You’re reading a story from Sidelines 100, a project showcasing a century of student storytelling at Middle Tennessee State University. Sidelines 100 plans to highlight 100 stories from the newspaper archives this fall and spring.
This story originally ran in the Oct 17, 1969, edition of Sidelines. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay on top of all things Sidelines 100.
Wednesday morning the University Center was the scene of a student interaction, “Give Peace a Chance,” sponsored by the MTSU Vietnam Moratorium Steering Committee.
The gathering, which began about 9:30 a.m., opened from the porch of the UC, where members of the Moratorium gave out information and black arm bands; sold candles and sang folk-protest songs, and spread to the onlookers on the lawn below.
Some students wore the black arm bands. Others wore white bands with “USA” printed on them and an optional “Stars and Stripes.” Some had come to listen or discuss, and in some cases to ridicule.
The ideological gap was spanned by curiosity and/or conviction.
“All this (referring to his black arm band) stands for is respect for those who have died in Vietnam,” said one student.
A student, wearing a USA band, said, “We don’t sing anything besides ‘America the Beautiful.’ We are protesting against the Albatross Party. We stand for ‘America Right or Wrong.'”
However, as one participant noted, the scene was not so simple as the black and white of the arm bands. “Some say that you are against the U.S. if you wear a black arm band. I am against the war because it is against our national self-interests. Others, like Sen. Albert Gore, feel likewise. My motivation is patriotism.”
“I am opposed to the war,” said one freshman “but I haven’t worn an arm band because I might be associated with aspects of the movement that I did not support.”
Some people felt that they needed gray armbands. One girl, in bewilderment wore both the black and the USA symbols. “I only put on this black one in the first place because of the prayer for the dead war victims, aspect. But I also love my country.”
Discussions continued through the afternoon ranging from the moral issue of the war to theories for its solution. Expertie varied from veterans of the conflict to readers of the Time magazine.
Sketches from a discussion follow:
MINISTER: There has got to be a better way to solve our problems than by war.
VETERAN: There should be, but there isn’t.
STUDENT A: You can’t have peace without violence.
MINISTER: But the whole point of the protest is that our country has a heritage of violence. You can’t counter violence with violence. You’re a Christian, aren’t you? Christ stood for peace. Everything he did he accomplished through a peaceful means.
STUDENT B: He died, didn’t he?
STUDENT A: (to minister) Don’t you ever get mad. I mean don’t you ever let your anger out on someone else?
MINISTER: I do get mad, yes, but I don’t like to. I don’t think that 1 have the right to inflict my agressions on another person.
A discussion between two students captured the mood of the day.
Kenneth Darrell, a freshman, wears his hair long. He said that in the past he has been more radical but has cooled down — a bit. He wore a black arm band.
Mike Burroughs, a sophomore, wore his ROTC uniform. According to Kenneth, Mike will make the Army his career.
Kenneth said that they had become acquainted at Madison High School in Nashville through a political campaign.
KENNETH: If we don’t support our troops we will have anarchy. We just think that they’re not fighting for our freedom in this war.
MIKE: Would you have fought in World War II.
KENNETH: Yes, that was a matter of national preservation. But I wouldn’t fight in this war … If I did not believe that something good would acrue from our form of government I would not be here today. I would be in my room reading some sort of science fiction… Next month we will have more people here.
MIKE: Next month, we’ll bring twice as many people (ROTC, assumed) then we can discuss . . . If the rest of your group are like you then we’ll have a fine time.
In a private interview, Kenneth said, “Mike and I are both nationalists. He’s going to wear a uniform and advance the country in his way. I support his decision. 1 will advance the country in my way.
“We both believe that peace should exist; that war shouldn’t be a constant activity; that we must have an army for national preservation. I find that our misunderstanding is not one of supporting war but does Vietnam have a national purpose?
“Mike and I are good friends. 1 respect him as much as anyone on campus. That’s because I know him . . . Today different groups have gotten a chance to talk with each other. They learned that all liberals aren’t Communists; all conservatives aren’t Birchers. We need more chances for discussion like this.”
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