On this day, Oct. 21, in 1967, as many as 100,000 people marched on the Pentagon in protest of the Vietnam War, leading to the arrest of nearly 700 people over two days.
The massive demonstration started peacefully in front of the Lincoln Memorial, then surged across the Potomac to the headquarters of the Defense Department.
The protest turned ugly as radical elements of the crowd clashed with a barrier of soldiers.
A plot to drop 10,000 flowers from a plane was foiled by undercover agents, so the flowers were distributed to the protesters.
It was then that photographer Bernie Boston snapped the iconic shot of a protester placing carnations in the military soldiers’ rifle barrels.
– Scott McCabe
