the michigan
“The Port Huron Statement wrote us, not the other way around,”
Convention in Chicago. Different factions within SDS debated
recalls Hayden. “In other words, there were feelings in the air,
how to respond, and the group simply could not contain the
blowing in the wind, that made it possible for us to articulate a
divergence of opinion.
yearning, a protest, a strategy, and a vision — of students as the
In 1969, the group split into rival factions, and one of the
catalysts of a great social movement leading towards a more par-
splinter groups, the Weathermen, co-founded by Bill Ayers (A.B.
ticipatory democracy.”
’68), embraced violence. By then, Hayden, Haber, and Jeffrey
“You have this document which is innovative, eloquent, com-
were long gone.
prehensive, sophisticated in its language . . . and it’s a phenom.
“The civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, they re-
It was written by people who were 22–25 years old,” says Brick.
ally did attack rather fundamental aspects of the way American
“At certain times, young people do remarkable things.”
society was organized and its conventional rationales, notions of
An estimated 60,000 copies of The Port Huron Statement were
‘American’ values,” says Brick.
sold or distributed in the 1960s, though this certainly underes-
“It was like an earthquake in the bedrock of society. Protest
timates the number of people who actually read it. It’s easy to
unleashed forces — sharp conflict, reaction, and repression —
imagine dog-eared copies passed among dozens of like-minded
that these groups simply didn’t have the institutional strength or
friends. Beyond these numbers, it was cited and anthologized by
the experience to withstand.”
other leftist publications. Brick is careful to note that “a publication does not create movements. Movements provide the seedbed for publications.” The Port Huron Statement can be viewed as a reflection of the
Still, SDS remains an important element of a phalanx of New Left groups dedicated to social change during the time. Beyond its roles in the civil rights and anti-war movements, SDS membership and alumni went on to play prominent roles in
times, a deep look into the movement’s underpinnings, as op-
women’s liberation and gay and lesbian liberation movements.
posed to a recipe for action.
The Port Huron Statement has reflected and shaped the goals and
After the Tonkin Gulf incident in 1964, the Johnson administration dramatically escalated military action in Vietnam. In
aspirations of countless activists around the world. That’s not to say SDS was faultless while it was in existence.
March of 1965, U-M professors and students — with SDS par-
Perhaps most egregiously, women were largely relegated to
ticipation — held an all-night teach-in on the Vietnam conflict.
minor, if any, leadership roles. Others have argued that, at key
It attracted thousands of students and was copied on campuses
moments in the 1960s, SDS opted for the wrong course, choosing
nationwide. In April, SDS played the key role in organizing the
to embrace a multitude of projects instead of concentrating its
“March on Washington to End the War in Vietnam,” the first
efforts on a few strategic fronts.
national protest against the growing war. It attracted an estimated 25,000 activists. The anti-war cause took off, in part, because it was building
These debates have raged for 50 years. Scholars, SDS alumni, and activists old and new will be able to make their case at the conference, “A New Insurgency: The Port Huron Statement in Its
upon the participants and networks established by more than a
Time and Ours,” which takes place on U-M’s campus from Octo-
decade of work by proponents of civil rights, nuclear disarma-
ber 31–November 2, 2012.
ment, student activism, and women’s rights. “The anti-war movement was the product of these movements
“The 50th anniversary gives us a chance to study how radical dissent back then took on new life after a time of conservatism,
synthesized into one,” says Brick. And SDS grew along with the
the Cold War 1950s,” says Brick, one of the lead conference or-
broader anti-war movement. With scores of chapters at cam-
ganizers. “The resurgence of protest around the world during
puses nationwide, and with its ability to incorporate Vietnam
the last two years has stirred a lot of interest in the 1960s New
into its broader political critique, SDS was well placed to receive
Left. Everyone’s talking about the parallels — and the differ-
a huge influx of anti-war students. Membership exploded.
ences — between that time and ours.”
/ An Earthquake in the Bedrock of Society By 1968, SDS had an estimated 100,000 members at more than 300 campuses. It was the nation’s largest radical student membership organization, and its members and leaders were seemingly omnipresent at nearly every significant student protest. Then, at the height of protest activism in the late 1960s, SDS fell apart. 1968 witnessed a series of cataclysms including the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy; the Tet Offensive; and the violence at the Democratic National 44
difference
LSA Magazine / Fall 2012
The conference will bring Hayden, Haber, Jeffrey, and others back to campus. It’s unlikely any of them will be occupying administrative buildings. Now, the radicals are honored guests. n Sources: Echols, Alice. “‘Nothing Distant About It:’ Women’s Liberation and Sixties Radicalism,” in David Farber, ed., The Sixties: From Memory to History (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1994), pp. 149–74. Farber, David. The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s (Hill and Wang, New York, 1994). Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage (Bantam Books, New York, 1993). Hayden, Tom. The Port Huron Statement: The Visionary Call of the 1960s Revolution (Thunder’s Mouth Press, New York, 2005). Isserman, Maurice. If I Had a Hammer: The Death of the Old Left and the Birth of the New Left (Basic Books, New York, 1987). Klimke, Martin. The Other Alliance: Student Protest in West Germany and the United States in the Global Sixties (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2011). Miller, James. “Democracy Is in the Streets:” From Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987). Smith, Allen. “Present at the Creation . . . and Other Myths: The Port Huron Statement and the Origins of the New Left,” Peace & Change 25 (2000). Walker, Linda Robinson. “The Last Dean of Women,” Michigan Today (Summer 2002).