The Mayday Protest During The Vietnam War

While the majority of Americans were sitting at home, young soldiers were fighting a fight they didn’t understand. Many of the young soldiers died while fighting this conflict, some had mental disabilities that ended up taking their life. Because of the magnitude of spending on the war, Great Society social programs such as welfare, housing, and urban renewal had little to no funding. In the late 60’s protesting and protestors became radical, demonstrations went from peaceful to violent almost overnight. The Mayday protest was a series of large-scale demonstrations against the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War (Senina). The Mayday protest took place in Washington D.C, between May 1st and May 3rd. It was a series of large scale demonstrations, bent on shutting down the government for at least a day.

At Kent State University in Ohio, during one of the walkouts, National Guardsmen shot into a crowd of students fatally wounding four and killing nine. After this incident, another incident occurred ten days later at Jackson State University, fatally wounding two and injuring twelve. Actions, such as these, taken by the United States Government prompted many of the people who were undecided to oppose the war entirely. It was estimated that nearly half of the student population, by the end of May 1970, were against the war. The Mayday protests were a system of demonstrations determined to shut down the Government for one day. Mayday protesters were given a manual that showed key bridges, roads, and traffic circles, they were expected to close off these roads using only their bodies and stalled cars. The Mayday Tribe leaders knew that the police would be quick to start arresting protestors, so the manual asked that they come in waves so that when the first group was arrested they wouldn’t leave anything unblocked for very