“If it takes a blood bath to silence the demonstrators,” the governor said, “let’s get it over with.”
That was Ronald Reagan, who as governor of California took a hard line on protests against the Vietnam War, which coincided with a strengthening right-wing movement in the state. As he sought re-election, a riot in Berkeley helped advance his political career.
On this day in 1969 — 53 years ago today — students and community activists clashed with the police over a three-acre plot owned by the University of California, Berkeley. What began as a disagreement over use of the land — a site known as People’s Park — resulted in the most violent confrontation in the university’s history. It was a day that became known as Bloody Thursday.
Reagan responded by sending in the National Guard.
Berkeley has long been a center of cultural disputes and civil unrest. The Free Speech Movement began there during the 1964-65 academic year, and protests erupted on its campus this year over planned appearances by the right-wing activists Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter.
Those recent controversies have shined the spotlight on a debate over freedom of expression.
Thanks, New York Times!
In the above Associated Press photo from 53 years ago in Berkeley, National Guard troops watched from behind a fence