, a Rag-Tag Group of Acid-Dropping Activists Tried to "Levitate" the Pentagon The Smithsonian October 20, 2017 November 3, 2020 The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (Mobe) played a major role in organizing the protest. David Dellinger, a prominent pacifist, appointed Jerry Rubin, who led the large Vietnam Day Committee at the University of California, Berkeley,http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/jofreeman/photos/Pentagon67.html Levitate the Pentagon 2020-11-04 2012-10-09 https://web.archive.org/web/20121009145036/http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/jofreeman/photos/Pentagon67.html live to organize a march, aiming to attract young, educated college students to the cause. Abbie Hoffman had recently joined Mobe after previous experience in the civil rights movement. After a spiritual retreat to Mexico, Michael Bowen would join in on a meeting in New York City to plan the march. Out of all the activists in the room he was the only one who argued that the Pentagon would be literally levitated, while the others only claimed it would be "levitated" for shock value. Protest On October 21, 1967, approximately 100,000 people gathered near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., to protest the Vietnam War. The demonstration began with a rally featuring speeches from notable figures such as Dr. Benjamin Spock and performances by countercultural folk singer Phil Ochs. Additional notable attendees included persons such as Norman Mailer, Robert Lowell, Dwight MacDonald, Noam Chomsky, and Paul Goodman were in attendance. The attendees were socially diverse ranging from middle class professionals, clergymen, hippies, and black activists.Fischer Klaus 2006 America in White, Black, and Gray The Stormy 1960s https://books.google.com/books?id=sCXig_6abwkC&dq=march+on+the+pentagon&pg=PA196 Continuum International Publishing Group 196 9780826418166 From the Lincoln Memorial, protesters then marched towards the Pentagon. As the protesters neared the Pentagon, they were met by soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Divisionhttp://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20051021-pentagon-vietnam-protest-washington-dc-lyndon-johnson-jerry-rubin-david-dellinger-allen-ginsberg-yippie-robert-mcnamara.shtml The Day The Pentagon Was Supposed To Lift Off into Space December 19, 2005 American Heritage April 10, 2017 bot: unknown https://web.archive.org/web/20051219220648/http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/web/20051021-pentagon-vietnam-protest-washington-dc-lyndon-johnson-jerry-rubin-david-dellinger-allen-ginsberg-yippie-robert-mcnamara.shtml December 19, 2005 who formed a human barricade blocking the Pentagon steps to prevent access to the building. In a symbolic act, activist Abbie Hoffman vowed to levitate the Pentagon. Hoffman claimed he would employ the use of psychic energy to levitate the Pentagon until it turned orange and begin to vibrate, at which time the war in Vietnam would end.1997 http://www.teaching.com/earthday97/center/text/webstock19.htm Abbie Hoffman Teaching.com April 1, 2006 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20060207094531/http://www.teaching.com/earthday97/center/text/webstock19.htm February 7, 2006 The event was accompanied by Allen Ginsberg leading Tibetan chants to assist Hoffman. The protests escalated into a confrontation between demonstrators and military personnel. Some protesters attempted to enter the Pentagon but were repelled by soldiers using tear gas and physical force.Braunstein Peter Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture Movement of the 1960s and ‘70s Routledge 2002 Protesters faced down troops with bayonets for hours. The standoff continued into the night and around midnight, troops chased most protesters away. The protest was met with resistance from military police and U.S Marshalls, resulting in a total of forty-seven injuries between the protesters, soldiers, and U.S. Marshalls and approximately 682 arrests.U.S. Marshals and the Pentagon Riot of October 21, 1967 https://www.usmarshals.gov/who-we-are/history/historical-reading-room/us-marshals-and-pentagon-riot-of-october-21-1967?utm_source=chatgpt.comMarch 2026 yes Cultural impact The 1967 March on the Pentagon became emblematic of the countercultural and anti-war movements of the 1960s reflecting a convergence of political protest and countercultural expression. Its significance lies not only in its scale and direct confrontation with a central institution of U.S. military power, but also in the lasting images and narratives generated in American culture. The protest itself inspired a range of artistic, literary, and scholarly responses that helped solidify its place in American cultural memory. Norman Mailer's The Armies of the Night, a 1968 nonfiction novel recounting his participation in the protest, won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.The 1969 Pulitzer Prize Winner in General Nonfiction https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/norman-mailer1969 National Book Award winners https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1969/ His narrative framed the event as a symbolic clash between state and authority and a diverse resistance movement grounded in personal conscience and civil disobedience.Mailer Norman Armies of the Night New American Library 1968 United States Media coverage and photography, particularly the widely circulated image of a protester placing a flower into the barrel of a soldier's rifles, further shaped public perception by visually encapsulating the concept of nonviolent resistance.Braunstein Peter Imagine Nation: The American Counterculture of the 1960s & '70s 2002 In retrospect, the march is often viewed as both a high point of 1960s activism and a reflection of the deep generational, cultural, and political divides that marked the era. Its legacy is preserved in literary works, photos, and in the continued usage of the Pentagon as a symbolic site of protest. See also Flower Power (photograph) References Category:October 1967 in the United States Category:1967 protests Category:Protests against the Vietnam War Category:United States in the Vietnam War Category:Protest marches in Washington, D.C. Category:Phil Ochs Category:Timothy Leary