Moratorium Day: The day that millions of Americans marched
- Published
15 October marks 50 years since the first Moratorium Day to end the Vietnam War.
Moratorium Day involved mass protests across the US. Religious services, rallies and meetings were held, aiming to bring the war to an end.
By this point, US troops had been fighting the Communist Viet Cong in Vietnam since 1965. About 45,000 Americans had been killed in action by the end of 1969.
In Boston, about 100,000 people marched on Moratorium Day - it was considered the largest protest the city had ever seen at the time
A skywriting plane drew the peace symbol in the sky above the Boston Common as thousands marched
The protests brought America's middle class and middle-aged voters out in large numbers for the first time
At the time, Moratorium Day was believed to be the largest mass demonstration in US history with more than two million people taking part
New York saw a number of rallies across the city
At the New York State Theatre, there was a 12 hour chamber music vigil while about 2,000 doctors, nurses and hospital employees chose to march in protest
The protests helped put the anti-war movement in the national spotlight and into the mainstream news
Supporters of the Moratorium were pictured wearing black armbands. They paid tribute to those killed in action
Anti-war demonstrators gathered in Washington DC, protesting on the steps of the US Capitol
Following the Moratorium, President Richard Nixon went on national television to call for solidarity on the war effort
A further Moratorium took place on 15 November with hundreds of thousands of people marching in Washington DC
US deployment ended in 1973 after a ceasefire was established. Saigon eventually capitulated to the Communist forces on 30 April 1975.
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