Anti-war protests turn corner with 2,000-person torchlight demonstration (1969)

Anti- and pro-war marches were occurring on campus as early as this protest in 1965.

Student protest was not new to NIU, but prior to the mid-sixties, most such movements had to do with local and/or internal issues. Beginning around 1965, however, student protests turned more and more to national issues with local impact, such as Dow Chemical – manufacturer of napalm – being allowed to recruit on campus.

Opposing sides on the subject of the Vietnam conflict regularly engaged in marches and countermarches for and against U.S. involvement. It would be a mistake to imagine that all such protest was anti-war, for the student body was never unanimous in its opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam (and in fact soundly defeated a campaign to remove ROTC from campus).

But escalation of the war and the events of the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago turned an increasing number of students (as well as faculty, staff and community members) into anti-war activists. By late 1969, a sizeable number were observing a moratorium on classes and demanding that President Nixon set a date for withdrawal of troops.

On October 15 a large torchlight parade was staged with an estimated 2,000 marchers. Historian Earl Hayter wrote about that night:

“They were carrying all manner of burning objects, including kerosene-soaked rags wrapped around sticks, rolls of burning toilet paper, candles, flashlights, flares and railroad lanterns.”

“Ten abreast and curb-to-curb, the paraders (some of whom were DeKalb citizens) filled Carroll Avenue from the Lucinda Avenue intersection to the post office pagoda. The march route moved north on Carroll before turning west on Lucinda toward the West Campus area.”

“Participants seemed to be in good spirits, buoyed by the large turnout and the knowledge that they were taking part in a nationwide movement. Returning the way they had come, the marchers walked back to the University Center’s Carl Sandburg Auditorium where a capacity crowd heard antiwar speeches.”

The size of the peaceful march marked it as an historical turning point – but also the beginning of a roughly eight-month period of unprecedented protest yet to come.

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When recruiters from Dow Chemical arrived at the NIU Placement Office in Lowden Hall in February 1967, they were greeted by protesters.

Pro-war demonstrations co-existed with anti-war protest during the early- to mid-sixties, and the student body was never unanimous in its opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

The escalation of the war in the late 1960s, coupled with police violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, caused an increasing number of students, faculty, staff and community members to become anti-war activists.

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