A Mad, Mad, Mad World

AUGUST

Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lyndon Johnson authority to use military force in Southeast Asia without an official declaration of war.

APRIL

In the first of two campus visits, Martin Luther King Jr. addresses an overflow crowd at Memorial Auditorium. Six months later King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

MARCH

The United States deploys 3,500 Marines to South Vietnam.

DECEMBER

U.S. ground forces in Vietnam increase to 200,000.

FEBRUARY

Approximately 400 students and faculty members rally to protest U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

MARCH

A Stanford chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) receives official campus recognition. Membership consists of 15 men and one woman.

MAY

Tens of thousands of antiwar demonstrators picket the White House.

OCTOBER

Militant civil rights activists Bobby Seale and Huey Newton found the Black Panther Party.

APRIL

A reluctant candidate with strong antiwar views, David Harris, ’67, is elected student body president. His platform calls for an end to Stanford’s “cooperation” with the war effort, eliminating the Board of Trustees and legalizing marijuana.

MAY

Fifteen students occupy the reception area of President Wallace Sterling’s office for three days, protesting new Selective Service requirements that could affect student draft deferments.

JUNE

More than 100,000 hippies visit Haight-Ashbury, inspiring the “Summer of Love.”

JANUARY

Richard Lyman is appointed provost.

FEBRUARY

David Harris resigns his presidency, noting that he has done “all I am capable of doing” to reform Stanford’s policies.

APRIL

A campus rally sponsored by SDS attracts about 400 students; 150 of them march to the Stanford Research Institute to protest work on chemical weapons.

JANUARY

North Vietnamese troops launch the Tet Offensive.

MARCH

U.S. soldiers massacre hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in the village of My Lai.

APRIL

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.

JUNE

Leading presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles.

NOVEMBER

Richard M. Nixon is elected President of the United States.

NOVEMBER

SDS leads a protest blocking access to CIA recruitment interviews on campus.

APRIL

At a Memorial Auditorium colloquium on civil rights four days after King’s death, African-American students walk on stage and present a list of demands that includes proportional representation of minorities in the next freshman class.

MAY

A 3 a.m. arson fire burns down the naval ROTC building. The facility had been damaged by arson two months earlier.

JULY

Arsonists destroy the contents of President Sterling’s office, weeks before his scheduled retirement.

AUGUST

Rice University president Kenneth Pitzer is appointed Stanford’s sixth president, effective December 1.

SEPTEMBER

The Faculty Senate, a new representative body consisting of 53 faculty members elected by the University’s seven schools, holds its first meeting.

AUGUST

The three-day Woodstock music festival attracts hundreds of thousands.

APRIL

The April 3rd Movement, dedicated to the abolishment of classified research on campus and stricter supervision of SRI, is established. On April 9, 300 students occupy the Applied Electronics Lab and stay there for nine days.

MAY

Hundreds of students invade Encina Hall in the early morning hours of May 1. Police clear the building.

Trustees vote to cut Stanford’s ties with SRI on May 13, prompting a demonstration three days later by 300 student protesters who wanted stricter University control over the institute. Police use tear gas to break up the disturbance, and make 100 arrests.

MAY

U.S. troops invade Cambodia.

Ohio National Guardsmen shoot to death four students at Kent State University on May 4.

APRIL

For several nights in early April, mobs rampage through campus breaking windows to protest ROTC’s continued presence at Stanford.

Anti-ROTC demonstrators clash with conservative students in the lobby of Old Union on April 23. Twenty-two are arrested the following day.

Club-wielding police battle rock-throwing students at Old Union on April 29, resulting in 16 arrests and dozens of injuries.

MAY

3,500 students meet in Frost Amphitheatre to discuss a proposed student strike. On May 4, classes are canceled and strikers block entrances to several campus buildings.

JUNE

Citing lack of support from “all those groups who together are responsible for the well-being of the University,” Pitzer resigns as president, effective September 1.

SEPTEMBER

Provost Lyman is appointed Stanford’s seventh president

MARCH

U.S. Army Lt. William Calley is found guilty on 22 counts of murder for his role in the My Lai massacre.

FEBRUARY

Spurred on by tenured English professor Bruce Franklin, protesters hoping to shut down the University seize the Computation Center, leading to a daylong confrontation with authorities. Two days later, Franklin is suspended.

APRIL

A bomb explodes in Lyman’s unoccupied office resulting in $25,000 in damage. On April 26, an arson fire causes $50,000 in damage to the Junipero Lounge in Wilbur Hall.

SEPTEMBER

The Faculty Advisory Board begins hearings to decide whether Bruce Franklin should be dismissed. The hearings last six weeks and are carried live on KZSU.

JUNE

Five White House operatives are arrested for breaking into headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C.

JANUARY

On January 5, the Faculty Advisory Board recommends that Franklin be fired. The Board of Trustees upholds the decision on January 22. His dismissal prompts a firebomb attempt outside the home of an Advisory Board member but the device fails to explode. Franklin’s lawsuit seeking reinstatement is later denied in court.