January 26, 1991: The March Against the Gulf War

January 26, 1991: A crowd of 300,000 people braves bitter cold to demonstrate in Washington, D.C., against the Persian Gulf War.

I was one of them. I rode my bicycle into New Brunswick, giving my ears frostbite as it turned out, to the Rutgers University campus to get on a middle-of-the-night bus down there.

The demonstration was organized by the National Campaign for Peace in the Middle East, and was the biggest antiwar demonstration since the last major one of the Vietnam War, in 1971. At the time, we were still afraid that Kuwait would turn into another "Vietnam," with tens of thousands of American military personnel dead, hundreds of thousands wounded, even more than that psychologically scarred, the restoration of the military draft to make up for the losses, draft evaders fleeing to other countries, people going to prison for refusing the draft, families ruined, and a war with no end in sight, all for the sake of oil. We didn't know yet that this wouldn't be the case.

The Administration of George H.W. Bush had turned the war into a popular cause, and opposing it into an unpopular one. We hoped the war would end his Presidency in 1992, the same way it convinced Lyndon Johnson he couldn't run for what would have been a 2nd full term in 1968.

When the group I was with got to the north front of the White House, on Pennsylvania Avenue, I started a chant, and it caught on, at least among a few hundred people around me: "George Bush: Shame on you! Say goodbye in ninety-two!"

In the end, Bush was defeated for re-election -- but the war, over for 20 months at that point, had absolutely nothing to do with it.

But I'm still glad I went. The conservative movement wanted those of us who opposed the war to feel ashamed, and isolated, therefore alone. Seeing so many of us, we knew we weren't alone, and we didn't have to feel ashamed. And it made me feel connected to those who opposed the war that was going on in the era in which I was born.

In the years to come, George Bush the father ended up looking considerably better -- because George Bush the son learned all the wrong lessons from his father's Presidency, including the lesson of stopping short of being an occupying force in Iraq. The father knew that would have been a terrible idea, and so he didn't do it; the son thought it was necessary, and so he did it, and proved it was a terrible idea.

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January 26, 1991 was a Saturday. Football player -- and "catfishing" victim -- Manti Te'o was born.

Baseball was out of season. The NFL season ended the next day, with the New York Giants beating the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV. There were 11 games in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Phoenix Suns, 112-94 at the America West Arena (now the Footprint Center) in Phoenix.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Miami Heat, 127-105 at the Miami Arena. Reggie Theus scored 35 points for the Nets.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Washington Bullets, 99-96 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 79-75 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Orlando Magic, 121-81 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 103-97 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.) Vernon Maxwell scored 51 points for the Rockets.

* The Denver Nuggets beat their arch-rivals, the Utah Jazz, 120-115 at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Michael Adams scored 37 points for the Nugs.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 112-105 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Los Angeles Clippers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-98 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

* The Portland Trail Blazers, 121-96 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Atlanta Hawks, 103-102 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Dominique Wilkins, "The Human Highlight Film," scored 43 for the Hawks.

And there were 8 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Minnesota North Stars, 3-1 at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Montreal Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1 at the Montreal Forum.

* The Boston Bruins beat the Calgary Flames, 5-2 at the Boston Garden.

* The Hartford Whalers beat the Philadelphia flyers, 5-3 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Quebec Nordiques, 6-5 at the Colisée de Québec.

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-1 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-4 at the St. Louis Arena. Geoff Courtnall scored the winning goal, with 2:49 left in overtime.

* And the Los Angeles Kings beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-4 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.