4/17/1965: Approximately 25,000 to 30,000 anti-war protesters participated in the first March on Washington against the Vietnam War.

Organized by Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Peace Union against the advice of older peace movement organizations, the turn out was several times larger than anyone had anticipated.

        Here I sit in this rice paddy, wondering about Big Daddy,
        And I know that Lyndon loves me so.
        Yet it's strange when I remember, way back yonder to November,
        When he said I'd never have to go.
        And Lyndon Johnson told the nation, 'Have no fear of escalation,
        I am trying everyone to please.
        Though it isn't really war, I'm sending fifty thousand more,
        To help save Vietnam from Vietnamese.'

                "Lyndon Johnson Told The Nation," Tom Paxton [thanx Steve Suffet]