In the late 1960s during the Vietnam War, antiwar protests mounted. Public support for the war fell below 50 percent for the first time. In October of 1967, 70,000 protesters marched on the Pentagon, the headquarters of the Department of Defense, to protest the war in Vietnam.
This photograph shows anti-war demonstrators at the reflecting pool in Washington, DC. The stereotype persists that members of the peace movement were hippies, college students, and liberal intellectual elites. In reality, there were antiwar sentiments across the political and economic spectrum.
The Johnson administration tried to tamp down dissent with news of progress, going so far as to call General Westmoreland home from the battlefield to present a glowing report to the American people. Military officers were pressured to overestimate enemy casualties and underestimate enemy strength—a practice that would have devastating consequences for President Johnson.
