Woodstock West: "Build, Not Burn"

December 1969

President Nixon Reinstitutes the Draft Lottery  

An early warning sign that President Nixon, like his predecessors, was expanding the U.S. campaign in Vietnam, was the reinstatement of the draft lottery in 1969. Between “Operation Menu,” a series of punishing bombing raids along the Vietnam and Cambodia border between March and May of 1969, and the draft, it was quickly becoming apparent that things were getting worse, not better. 

Access the full article "Loser Wins Freedom" from DU Clarion December 4, 1969 (page 7).

April 1970

Protests Against Denver Research Institute 

Many universities saw agitation about contracts, funding, investment, or other ties between the U.S. military and the educational institution. These were often connected to SDS and other student-organized peace resistance movement groups - and DU was no different. The University’s primary connection to government contracts was through the Denver Research Institute, which emerged immediately post-World War II. DU’s protests were small and disorganized relative to others, like the University of Michigan whose students protested its relationship to Dow Chemical. By the height of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Department of Defense had spent close to $266 million, a number that’s dwarfed by current defense spending on “academic research.” 

Access full article "Marchers descend on DRI; urge end to research" from DU Clarion April 24, 1970.

April 30, 1970

President Nixon Announces Invasion of Cambodia 

On April 30, 1970, President Nixon made an announcement that U.S. ground forces had invaded eastern Cambodia, expanding the reach of operations previously limited to the bombing of purported North Vietnamese and Viet Cong refuges that President Nixon had secretly undertaken with “Operation Menu” in March of 1969.

This action coupled with the draft reinstatement made it clear that President Nixon was not working towards peace but rather enlarging the theater and scope of war. Groups like the Rocky Mountain Peace Action Council, seen in this document and other fliers like it, quickly renewed efforts to agitate for the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Southeast Asia. 

Access more infromation on the flier.