Question Authority: The Seeds of Protest

In 1965, amidst escalating conflict in Vietnam, students at Harvard initiated a petition questioning the invitation of McGeorge Bundy, a key figure in the war's escalation, as commencement speaker. This effort aimed to challenge the ethical implications of honoring a person associated with military aggression. Despite the prominent liberal context of Boston, seeking faculty support for the petition proved challenging. This early resistance indicates that awareness and dissent regarding the Vietnam War were present even before larger-scale protests emerged, highlighting the varied timelines of activism and the complexities within academic institutions.