alternatehistory.com

April 16, 1967

Antiwar protestors link Fermi, Vietnam

The so-called Spring Mobilization Committee organized two massive protests: one in New York City and the other in San Francisco. Tens of thousands of young Americans took to the streets. In Central Park, 100 burned their draft cards. In San Francisco, throngs of hippies sang and danced their way down the streets. Among the speakers in New York was Dr. Martin Luther King, who advocated not only for civil rights, but also for an end to the Vietnam War. [1][2]

A number of noted environmentalists were in attendance as well. A rising concern about the 'environmental crisis' is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam. [3] Antiwar protestors see the war in Vietnam and the meltdown of Fermi as inextricably linked. Barry Commoner, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, warned audiences about the "environmental crisis, the evils of war in general, and the war in Vietnam in particular." He argued that the fallout from atomic bombings, atomic tests, and the Fermi meltdown illuminated how the American war program represented a "vast technological blunder." [4]

At the Texan White House, President Johnson was briefed on the protests by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. [2] The overt display of Communist support among many of the antiwar protesters has the intelligence community on edge. Some believe that the Soviets may be using the antiwar movement as means to influence American politics.