from the White House to demand that President Lyndon Johnson send federal soldiers to provide protection.
It was unusually cold that year, and some of the protesters huddled under blankets in the falling snow. The president paid attention, and on March 20, he ordered United States soldiers to go to Alabama.
Later in that decade and into the 1970s, protests targeted the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War. A banner unfurled on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1966 read: WE MOURN OUR SOLDIERS. THEY ARE DYING IN VAIN . In 1970, antiwar activists stacked thirty-seven cardboard boxes full of end-the-war petitions against the iron fence in front of the White House. Protests by some thirty-five thousand people on May 2, 1971, resulted in thousands of arrests and increased pressure on President Richard Nixon to end the war.
Over the years, the cause of peace has been promoted by antinuclear activists whose message is also proenvironment. In 1979 a serious accident at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania inspired some sixty-five thousand people to go to Washington to march near the Capitol and the White House.
Probably the most persistent protester in American history is Concepcion Picciotto, whose antinuclear peace vigil in Lafayette Park began in 1981 and, as of 2013, was still going on.
ALL KINDS OF CAUSES
While a protest over the fate of a single Madagascar hissing cockroach may be unlikely, itâs true that all kinds of causes have drawn activists to the presidentâs residence. In recent times, protests have called for action on gun control, abortion, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, funding for AIDS research, gay rights and US support for the Baloch people of Pakistan.
In the spring of 2013, environmentalists and people worried about climate change protested a proposed pipeline to bring Canadian oil to refineries in the United States. Several were arrested after they tied themselves to the White House fence.
But wait a second.
If protesting is such a good thing, how come people are arrested for it?
The trouble is, protesters sometimes risk their own safety or get in the way of other citizens, like government employees, neighborhood residents and tourists. The suffragists arrested in 1917, for example, were convicted of obstructing the sidewalk and failure to disperse when told to do so by police.
Currently, there are regulations making it illegal for more than 750 people to demonstrate on the White House sidewalk. There are also limits on the size of protest signs, in part to ensure that tourists can take nice pictures of the White House. In 2011, a new law took effect that further restricts protests in places protected by the Secret Service.
Guess what happened after President Barack Obama signed that law?
Protests, of course!
CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE
After the March 1965 protests, President Lyndon Johnson introduced important legislation to protect the voting rights of citizens regardless of race. Speaking toCongress, he credited protesters with helping to bring about reforms:
âThe real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have awakened the conscience of this nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir reform.â
Whether the goal is civil rights, womenâs rights, animal rights or something else altogether, the government canât make improvements unless its bosses, the people, tell it what ought to be done. One way the people have done this throughout history is to protest in front of the White House.
If you want to know more about White House protests, a great source is the White House Historical Association, at www.whitehousehistory.org .
It was unusually cold that year, and some of the protesters huddled under blankets in the falling snow. The president paid attention, and on March 20, he ordered United States soldiers to go to Alabama.
Later in that decade and into the 1970s, protests targeted the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War. A banner unfurled on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1966 read: WE MOURN OUR SOLDIERS. THEY ARE DYING IN VAIN . In 1970, antiwar activists stacked thirty-seven cardboard boxes full of end-the-war petitions against the iron fence in front of the White House. Protests by some thirty-five thousand people on May 2, 1971, resulted in thousands of arrests and increased pressure on President Richard Nixon to end the war.
Over the years, the cause of peace has been promoted by antinuclear activists whose message is also proenvironment. In 1979 a serious accident at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania inspired some sixty-five thousand people to go to Washington to march near the Capitol and the White House.
Probably the most persistent protester in American history is Concepcion Picciotto, whose antinuclear peace vigil in Lafayette Park began in 1981 and, as of 2013, was still going on.
ALL KINDS OF CAUSES
While a protest over the fate of a single Madagascar hissing cockroach may be unlikely, itâs true that all kinds of causes have drawn activists to the presidentâs residence. In recent times, protests have called for action on gun control, abortion, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, funding for AIDS research, gay rights and US support for the Baloch people of Pakistan.
In the spring of 2013, environmentalists and people worried about climate change protested a proposed pipeline to bring Canadian oil to refineries in the United States. Several were arrested after they tied themselves to the White House fence.
But wait a second.
If protesting is such a good thing, how come people are arrested for it?
The trouble is, protesters sometimes risk their own safety or get in the way of other citizens, like government employees, neighborhood residents and tourists. The suffragists arrested in 1917, for example, were convicted of obstructing the sidewalk and failure to disperse when told to do so by police.
Currently, there are regulations making it illegal for more than 750 people to demonstrate on the White House sidewalk. There are also limits on the size of protest signs, in part to ensure that tourists can take nice pictures of the White House. In 2011, a new law took effect that further restricts protests in places protected by the Secret Service.
Guess what happened after President Barack Obama signed that law?
Protests, of course!
CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE
After the March 1965 protests, President Lyndon Johnson introduced important legislation to protect the voting rights of citizens regardless of race. Speaking toCongress, he credited protesters with helping to bring about reforms:
âThe real hero of this struggle is the American Negro. His actions and protests, his courage to risk safety and even to risk his life, have awakened the conscience of this nation. His demonstrations have been designed to call attention to injustice, designed to provoke change, designed to stir reform.â
Whether the goal is civil rights, womenâs rights, animal rights or something else altogether, the government canât make improvements unless its bosses, the people, tell it what ought to be done. One way the people have done this throughout history is to protest in front of the White House.
If you want to know more about White House protests, a great source is the White House Historical Association, at www.whitehousehistory.org .
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