Here’s my short conversation with Princeton Professor Julian Zelizer earlier today about how “No Kings” stacks up against the huge anti-war protests of 1969. Every Friday morning at 10:00 a.m., you can watch live as Julian and I put the pressing events of our time in historical context. Please join us next week!
I’m sure most of you are attending your local No Kings rally, but if you aren’t, please reconsider working it into your Saturday plans. And please share your photos of funny and pointed protest signs in the comments below.
TRANSCRIPT:
JULIAN ZELIZER:
Jon, tomorrow is another round of No Kings Day. People are predicting this might be the biggest one of all, maybe one of the biggest days of protest ever. I have been reading about the Vietnam Moratorium in October of 1969, which was at the time one of the largest days of protest.
The protests followed many years of opposition to the Vietnam War, and what was notable about October 15, 1969, was that the protests took place all over the country — small towns, rural areas, urban areas, college campuses, and more. And it showed how much this had grown from what was a fringe movement or a radical movement into something that was very much mainstream.
It didn’t change President Nixon right away. He continued with his policy, but it did put pressure, we know retrospectively, on Congress and on members of the administration because they were seeing that the opposition was reaching a critical mass.
So I was thinking of that day and its significance relative to what might happen tomorrow, and more broadly, the protests that we’ve seen over and over again with No Kings Day.
JONATHAN ALTER:
So the two situations are actually quite different, and not just because No Kings Day is much bigger.
There were two moratorium marches, October 15, 1969, and then a month later, November 15. The second one was bigger, with about 500,000 people in Washington. There were also big demonstrations in other cities, but not anywhere close in total to the 7 million that we saw the last time with No Kings, and this time it’s likely to go over 10 million.
So the size here is different, and the political context is very different.
The Vietnam War was much more unpopular at that time than it had been, and about 40,000 people had already been killed. Nixon had broken his promise that he made in the 1968 election to end the war; in fact, he was escalating. Despite all that, after Nixon gave his Silent Majority speech between the two moratorium marches in the fall of 1969, he went to a 67% approval rating.
Donald Trump, in some surveys right now, is at 34%, maybe 40%, low 40s at the highest in the most favorable polls. So Trump is much more unpopular now than Nixon was at that time, even though there was tremendous anti-war sentiment.
And remember, Nixon went on to get re-elected in 1972 with 49 states.
So Trump is much weaker politically than Nixon was, and these marches extend far wider than any of the anti-Vietnam War marches did, not just in terms of total numbers, but in the number of communities taking part.
Those 1969 protests were not just on college campuses. They were in a lot of different cities. But in this case, with No Kings, we’re talking about literally thousands of different locations.
In 2025, fear was contagious. In 2026, courage is contagious.
Which is why this is becoming the largest mass movement in all of American history.
So if you’re going out tomorrow, you’re part of history.
JULIAN ZELIZER:
I would just add: the Vietnam movement was about Vietnam. This is much broader, which in many ways is a source of strength. It includes many issues, and it reflects a broader sentiment about the direction of American politics under the president.
(modified transcript)
