Short Venture into Protest: Anti-War Protests at TCU, 1960-1973

Abstract

Past historians have analyzed the 1960s American student antiwar movement mainly through a northern or western lens, focusing on particular hotspots and violent confrontations like Berkely and Columbia. This paper will add to the literature by analyzing antiwar protests on a relatively small, lesser-known college on the edges of the South, Texas Christian University. For despite its small size and failure to achieve tangible results, the TCU peace movement consisted of passionate organizers who utilized uniquely Southern styles of activism to raise awareness for their cause. Constantly attacked by administrative systems, fellow students, and biased publications, student organizations like Students For Peace, the Vietnam Moratorium, and Spunk Magazine brought the war to TCU, eventually pulled the student body out of years of political apathy, slowly changed public opinion, and inspired liberal reforms in school policy.

Comments from Mentors

Anthony Lucido’s tenacious research, sharp eye for telling evidence, and sophisticated, nuanced analysis uncovered a side of TCU I didn’t know existed.  In telling this story Lucido adds to our knowledge of both TCU and antiwar protests in the Vietnam era.

— Todd Kerstetter