1968 Cal Poly napalm protest
April 17, 2008 – 9:18 am
Senior mathematics student David Brown speaks to a crowd protesting napalm in front of the Cal Poly administration building.
February 1, 1968
Cal Poly is not Berkley, but even at a conservative pragmatic school, enough anti-war idealists could be found to march.
Glenn Allen of Dow Chemical was on campus recruiting job seekers, an activity that had sparked violence at other campuses. The chemical giant was the maker of napalm, a weapon that would be brought to the forefront of American consciousness in 1972 when Nick Ut recorded the aftermath of a napalm attack on a Vietnamese village.
The protest drew a crowd of 500-1000 students and staff members and was organized by Students for New Action politics (SNAP). Some students came to heckle the pickets.
The liberal ivory tower must have been on some other campus.
Quoting the article:
“SNAP speakers met with some heckling and much laughter. A few students got up and spoke in favor of the Vietnam War and they were received with applause.”
The main story on the front page outlined a major Viet Cong offensive. Quoting the article:
“The Americans lost 232 dead and 929 wounded according to preliminary estimates. It was clear the week’s toll would be the highest in Vietnam history.”
It would come to be known as the Tet Offensive and claims of easy victory would never be seen in the same light again.
The war would soon doom the re-election bid of president Lyndon Johnson.
