Tag Archives: Draft board

Boston Five: Spock in Court

“Across Milk St. from the Post Office Building where Dr. Benjamin Spock’s case is being heard stands a sign that reads in large green letters: ‘Boston Five.’ A second look reveals smaller letters that complete the title of a branch … Continue reading

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The War that Won’t Go Away – John Gregory Dunne (September 1986)

“Memorial Day, 1986. Laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, President Ronald Reagan paid special attention, in his remarks, to ‘the boys of Vietnam…who fought a terrible and vicious war without enough support … Continue reading

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Regina King – One Night in Miami … (2020) Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Sam Cooke

“Regina King’s feature-film directorial debut, One Night in Miami . . . (2020), persuasively envisions an astonishing true-life convergence of Black heroes at a portentous mid-twentieth-century juncture in American life. In doing so, the movie brings forth its own array of astonishments, not the … Continue reading

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Students for a Democratic Society

“Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships and parliamentary procedure, the founders … Continue reading

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JACOBIN No.29 / Spring 2018: 1968

“Between us we can change this rotten society. Now, put on your coat and make for the nearest cinema. Look at their deadly love-making on the screen. Isn’t it better in real life? Make up your mind to learn to … Continue reading

Posted in Black Power, Books, CIA, Civil Rights Mov., Draft board, John Kennedy, Lyn. Johnson, MLKJr., Movie, Paris, R. McNamara, SDS, Sports, Vietnam War, Weather Underground | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Trials of Muhammad Ali – Bill Siegel (2013)

“Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay, was not the only American to refuse to serve during the Vietnam War, but he was, by some measures, the most famous, the loudest and the baddest. Tracing the road to Mr. Ali’s act of … Continue reading

Posted in Documentary, Draft board, Malcolm X, Movie, Pacifist, Religion, Sports, Vietnam War, Weather Underground | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Debunking ’60s Myths and Catchphrases

Crossing street at Masonic and Haight, 1967. “… The system not only referred to capitalism or to economics. The system represented the constellation of forces that dominated and controlled all aspects of social life from sexual mores to the oppression … Continue reading

Posted in Black Power, Books, Chicano, Civil Rights Mov., Cuban Revolution, Draft board, Feminist, Haight-Ashbury, Hippie, LSD, Marijuana, Street theater, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Muhammad Ali Explains Why He Refused to Fight in Vietnam: “My Conscience Won’t Let Me Go Shoot My Brother… for Big Powerful America” (1970)

“In April of 1967, Muhammad Ali arrived at the U.S. Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station in Houston, Texas. ‘Standing beside twenty-five other nerve-racked young men called to the draft,’ writes David Remnick at The New Yorker, Ali ‘refused to … Continue reading

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Direct Action: Protest and the Reinvention of American – L. A. Kauffman

“In 1971, the People Didn’t Just March on Washington — They Shut It Down. The largest and most audacious direct action in US history is also among the least remembered, a protest that has slipped into deep historical obscurity. It was … Continue reading

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My Time as a Vietnam War-era Conscientious Objector

Conscientious objector William White being dragged from his home in Sydney after being arrested, 1966 “When I chose to apply for conscientious objector status in 1969 during the height of the Vietnam War, I was a teenager and in a … Continue reading

Posted in Draft board, Pacifist, Peace talks, Religion, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment