Flower Child, Pentagon
The March on the Pentagon on October 21st 1967 was not the first, the last or the largest of anti-Vietnam war protests by activists, hippies, students and draft resisters. However, the rally was envisioned with one adamant purpose: to shut down the war effort, if only for a day — and on that October morning the crowd of some 100,000 confronted 2,500 rifle-wielding soldiers for just that. The organizerorganizer Abbie Hoffman held a mass exorcism, hoping to levitate the Pentagon 300 feet off the ground, turn it orange and vibrate out any evil spirits.
French photojournalist Marc Riboud noticed a lone girl posturing inches from the soldiers’ sheathed bayonets. She was trying to start a dialogue with them. Riboud crept close, snapping away in the soft, dying light of the late afternoon with the last of his film. He wouldn’t learn the girl’s name for three decades, but the photograph he took—a gauzy juxtaposition of armed force and flower child innocence—soon became a defining image of the antiwar era. The girl, Jan Rose Kasmir, was 17 when the picture was taken, a high-school student who’d bounced from foster home to foster home in the nearby Maryland suburbs. Now she had settled in Denmark.
The photo–perhaps as as proxy for the girl–talked to the soldiers; it convinced them to throw down their guns and join the anti-war movement soothingly and softly. However, what happened that day was anything but: it resulted in some of the first violent clashes of the antiwar movement as the soldiers lobbed tear gas into the crowds trying to force their way into the building. Six hundred eighty-one protesters were arrested, and dozens were beaten as they were pushed off the Pentagon’s steps. Norman Mailer chronicled these events in his firsthand account, The Armies of the Night.
In 2004, Riboud reunited with Kasmir when the latter was protesting the Iraq War in London.
WO! At that demonstration I was absolutely NOT hit by any tear gas. that is not to say that it was not used – I just didn’t get gassed that day. May Day was another story! I walked into the cloud from an exploding “bowling ball” – what did i know? why would I think they were really going to hurt me? Dumb! My guy friend was whacked in the leg with a police bat – THAT HURT!
But on the day of my picture when I was demonstrating at the Pentagon, the soldiers that lined up did nothing but shake. (Marc’s observation.) I just felt that they were stonewalling me – until THAT MOMENT – WHEN THE CAMERA CLICKED, IT WAS AT THE EXACT MOMENT I REALIZED THAT WE WERE ONE – THEY COULD HAVE BEEN MY BROTHERS – MY DATE – MY FRIENDS – THE RHETORIC OF THE WAR MACHINE WAS DEAD. WE WERE ONE.
Jan Rose Kasmir
March 11, 2010 at 5:12 am
Have any of the soldiers ever spoken out about that moment?
Lois
December 9, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Hello Jan – My daughters (8 years old) were asking about war and who protests war. They were asking what a hippie was and I told them about the movement for peace in the 60′s. I didn’t want to tell them too much because I like them to draw their own conclusions from life. But I remembered these photographs from an art history class and looked them up.
Here’s what they say to you:
“I am proud of you. Someday maybe I would like to stand up against war myself. You didn’t look scared at all. The soldiers looked confused. I am glad that you stood against the war.”
“I think you did a great job keeping peace during the war. You are a great person. You are very confident. We learned a lot from these pictures.”
Thanks for your continued effort for peace.
xo
The York girls
Cat, Melanie and Charlotte York
catherine york
July 30, 2010 at 1:36 am
I’m form china.and my English is not well,but I still want to say:”it’s moved me so,almost maked me cry”.
thank u for your share.
jiang
October 28, 2010 at 4:01 am
This picture is still relevant today as I ask why are we still at war? Thank you for your courage in getting the message out.
Catherine
Catherine Bochent
October 30, 2010 at 11:36 pm