May 3, 1971: The largest protests against the Vietnam War are held. Like all other such protests, they are futile. The only result was the largest mass arrest in American history.
On Saturday, May 1 -- May Day, a festival marking the beginning of Summer, but also International Workers' Day -- more than 40,000 protesters camped out in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., to listen to rock music, and plan for the coming action.
On Sunday, May 2, the Nixon Administration canceled the protesters' camping permit -- secretly, just the sort of thing that Tricky Dick would do. U.S. Park Police and Washington Metropolitan Police, dressed in riot gear, raided the encampment. The police gave the campers until noon to clear out. Some protesters abandoned the demonstration and left the city. The remaining protesters, estimated at 12,000, regrouped at various churches and college campuses in the area.
The U.S. government had put into effect Operation Garden Plot, a plan it had developed during the 1960s to combat major civil disorder. Over the weekend, while protesters listened to music, planned their actions, or slept, 10,000 federal troops were moved to various locations in the Washington metropolitan area. At one point, so many soldiers and Marines were being moved into the area from bases along the East Coast that troop transports were landing at the rate of one every three minutes at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland, about 15 miles east of the White House.
Among these troops were 4,000 paratroopers from the famed U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. Troops from the Marine Barracks lined both sides of the 14th St bridge. These troops were to back up the 5,100 officers of the Metropolitan Police, 2,000 members of the District of Columbia National Guard, and federal agents that were already in place. Every monument, park, and traffic circle in the nation's capital had troops protecting its perimeters. Paratroopers and Marines deployed via helicopter to the grounds of the Washington Monument.
On Monday, May 3, protesters announced that because the government had not stopped the war, they would stop the government, and told troops, many of whom were of similar age, that their goal was to prevent the troops from being sent to Vietnam. There were 750,000 of them, breaking the record of 500,000 at the National Mobilization march of November 15, 1969. Most of them did nothing to break the law, but some engaged in hit-and-run tactics throughout the city, trying to disrupt traffic and cause chaos in the streets.
President Richard Nixon, who was at his "Western White House" in San Clemente, California, refused to give Federal workers the day off, forcing them to navigate through police lines and May Day tribe roadblocks.
While the troops secured the major intersections and bridges, the police abandoned their usual arrest procedures, roaming through the city, making sweep arrests and using tear gas. They detained anyone who looked like a demonstrator. By 8:00 AM. thousands of people had been arrested, including many who had not been breaking any law.
The city's prisons did not have the capacity to handle that many people; thus several emergency detention centers were set up, including the Washington Coliseum, and another one surrounded by an 8-foot-high was set up next to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. The prisoners massed against the fence, pushed it over, and were tear-gassed. No food, water, or sanitary facilities were made available by authorities, but sympathetic local residents brought supplies. By afternoon, the police had suppressed the protest and held more than 7,000 prisoners.
On Tuesday, May 4, another 2,000 people were arrested at a sit-in outside the U.S. Department of Justice Building -- which, like the city's sports stadium, was renamed for Robert F. Kennedy, in 2001. On Wednesday, May 5, 1,200 more people were arrested at a legal rally on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, bringing the total to 12,614 people, making this the largest mass arrest in U.S. history.
The American role in Vietnam's civil war was never going to be brought to an end as a result of Americans protesting it. It was only, ever, going to be brought to an end when the President of the United States wanted it to end. John F. Kennedy knew this before he was assassinated in 1963, and knew he couldn't end it before the 1964 election, in which he would not live to run. Lyndon B. Johnson knew it, and chose not to run for a 2nd full term in 1968, so he could concentrate on negotiating a peace deal. He came close, but didn't get it.
Richard Nixon knew it. And he ended the war on his terms -- 4 years after promising to end it, 3 days after being sworn in for a 2nd term, and a day after LBJ died. The result was another 18,000 American deaths.
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May 3, 1971 was a Monday. There were 2 Major League Baseball games played that day. The New York Mets beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Shea Stadium. Tommie Agee singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Tug McGraw was the winning pitcher, in relief of Gary Gentry. And the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at the new Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
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