Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

spectators, and the clean-cut type of youth” (31 Oct. 1967, Stegall Files, Box 64C).Although the drop in numbers can be attributed in part to a separate rally for African-Americans organized at Howard University, it does seem that many of the less radicalparticipants wanted no part in storming the Pentagon. In fact, Hoover notes in a letterdated 26 October, 1967, that his agents observed that:the antiwar protesters did not represent any responsible segment of thisNation’s [sic] student youth or conscientiously passive element, religiousor otherwise, what it did represent most was that segment of our societycomprised by the subversive-criminal-hoodlum element of the ‘New Left’supported by the communists. (Stegall Files, Box 64C)At the walls of the Pentagon, it was the militant radicals like Morea who tried to forcetheir way inside the building and fight with the troops there; moderate leaders likeDellinger and Wilson calmly stepped into the restricted zone to await arrest. Althougheveryone participating in the events in Washington that day supported the anti-war effort,they clearly disagreed on how best to demonstrate their dissent.This kind of dissent characterized attempts to form coalitions across the AmericanLeft in the late 1960s. Just several weeks prior to the Pentagon March over 2,000 activistsmet in Chicago at the Palmer House hotel to plan strategy for the upcoming election year.The National Conference for New Politics joined anti-war, civil rights, and studentgroups together in the hopes that working together might increase the visibility andefficacy of their demonstrations against the war and against President Johnson, who at68