WPRB’s Coverage of the Vietnam Moratorium
It was fall of 1969. Despite the recent reduction of troop levels, over 475,000 young men were still fighting in Vietnam—most of them conscripted. Young people from all walks of life were getting drafted into the army, including many Princeton students and graduates. As was the case on many college campuses at the time, Princeton experienced a growth in campus unrest in protest of the Vietnam War.
On October 15, 1969, Princeton, along with hundreds of other campuses across the nation, participated in a national moratorium against the war. The Peace Moratorium is believed to have been the largest demonstration in US history with an estimated two million people involved. At Princeton, this included a day of teach-ins, speeches, and demonstrations. WPRB’s News Department covered the event live.
About a month later, on November 13th, Princeton held a Vietnam Assembly in Jadwin Gymnasium that gathered over 3,000 alumni, faculty, students, and staff. Princeton was the first University to debate US involvement in Vietnam and call for an end to the war. Although the three major television networks sent crews to tape the event, WPRB was there as well, providing a unique undergraduate perspective.
LISTEN: 7-minute overview of WPRB’s Vietnam Moratorium coverage.
Two days later, WPRB reporters were in the midst of the crowd in Washington, DC, in what is believed to me the largest anti-war Protest in US history, with a crowd estimated at a half a million people. In the midst of that crowd, armed with cassette recorders, were the news reporters from WPRB. Unlike the establishment news people, our student reporters could use their special rapport with the demonstrators. The result was a unique set of insights that the big networks could not get. WPRB joined with other Ivy League schools in setting up an ad-hoc network that spring to get reports from other campuses.
See also: WPRB DJs Arrested in Washington, 1970