Vietnam Day Committee

The Vietnam Day Committee (VDC) was a coalition of left-wing political groups, student groups, labour organizations, and pacifist religions in the United States of America that opposed the Vietnam War during the counterculture era. It was formed in Berkeley, California in the spring of 1965 by activist Jerry Rubin, and was active through the majority of the Vietnam war, organizing several rallies and marches in California as well as coordinating and sponsoring nationwide protests.

The VDC was formed by Jerry Rubin, Paul Montauk, and a number of others including Abbie Hoffman and Stew Albert, between May 21 and May 22, 1965 during a 35‑hour‑long anti-Vietnam war protest that took place inside and around the University of California, Berkeley, and attracted over 35,000 people. The VDC laid out three main objectives: to achieve national and international solidarity and coordination on action, to take part in militant action, including civil disobedience and to work extensively in the community to develop the movement outside of the university campus. Attending the event were several notable anti-war activists, including Dr. Benjamin Spock, however the State Department declined to send a representative, despite the burning of an effigy of president Lyndon Johnson.

On May 5, 1965, the VDC were involved in a march of several hundred students from Berkeley on to the Berkeley Draft Board, where staff were given a black coffin as a gift, and a number of students set alight their draft cards.

Later that year, the VDC planned a nationwide protest known as the International Days of Protest Against American Military Intervention, which was scheduled to take place between October 15 and October 16. In arranging and coordinating the protest movement, the VDC headquarters in Berkeley communicated with numerous anti-war groups in New York City, Boston, New Haven, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Portland and Atlanta. The planned movement attracted attention from some newspapers like the National Guardian:

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