Vietnam Veterans Against the War Conduct Week of Protests

April 19, 1971

Overview

More than 1,000 Vietnam veterans arrive in Washington, D.C. for an antiwar protest organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), a group of veteran activists. They stage peaceful demonstrations throughout the week, including a memorial service at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. On April 22, a VVAW spokesman, Navy veteran John Kerry, testifies before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations about the group’s opposition to the war and its call for an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam.

VVAW members conclude their stay in D.C. with a march to the Capitol on April 23, where more than 500 of them throw medals and ribbons toward the Capitol building. While the VVAW’s lobbying efforts are largely unsuccessful, the protests and Kerry’s televised testimony increase its membership and gain national attention.¹

Kyle Longley, Grunts: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharp, Inc., 2008), 171; Tucker, Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, 1294; Andrew Hunt, The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (New York: New York University Press, 1999), 96, 112; “John Kerry remarks to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,” April 22, 1971, United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 92nd Congress, 1st Session, Legislative Proposals Relating to the War in Southeast Asia: Hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, April 20–May 27, 1971 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971) ,179–210.