1969 People's Park protest

Protests in 20th century Berkeley, California March 2026 February 2023 1969 People's Park protest Berkeley Southside Map.svg The green area represents People's Park and the brown patterned area represents University of California, Berkeley property. May 15, 1969 Berkeley, California 37 51 56 N 122 15 25 W inline,title Protestors California Highway Patrol Berkeley police officers California National Guard Ronald Reagan (Governor)Frank Madigan (Sheriff)Wallace J. S. Johnson (Mayor) 3,000–6,000 people 729 police officers2,700 California National Guard troops 1 death45–128 hospitalized 19–111 police officers injured The 1969 People's Park protest, also known as Bloody Thursday, took place at People's Park on May 15, 1969. The Berkeley Police Department and other officers clashed with protestors over the site of the park, using deadly force. Ronald Reagan, then-governor of California, eventually sent in the state National Guard to quell the protests. Background People's Park (Berkeley)#Early history The 1969 confrontation in People's Park grew out of the counterculture of the 1960s. Berkeley had been the site of the first large-scale antiwar demonstration in the country on September 30, 1964.http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-large-scale-antiwar-demonstration-staged-at-berkeley First large scale antiwar demonstration staged at Berkeley This Day In History 9 October 2014 The late 1960s saw student protests across the United States, such as the 1968 Columbia University and Democratic National Convention protests.Lodise Carmen A People's History of Isla Vista 2002 On April 3, 1969, students at Stanford University protested war-related research by occupying Encina Hall. http://historicalsociety.stanford.edu/pdfST/ST35no1.pdf Winter 2011 35 1 The Troubles at Stanford: Student Uprisings in the 1960s and '70s Sandstone & Tile 9 October 2014 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20141016150341/http://historicalsociety.stanford.edu/pdfST/ST35no1.pdf 16 October 2014 California governor Ronald Reagan had been publicly critical of university administrators for tolerating student demonstrations at the University of California, Berkeley.Rosenfeld, Seth http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/09/MNCF3.DTL https://web.archive.org/web/20020808071652/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/09/MNCF3.DTL dead August 8, 2002 Part 4: The governor's race San Francisco Chronicle June 9, 2002 July 23, 2008 He had received popular support for his 1966 gubernatorial campaign promise to ramp up pressure on administrators of California's public universities to quell campus protests. http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/06/08_reagan.shtml 8 June 2004 Ronald Reagan launched political career using the Berkeley campus as a target 9 October 2014 Jeffery Kahn In the U.S. House of Representatives, the Higher Education Protection and Freedom of Expression Act of 1969 was introduced in response to mass protests and demonstrations at universities and colleges across the nation. The bill would have required colleges and universities to file plans of action for dealing with campus unrest with the U.S. commissioner of education, and would have given the institutions the power to suspend federal aid to students convicted, in court or by the university, of violating campus rules in connection with student riots. The bill also proposed that any school that did not file such plans would lose federal funding. Campus Disorder Bill CQ Almanac 1969 25th 726–29 Congressional Quarterly 1970 9 October 2014 Washington, DC http://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal69-1246785 Campus Unrest: Illusion and Reality Francis Smith William & Mary Law Review 11 3 1970 9 October 2014 http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmlr/vol11/iss3/6/ Aid to education, student unrest, and cutoff legislation: an overview Gregory Keeney University of Pennsylvania Law Review 119 6 1970 1003–1034 9 October 2014 http://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5841&context=penn_law_review 10.2307/3311201 3311201 subscription Reagan supported the federal legislation; in a March 19 statement, he urged the U.S. Congress to "be equally concerned about those who commit violence who are not receiving aid". On May 20, U.S. attorney general John N. Mitchell advised the committee that existing law was "adequate". On April 13, 1969, local merchants and residents decided to develop a vacant, unused lot owned by the Berkeley campus into a public park, a "Power to the People Park". Construction started on April 20 and continued for weeks.Wittmeyer Alicia 2004-04-26 From Rubble to Refuge The Daily Californian http://archive.dailycal.org/article.php?id=15086 dead 2008-03-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20141015183208/http://archive.dailycal.org/article.php?id=15086 October 15, 2014 However, on April 28, Berkeley vice chancellor Earl Cheit announced that the university planned to build a soccer field on the site, though he promised he would notify park supporters before construction. On May 13, Berkeley chancellor Roger Heyns announced that the university would soon erect a fence around the park to begin construction.Brenneman, Richard April 20, 2004 The Bloody Beginnings of People's Park The Berkeley Daily Planet http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2004-04-20/article/18700?status=301 July 23, 2008 Protest In the early morning of Thursday, May 15, 1969, local police cleared the park, arresting three people who refused to leave.PEOPLE'S PARK BLOODY THURSDAY: 50 YEARS LATER, UNEARTHING NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTOS May 15, 2019 https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/People-s-Park-Bloody-Thursday-50-years-later-13845759.php SF Chronicle 25 May 2023Remembering "Bloody Thursday:" 1969 People's Park Riot https://dailycal.org/2017/04/21/remembering-bloody-thursday-1969-peoples-park-riot The Daily Californian April 21, 2017 25 May 2023 University work crews arrived later, destroyed many of the changes that had been made to the park, and erected an 8 ft m on off-tall perimeter chain-link wire fence around the site.Alexandra Rae A Brief History of the Never-Ending Battle for People's Park https://www.kqed.org/arts/13917145/a-brief-history-battle-peoples-park-berkeley-protests KQED August 5, 2022 25 May 2023Dalzell Tom May 30, 1969: The final scene in the powerful first act of Berkeley's People's Park https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/05/30/may-30-1969-the-final-scene-in-the-powerful-first-act-of-berkeleys-peoples-park Berkleyside May 30, 2018 Cityside 25 May 2023 The action came at the request of Berkeley mayor Wallace J. S. Johnson.Cobbs-Hoffman Blum Gjerde 2012 423 It became the impetus for the "most violent confrontation in the university's history". People's Park Fights UC Land Use Policy; One Dead, Thousands Tear Gassed Oakland Museum of California n.d. http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/timeline/unforgettable-change-1960s/people-s-park-fights-uc-land-use-policy-one-dead-thousands-tear- 9 October 2014 October 12, 2014 https://web.archive.org/web/20141012231833/http://www.museumca.org/picturethis/timeline/unforgettable-change-1960s/people-s-park-fights-uc-land-use-policy-one-dead-thousands-tear- dead Beginning at noon,https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690516.2.12 Patrolling Site of Riot: National Guard in Berkeley; 128 Persons Injured In Street Fighting UPI May 16, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 about 3,000 people appeared in Sproul Plaza at the nearby Berkeley campus for a rally, the original purpose of which was to discuss the Arab–Israeli conflict. Several people spoke; then, Michael Lerner ceded the Free Speech platform to Daniel Mark Siegel, the student body president of Associated Students of the University of California, because students were concerned about the fencing-off and destruction of the park. Siegel said later that he never intended to precipitate a riot; however, when he shouted "Let's take the park!,"However, another publisher claims that what he said was, "I have a suggestion. Let's go down to the People's Park–". Retrieved November 6, 2008. police turned off the sound system.http://barringtoncollective.org/PeoplesHistoryOfBerkeley February 26, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070803030802/http://barringtoncollective.org/PeoplesHistoryOfBerkeley August 3, 2007 People's History of Berkeley Barrington Collective The crowd responded spontaneously, moving down Telegraph Avenue toward People's Park chanting, "We want the park!"Tempest Rone December 4, 2006 It's Still a Battlefield Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-dec-04-me-park4-story.html February 5, 2013 Arriving in the early afternoon, protesters were met by the remaining 159 Berkeley and university police officers assigned to guard the fenced-off park site. The protesters opened a fire hydrant, several hundred protesters attempted to tear down the fence and threw bottles, rocks, and bricks at the officers, and then the officers fired tear gas canisters. John Jones UCPD Berkeley UCPD Berkeley: History Topic: People's Park http://police.berkeley.edu/about_UCPD/ucpdhistory.html#anchor178048 2008-11-06 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20151210225256/http://police.berkeley.edu/about_UCPD/ucpdhistory.html#anchor178048 2015-12-10 A major confrontation ensued between police and the crowd, which had grown to 4,000. Major Problems in American History, Volume II: Since 1865, third edition Elizabeth Cobbs-Hoffman Edward Blum Jon Gjerde 2012 Wadsworth 9 October 2014 https://books.google.com/books?id=8UKr_ANAlVYC&pg=PA423 978-1111343163 Elizabeth Cobbs Jon Gjerde Initial attempts by the police to disperse the protesters were not successful, and more officers were called in from surrounding cities. At least one car was set on fire. A large group of protesters confronted a small group of sheriff's deputies who turned and ran. The crowd of protesters let out a cheer and briefly chased after them until the sheriff's deputies ran into a used car facility. The crowd then turned around and ran back to a patrol car which they overturned and set on fire.February 2023 Shooting The crowds had swelled to approximately 6,000 people. Officers in full riot gear obscured their badges to avoid being identifiedFebruary 2024 and headed toward the crowds. As the protesters retreated, the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies pursued them several blocks down Telegraph Avenue as far as Willard Junior High School at Derby Street, firing tear gas canisters and buckshot at the crowd's backs as they fled.February 2023 Authorities initially claimed that only birdshot had been used as shotgun ammunition. When physicians provided pellets removed from the wounded as evidence that buckshot had been used,http://www.beauty-reality.com/travel/travel/sanFran/peoplespark3.html February 16, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20070830211157/http://www.beauty-reality.com/travel/travel/sanFran/peoplespark3.html August 30, 2007 The Battle of People's Park Alameda County sheriff Frank Madigan justified the use of shotguns loaded with lethal buckshot by stating, "The choice was essentially this: to use shotguns—because we didn't have the available manpower—or retreat and abandon the City of Berkeley to the mob."May 30, 1969 Sheriff Frank Madigan Berkeley Daily Gazette Madigan also stated that some of his deputies, many of whom were Vietnam War veterans, had been overly aggressive in their pursuit of the protesters, acting "as though they were Viet Cong".http://www.beauty-reality.com/travel/travel/sanFran/peoplespark.html February 16, 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20120210203448/http://www.beauty-reality.com/travel/travel/sanFran/peoplespark.html February 10, 2012 People's Parkhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904149,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20090208133535/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,904149,00.html dead February 8, 2009 California: Postscript to People's Park Time February 16, 1970 July 23, 2008 Casualties Alameda County sheriff deputies also used shotguns to fire at people sitting on the roof at the Telegraph Repertory Cinema. James Rector was visiting friends in Berkeley and watching from the roof of Granma Books when he was shot by police;http://revolution.berkeley.edu/james-rector-wounded/ James Rector, Wounded on the roof of Granma Books May 15, 1969 Berkeley Revolution 8 May 2020 he died on May 19.People's Park at 50: a recap of the Berkeley struggle that continues https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/People-s-Park-at-50-A-recap-of-the-Berkeley-13838786.php Whiting Sam May 13, 2019 SFChronicle.com en-US 2020-05-01https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690520.2.12 Berkeley Riot Victim Succumbs in Hospital UPI May 20, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 The Alamada County Coroner's report listed cause of death as "shock and hemorrhage due to multiple shotgun wounds and perforation of the aorta". Reagan conceded that Rector was probably shot by police but justified the bearing of firearms, saying, "I think it is being very naive to assume that you should send anyone into that kind of conflict with a fly swatter. He's got to have an appropriate weapon." Helicopter Sprays Gas On Berkeley 'Mourners': Guardsman Led Away May 21, 1969 The Washington Post Rasa Gustaitis A6https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19690523.2.24 Reagan Blames Berkeley Violence On 'Revolutionaries' May 23, 1969 The California Aggie 8 May 2020 According to the University of California Police Department (UCPD), Rector threw steel rebar down onto the police; conversely, according to Time magazine Rector was a bystander, not a protester, and 12 of the sheriff's deputies involved were indicted by a grand jury. A carpenter, Alan Blanchard, was permanently blinded by a load of birdshot directly to his face. At least 128 Berkeley residents were admitted to local hospitals for head trauma, shotgun wounds, and other serious injuries inflicted by police.July 2026 The actual number of seriously wounded varies as many of the injured did not seek treatment at local hospitals to avoid being arrested.Brenneman, Richard http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2004-04-20/article/18700?status=301 The Bloody Beginnings of People's Park The Berkeley Daily Planet April 20, 2004 July 23, 2008 Local medical students and interns organized volunteer mobile first-aid teams to help protesters and bystanders injured by buckshot, nightsticks, or tear gas. One local hospital reported two students wounded with large caliber rifles as well.Smitha, Frank E. http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch28B.htm The Sixties and Seventies from Berkeley to Woodstock Microhistory and World Report July 23, 2008 Contemporaneous news reports stated that 50 people were injured, including five police officers. 50 Are Injured In Berkeley Fray May 16, 1969 The Washington Post Rasa Gustaitis A3 Some local hospital logs indicate that 19 police officers or Alameda County Sheriff's deputies were treated for minor injuries; none were hospitalized.July 2026 However, the UCPD states that 111 police officers were injured, including California Highway Patrol officer Albert Bradley, who was knifed in the chest. State of emergency That evening, Reagan declared a state of emergency in Berkeley and sent in 2,700 California National Guard troops. The Berkeley City Council voted 8–1 against the decision. For two weeks, the streets of Berkeley were patrolled by the troops, who broke up even small demonstrations with tear gas. Reagan was steadfast and unapologetic, saying, "Once the dogs of war have been unleashed, you must expect things will happen, and that people, being human, will make mistakes on both sides." During the People's Park incident, National Guard troops were stationed in front of Berkeley's empty lots to prevent protesters from planting flowers, shrubs, or trees. Young hippie women taunted and teased the troops, on one occasion handing out marijuana-laced brownies and lemonade spiked with LSD. According to commanding major general Glenn C. Ames, "LSD had been injected into fudge, oranges and apple juice which they received from young hippie-type females."https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19690520.1.4 National Guard Given LSD by Hippie Girls AP May 20, 1969 San Bernardino Sun 8 May 2020 Some protesters, their faces hidden with scarves, challenged police and National Guard troops; hundreds were arrested. Aftermath thumb|Berkeley Barb cover on People's Park, May 16, 1969 Demonstrations continued for several days after Bloody Thursday. A crowd of approximately 400 were driven from Sproul Plaza to Telegraph Avenue by tear gas deployed by officers on May 19.https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19690520.1.4 UC Plaza Crowd Scattered by Gas AP May 20, 1969 San Bernardino Sun 8 May 2020 On May 20, National Guard helicopters flew over the Berkeley campus, dispensing airborne tear gas over protestors that winds dispersed over a wide area, affecting bystanders and people in nearby facilities, including a hospital;Dalzell Tom May 30, 1969: The final scene in the powerful first act of Berkeley's People's Park https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/05/30/may-30-1969-the-final-scene-in-the-powerful-first-act-of-berkeleys-peoples-park Berkleyside May 30, 2018 Cityside 25 May 2023 this was one of the largest deployments of tear gas during the Vietnam era protests, 100 Years of Tear Gas The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/08/100-years-of-tear-gas/378632/2/ 16 August 2014 9 October 2014 Anna Feigenbaum and an action which Reagan would later admit might have been "a tactical mistake".Wolin Sheldon BERKELEY: THE BATTLE OF PEOPLE'S PARK 12 https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1969/06/19/berkeley-the-battle-of-peoples-park/ The New York Review of Books June 19, 1969 12 26 May 2023 On Thursday, May 22, 1969, 482 demonstrators were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly, bringing the total number of arrests near 800. Showing solidarity with students, 177 faculty members said that they were "unwilling to teach until peace has been achieved by the removal of police and troops". Confrontation at Berkeley Turns Into Calm Songfest May 21, 1969 The Washington Post Rasa Gustaitis A12 On May 23, by 642–95, the Berkeley faculty senate endorsed a proposal by the College of Environmental Designs to have the park become the centerpiece of an experiment in community-generated design. Faculty at Berkeley Votes For 'Park' as Experiment May 24, 1969 The Washington Post Rasa Gustaitis A6 In a separate university referendum, UC Berkeley students voted 12,719–2,175 in favor of keeping the park; the turnout represented about half of the registered student body. Occupied Berkeley http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840109-1,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20111103122235/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,840109-1,00.html dead November 3, 2011 Time Magazine Time Inc. May 30, 1969 January 14, 2007 Although Heyns supported a proposal to lease the site to the city as a community park, the Board of Regents voted to proceed with the construction of married student apartments in June 1969.https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690621.2.5 'People's Park' To Get Housing UPI June 21, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 Peaceful protest By May 26, the city-wide curfew and ban on gatherings had been lifted, although 200 members of the National Guard remained to guard the fenced-off park,https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690526.2.2 Curfew, Gathering Ban Lifted UPI May 26, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 anticipating unrest from a march planned for May 30. Reagan pledged that "whatever force is necessary will be on hand",https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690528.2.3 Reagan Pledges Required Force UPI May 28, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 although protest leaders declared the march would be non-violent.https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690528.2.3 Berkeley Faces New Crisis: New Confrontation Threatened Today At People's Park UPI May 30, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 Demonstrators engaged in shop-ins, park-ins, and other non-violent tactics to counter the police action.MAY, HENRY F. (1969). "Living with Crisis: A View from Berkeley". The American Scholar. 38 (4): 588–605. ISSN 0003-0937. On May 30, 30,000 Berkeley citizens secured a city permit and marched without incident past the barricaded People's Park to protest Reagan's occupation of their city, the death of Rector, the blinding of Blanchard, and the many injuries inflicted by police.Lowe Joan People's Park, Berkeley http://www.afsc.org/about/hist/2002/peoples_park.htm dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080213071937/http://www.afsc.org/about/hist/2002/peoples_park.htm 2008-02-13 2008-03-11 Stories from the American Friends Service Committee's Past Young women slid flowers down the muzzles of bayoneted National Guard rifles, and a small airplane flew over the city trailing a banner that read, "Let A Thousand Parks Bloom".http://journalism.berkeley.edu/ngno/2006/09/21/uc-berkeley-grapples-again-with-a-troubled-peoples-park/ UC Berkeley Grapples Again with a Troubled People's Park September 21, 2006 North Gate News Online May 14, 2013 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20120309112827/http://journalism.berkeley.edu/ngno/2006/09/21/uc-berkeley-grapples-again-with-a-troubled-peoples-park/ March 9, 2012 Nevertheless, over the next few weeks National Guard troops broke up any assemblies of more than four people who congregated for any purpose on the streets of Berkeley, day or night. In the early summer, troops deployed in downtown Berkeley surrounded several thousand protesters and bystanders, emptying businesses, restaurants, and retail outlets of their owners and customers, and arresting them en masse. Responses to violence The Black Panther, the official newspaper of the Black Panther Party, stated in an issue on fascism that "[The pigs] tear gassed and beat up a lot of innocent people ... The chemical that they used, is the same kind of chemical that the U.S. Imperialists are using against the Vietnamese people."Douglass Val 1969-05-31 What Has Happened to Our City 2 The Black Panther 6 https://archive.org/details/03-no-6-1-18-may-31-1969/page/n1/mode/2up 2021-05-10 The Washington Post wrote of the incident in an editorial: "[T]he indiscriminate gassing of a thousand people not at the time in violation of any law seems more than a little excessive." The editorial also criticized legislation before the U.S. House that would have "cut off Federal aid to universities which fail to head off campus disorders". Fanning the Fire May 24, 1969 The Washington Post Editorial A14 On June 13, Reagan defended his actions in a televised speech delivered from San Francisco; a small sampling of public input (101 telegrams received by the governor's office after the broadcast) suggests that the public was supportive of the governor's actions.https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=DS19690618.2.44 California 33-to-1 for Reagan on People's Park June 18, 1969 The Desert Sun 8 May 2020 Legacy In an address before the California Council of Growers on April 7, 1970, Reagan defended his policies for dealing with campus protests: "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement."https://archive.org/details/governorreaganhi0000cann/ Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power 2008-03-10 295 Lou Cannon 2003 Public Affairs 1-58648-284-X Berkeley Tribe editors decided to issue this quote in large type on the cover of its next edition.The Campaign Against the Underground Press Rips, Geoffrey History is a Weapon http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/unameractrips.htmlPeck Abe Uncovering the Sixties: the life and times of the underground press https://archive.org/details/uncoveringsixtie00peck registration 1985 Pantheon Books New York 9780394527932 1st 278–279, 288Armstrong David A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America 1981 South End Press Boston, Massachusetts 9780896081932 1st 175Zald Anne E. Whitaker, Cathy Seitz The underground press of the Vietnam era: An annotated bibliography Reference Services Review 1 January 1990 18 4 76–96 10.1108/eb049109 Citations 30em Further reading "The People's Park: A report on a confrontation at Berkeley, California" - From the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Digital Library Collections Category:1969 in California Category:History of Berkeley, California Category:Tourist attractions in Berkeley, California Category:Riots and protests at UC Berkeley Category:Protests in the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Ronald Reagan Category:20th century in Berkeley, California