Transcribe
Translate
University of Iowa anti-war protests, 1965-1967
31858064848116_017-01
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
[Handwritten] DI Oct. 19, 1967 p.1 (of 2) Oglesby Defends Viet Revolution by TED HENRY A critic of American foreign policy charged Wednesday that "the american Revolution lives in Vietnam and South America." Carl Oglesby, and instructor at Antioch College in Ohio a former national president of Students for a Democratic Society, was the main speaker at a rally held on the Old Capitol steps to protest the war in Vietnam. He charged that for the first time in recent history someone (the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front) is attempting to contain the United States just as this country has been bent on containing communism. Comparing the spirit of nationalistic revolutionary movements in Southeast Asia and South America, Oglesby predicted that "the political survival of the United States depends on the recognition of this fact." The rally, which attracted more than 250 persons, capped a protest march which began at College Street Park at 7:15 p.m. and wound up at Old Capitol at 7:45 p.m. The march and rally were sponsored by the University chapter of SDS, the Draft Resisters Union, Veterans for Peace in Vietnam and the Iowa Socialist League. Oglesby, who was in Iowa City to participate in this weekend's Conference on Modern Letters, appeared as the climax to almost a dozen speeches by local critics of the war, including students, faculty members and clergymen. Growing Frightened Oglesby opened his remarks by recounting a meeting with a Vietnamese professor was fond of Americans but was growing increasingly frightened of the implications of the American military presence in his country. The Vietnamese professor, according to Oglesby, summed up the American presence in South Vietnam by saying, You're turning our children into beggars, our women into prostitutes and our men into Communists." Student Sen. Charles Derden, A3, Waterlee, said he spoke not as a representative of any organization but "as a student, a black man and an American." Derden was sharply critical of what he termed an overly proportionate number of Negroes fighting in Vietnam. "Why should the black man fight an unjust war for the 'rights' of the Vietnamese," said Derden,"when they have no rights of their own in Georgia, Chicago, or Waterloo?" Derden ended his speech by calling on the American Negro to rally to the slogan "Hell no, we wont go!" The cry was taken up by many of the people in the audience. Black Man Ahead Another Negro, Jim Dunn of Des Moines, said he felt that the black man was ahead of the white population in one respect. He said, "We've been getting screwed for a long time, but we know it." He was referring to the Americans' being "duped" into supporting the Vietnamese war. The speakers were intermittently interrupted by a group of about 50 pro-war demonstrators who shouted such slogans as "Hey, hey, what do you say, let's support the Green Berets" and "2-4-6-8 we want to escalate." George Starbuck, associate professor of English and director of the Writes Workshop, said that the rally reminded him of a similar one held two years before. The size of the crowd and the flavor of heckling had not changed much, he said. Starbuck said that the time has come to be "less reserved and less cool." Americans must let people know that their ideals have been violated by an unjust war being carried on in Vietnam, he said. Antidraft Action Urged Steve Morris, the Iowa City man who turned in his draft card to a U.S. marshal in Cedar Rapids Monday, said that the war exists because "American people just don't give a damn." He added that Americans are more concerned with their own personal welfare than with people getting killed. Morris is an Air Force veteran. Urging that students take action to end the draft, Morris said "talk will not deter war action will." Mrs. Corrine Durby of Des Moines, said, "it is a sick society that spends so much money on an unjust war when so much poverty exists in the United States." Rev. Jim Anderson of Christus House, lashed out against the complacency of Christian Americans. He said that any Christian who supports or fails to be against the war in Vietnam is not one of God's chosen people but one of "God's frozen people." The hecklers who often interrupted the speakers with boos and catcalls, carried signs with such messages as "Let's Call Mao's Bluff" and "Drop the Bomb." This group responded with a chorus of boos when the Rev. William Wier, Iowa City Unitarian minister urging opposition to the draft, asked the crowd "Do injuries outweigh injustices?" A member of the audiences, Lynn Lewis, Iowa City, was permitted to go to the platform in defense of the war. Lewis, who said he had lost a son and two sons-in-law in combat, said that only in America do people have the right of protest. "But we must not ridicule what we don't understand," he added.
Saving...
prev
next
[Handwritten] DI Oct. 19, 1967 p.1 (of 2) Oglesby Defends Viet Revolution by TED HENRY A critic of American foreign policy charged Wednesday that "the american Revolution lives in Vietnam and South America." Carl Oglesby, and instructor at Antioch College in Ohio a former national president of Students for a Democratic Society, was the main speaker at a rally held on the Old Capitol steps to protest the war in Vietnam. He charged that for the first time in recent history someone (the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front) is attempting to contain the United States just as this country has been bent on containing communism. Comparing the spirit of nationalistic revolutionary movements in Southeast Asia and South America, Oglesby predicted that "the political survival of the United States depends on the recognition of this fact." The rally, which attracted more than 250 persons, capped a protest march which began at College Street Park at 7:15 p.m. and wound up at Old Capitol at 7:45 p.m. The march and rally were sponsored by the University chapter of SDS, the Draft Resisters Union, Veterans for Peace in Vietnam and the Iowa Socialist League. Oglesby, who was in Iowa City to participate in this weekend's Conference on Modern Letters, appeared as the climax to almost a dozen speeches by local critics of the war, including students, faculty members and clergymen. Growing Frightened Oglesby opened his remarks by recounting a meeting with a Vietnamese professor was fond of Americans but was growing increasingly frightened of the implications of the American military presence in his country. The Vietnamese professor, according to Oglesby, summed up the American presence in South Vietnam by saying, You're turning our children into beggars, our women into prostitutes and our men into Communists." Student Sen. Charles Derden, A3, Waterlee, said he spoke not as a representative of any organization but "as a student, a black man and an American." Derden was sharply critical of what he termed an overly proportionate number of Negroes fighting in Vietnam. "Why should the black man fight an unjust war for the 'rights' of the Vietnamese," said Derden,"when they have no rights of their own in Georgia, Chicago, or Waterloo?" Derden ended his speech by calling on the American Negro to rally to the slogan "Hell no, we wont go!" The cry was taken up by many of the people in the audience. Black Man Ahead Another Negro, Jim Dunn of Des Moines, said he felt that the black man was ahead of the white population in one respect. He said, "We've been getting screwed for a long time, but we know it." He was referring to the Americans' being "duped" into supporting the Vietnamese war. The speakers were intermittently interrupted by a group of about 50 pro-war demonstrators who shouted such slogans as "Hey, hey, what do you say, let's support the Green Berets" and "2-4-6-8 we want to escalate." George Starbuck, associate professor of English and director of the Writes Workshop, said that the rally reminded him of a similar one held two years before. The size of the crowd and the flavor of heckling had not changed much, he said. Starbuck said that the time has come to be "less reserved and less cool." Americans must let people know that their ideals have been violated by an unjust war being carried on in Vietnam, he said. Antidraft Action Urged Steve Morris, the Iowa City man who turned in his draft card to a U.S. marshal in Cedar Rapids Monday, said that the war exists because "American people just don't give a damn." He added that Americans are more concerned with their own personal welfare than with people getting killed. Morris is an Air Force veteran. Urging that students take action to end the draft, Morris said "talk will not deter war action will." Mrs. Corrine Durby of Des Moines, said, "it is a sick society that spends so much money on an unjust war when so much poverty exists in the United States." Rev. Jim Anderson of Christus House, lashed out against the complacency of Christian Americans. He said that any Christian who supports or fails to be against the war in Vietnam is not one of God's chosen people but one of "God's frozen people." The hecklers who often interrupted the speakers with boos and catcalls, carried signs with such messages as "Let's Call Mao's Bluff" and "Drop the Bomb." This group responded with a chorus of boos when the Rev. William Wier, Iowa City Unitarian minister urging opposition to the draft, asked the crowd "Do injuries outweigh injustices?" A member of the audiences, Lynn Lewis, Iowa City, was permitted to go to the platform in defense of the war. Lewis, who said he had lost a son and two sons-in-law in combat, said that only in America do people have the right of protest. "But we must not ridicule what we don't understand," he added.
Campus Culture
sidebar
