 Demonstrators marching through the streets of downtown Santa Cruz, May 10, 1972. This peaceful demonstration followed a County Board of Supervisors meeting where a resolution was adopted to stop the Vietnam War. Credit: Bill Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel. |
Santa Cruz County's Vote to Stop the Vietnam
War - May, 1972
Prologue: On Tuesday, October
1, 2002, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted 3 to 0 in
support of a resolution opposing the United States waging war against
Iraq. Supervisors Mardi Wormhoudt, Ellen Pirie, and Jeff Almquist voted
in favor. Supervisors Tony Campos and Jan Beautz abstained. This action
followed a similar action by the Santa Cruz City Council the week before.
The actions of the city and county of Santa Cruz garnered national press
and was noted as the first such action by local jurisdictions involving
President Bush's stated desire to attack Iraq.
Was this unusual? Maybe for other places, but the October 1 vote by the Supervisors followed in the grand tradition of their predecessors.
The
History Dude would gently like to remind you all of our recent past.
Once upon a time, thirty years ago, in a land far away, there was
another war raging...
 Supervisor Henry Mello, far right with microphone, addresses the crowd. Man with striped tie to the left of Mello is Board Chairman, Phil Harry. The woman just left of Harry is Kay Harry, his wife. The man holding the speaker is County Administrative Assistant, Don Wilson. The Board agreed to meet with the crowd to consider the withdrawal petition on the next evening, May 10 in the Civil Auditorium. Credit: Sam Vestal, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. |
The
Day They Sent Phil Harry to Washington to Stop the War
In March of 1972, North Vietnamese troops invaded South Vietnam, and
President Richard Nixon responded by resuming the bombing of North Vietnam
and the mining of Haiphong Harbor. Anti-war protests escalated throughout
the United States, and on May 9, 1972 approximately 600 UCSC students
marched down into Santa Cruz carrying a petition asking that the United
States cease the bombing and withdraw the troops from Vietnam.
The
group marched to the steps of the County Building and attempted to
deliver the petition to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors meeting
in regular session. Since the group was too large for the meeting chambers,
the Supervisors chose to meet with the group on the County Building
steps.
Supervisors Phil Harry, Ralph Sanson and Henry Mello agreed to personally
sign the petition, and the entire Board agreed to hold a meeting the
following evening (May 10) to consider whether it had the jurisdiction
to
officially adopt the petition.
May 10, 1972 - The Meeting at the Civic
Auditorium
May 10 began with a blockade of traffic by protestors on Highway 17,
but
police eventually dispersed the crowd.
 The view from behind the Supervisors at the meeting, May 10, 1972. From left to right, Supervisors Mello, Forbus, Harry, Cress and Sanson. The crowd was estimated at 2,000. Credit: Phil Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel. |
The Supervisors meeting began at 7:30 PM that evening, and it was estimated that there were 2,000 people in attendance. After a lengthy discussion about whether such an action by a county board was appropriate, Henry Mello crafted a motion to disapprove of the United States' involvement in the war, and to send Board Chairman Phil Harry to Washington DC to personally deliver the message. A collection was to be taken up in the assembled body to pay Mr. Harry's expenses to Washington.
Because it was not a regularly scheduled Board meeting with a published agenda, the vote taken that evening was, again, simply personal. The vote was 3 to 1 in favor of the resolution. Supervisor Dan Forbus, Live Oak, had angrily left the meeting by the time the vote was taken, so the only dissenting vote cast was by Supervisor George Cress.
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Board
of Supervisors Meeting, the evening of May 10, 1972. Unbeknown
to those attending the meeting, there were police and tac squad
members lined up immediately behind the curtain at the rear of
the stage, ready to prevent any effort by the crowd to storm the
stage. In
a telephone interview with the History Dude in 1992, Phil Harry remembered
that the tensions in the room were very high, but that the crowd was
extremely civil and well behaved. He remembered that a number of shopping
bags were circulated through the crowd to take up the collection of
his airfare to Washington DC. Though many paper bills were placed in
the bags as they circulated, Harry remembered with a laugh that none
of the paper money survived the long trip through the crowd to the stage.
He said that there was nothing but a lot of coins and several marijuana
cigarettes in the bags when they finally reached him.
The Night of the Batons
Following the meeting, the assembled multitude decided to hold a candlelight
march down Pacific Avenue. Supervisor Harry and his wife Kay joined
the parade, and flanked by the tac squad, the parade moved peacefully
down Pacific Avenue.
To this day no one is certain what started the violence, but Harry remembered
watching the officers beating a man with their batons in front of the
St. George Hotel. "The guy was on the ground and three officers
just whomped on him for awhile before leaving him there on the sidewalk,"
he said. The order was then given to clear the streets and officers
ran along Pacific Avenue, swinging clubs and knocking down demonstrators
and bystanders.
 With torches and candles, the crowd moves down Pacific Avenue following the Board of Supervisors meeting, May 10, 1972. Credit: Bill Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel. |
 Most of the marchers were singing protest songs as they marched down the street. Credit: Bill Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel. |
Eventually, one police officer and eight citizens were treated for relatively minor wounds at Dominican Hospital.
 Unidentified man with head wound, Pacific Avenue, May 10, 1972. Credit: Sam Vestal, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. |
May 11, 1972 - The Protest Continues
Large crowds gathered in several locations in Santa Cruz, and the police
and demonstrators had numerous skirmishes throughout the day.
 Demonstrators at the intersection of Highway 1 and River Street, May 11, 1972 Credit: Sam Vestal, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. |
 Police disperse crowd on River Street, May 11, 1972. Credit: Sam Vestal, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. |
 Demonstrators march through Santa Cruz neighborhood, May 11, 1972 Credit: Bill Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel. |
 It's not unanimous, apparently. In a classic photograph illustrating the somewhat schizophrenic nature of Santa Cruz, sunbathers at the Santa Cruz Main Beach watch with some bemusement as the demonstrators swirl around them. Credit: Bill Lovejoy, Santa Cruz Sentinel. |
Epilogue:
The Board Votes Officially and Phil Harry Carries the Message to Washington
The following week, at their regular meeting, the Santa Cruz County
Board of Supervisors listened to all the arguments again and voted 3
to 2 (Mello, Sanson and Harry in favor, Forbus and Cress against) in
favor officially adopting the resolution.
Phil Harry then drove immediately to San Francisco airport and caught
an airplane for Washington DC to deliver the message to President Nixon.
He had no illusions about being able to have access to the President,
however. "I knew nobody was going to give me the time of day in
Washington," he recalled.
Upon arriving in Washington, Harry went to Burt Talcott's office (Talcott,
a Republican, represented Santa Cruz County at the time), but could
not arrange a meeting with either Talcott or California's Senator John
Tunney. Finally, after wandering the halls of Congress, Harry was able
to get assistance from anti-war Senators Harold Hughes and Frank Church
who got the resolution to Senator Alan Cranston who read it into the
Congressional Record. Phil jumped on a plane and returned immediately
to Santa Cruz County that same evening.
 Phil Harry and his wife, Kay. Phil Harry delivered the anti-war resolution from Santa Cruz County to Washington DC. Credit: Sam Vestal, Watsonville Register-Pajaronian. |
Phil
Harry later remembered, "I knew that the Santa Cruz County Board
of Supervisors did not have a direct role in foreign affairs, but by
hearing out the crowd and taking a stand on the war, I am sure we helped
keep the demonstrators in Santa Cruz from going on a tear."
So, there you have it, boys and girls. The Santa Cruz County Board of
Supervisors has dabbled in foreign affairs before. Thirty years ago,
they voted to send their Chairman to Washington to stop the Vietnam
War.
And, the History Dude wonders, what ever happened to all those joints
in those shopping bags?
Sources: The History Dude wrote a column in the Santa Cruz Sentinel,
on the 20th anniversary of the event, May 24, 1992. Linda Roberts, a
student in the Santa Cruz County History Class offered at Cabrillo,
did a lengthy paper on the demonstrations of 1972 titled Anti-Vietnam
War Demonstration: Santa Cruz 1972. In the course of doing that paper
she was assisted by photographer Bill Lovejoy in collecting some of
his photographers from the event. If the reader wishes to get the feeling
of the time, the History Dude suggests reading the May 1972 Santa Cruz
Sentinel and San Jose Mercury News newspapers, on microfilm at the McHenry
Library, UCSC.