Saturday, May 2, 1964: Vietnam protests

Four hundred college students protested yesterday United States involvement in the war in South Vietnam. The students, mostly from Columbia University, New York University, City College and Haverford College, called for the withdrawal of United States troops from South Vietnam and an end to United States military aid. The two-hour rally at 110th Street and Eighth Avenue was sponsored by the May 2d Committee, an ad hoc student group set up six weeks ago at Yale University. Among the groups participating in the protest were the Socialist Workers Party and the Young Socialist Alliance. The rally was followed by a march to Times Square and the United Nations. On Broadway there were slight traffic delays as thousands of passersby stopped and stared at the demonstrators. There were no incidents.

     -- New York Times, May 3

The May 2nd movement stands opposed to all armed intervention by the U.S. government, anywhere, anytime, in the world ... On May 2nd, 1964, the Movement held the first mass protest in this country against the War in Vietnam. One thousand students and youth rallied in New York and marched to the United Nations. ... Students further from New York held simultaneous demonstrations in Boston, San Francisco, Madison, Wisconsin, and other cities.
     -- May 2 leaflet (McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada; link: @)

* "The Duffy Square Arrests" (late 1964; McMaster University): @ and @

* "What is the May 2nd Movement?" (September 1965; The Sixties Project, University of Virginia): @
* Leaflet, 1965 (Duke University Libraries): @
* "Anti-Vietnam War Protests in the San Francisco Bay Area & Beyond" (Pacifica Radio/UC Berkeley): @ 
* Excerpt from "The Cause That Failed: Communism in American Political Life" (Guenter Lewy, 1990): @

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