Vietnam Moratorium

"Dunn Meadow was ablaze last night. The light came from candles held by people having come to protest the Vietnam War. The people arrived by the hundreds. They arrived, perhaps, by the thousands. They arrived in a solid stream for 20 minutes and were still arriving. They arrived in peace." — IDS article

A candlelight march, a speech by "yippie" leader Jerry Rubin and an anti-ROTC demonstration sent the Vietnam Moratorium into full swing.

An estimated 3,500 students converged from areas all over campus carrying candles to the Showalter Fountain. They then marched two blocks to Dunn Meadow to listen to Rubin, blocking traffic on Seventh Street for nearly half an hour.

The march seemed to have no order, as students spread out across the meadow and street. Chants of "Ho, Ho, Ho Chi Minh, the VietCong is gonna win," "End the war now" and, simply, "Peace" could be heard in and around the meadow.

"The air was gray with candle smoke as Jerry Rubin, who is on trial in Chicago for his part in the August, 1968, disturbances at the Democratic National Convention, mounted the platform," according to a Courier-Tribune article. "... 'We are not on trial for what we did in Chicago,' Rubin told the crowd. 'We are on trial because we are young.'"

Though the candlelight ceremony proved peaceful, a "roving gang of members of the Students for a Democratic Society" introduced a hint of violence to the moratorium.

"Indiana University members of the SDS partially blocked downtown traffic for a time; marched on the Bloomington Selective Service office, where they broke the glass front door; and vandalized Rawles Hall, the IU campus building housing the ROTC offices," according to an IDS article.

Students broke the glass in the building and scattered Air Force pamphlets across the main floor.