Vietnam War

execution

The Day I Saved Seattle: A Personal Memoir of Vietnam Protest by James Knisely (historylink.org) In May 1970, Seattle (along with much of the nation) was in the midst of weeks of protests that erupted when U.S. forces entered Cambodia on May 1. Protests escalated after National Guardsmen fired on a demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four students, on May 4. On the 5th and again on the 6th thousands of protestors blocked Interstate 5 through Seattle. James Knisely was present when demonstrators and police in riot gear faced off on the freeway for the second time, as he recalls in this memoir.

Our decision is irrevocable. Our consciences do not permit us to participate in this senseless and immoral war. We are sure that tens of thousands of students throughout the country will join us in resistance. Two-thirds of the men in the senior class at Reed College (1968)