The first Earth Day happened 51 years ago when CBS News' Walter Cronkite called it 'a day dedicated to enlisting all the citizens of a bountiful country in a common cause of saving life from the deadly byproduct of that bounty.'
The first Earth Day happened 51 years ago. In 1970, Richard Nixon was president. The country was embroiled in the Vietnam War, made all the more intense by the ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union. The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Minnesota Vikings to win Super Bowl IV. Smoking ads were still allowed on TV.
Organizers in Boston expected a crowd of thousands, but only a few hundred showed up. Students enacted a"die-in," complete with coffins, to show the dangers of airplane pollution. But even the small, peaceful demonstration at Logan Airport lead to disorder. Police charged the crowd as they were disassembling, making 13 arrests.
A smaller-than-expected crowd of over 4,000 people attended a rally in the Loop in Chicago. There they listened to singing and speeches recommending, among other things, the elimination of the internal combustion engine. The protesters certainly seemed to believe in the cause and its urgency. Given the continued need for a day supporting protection of the environment, it's not clear how far their message spread."It did not unite," according to Cronkite."Demonstrators were predominately young, predominately white, predominately anti-Nixon. Often its protests appeared frivolous, its protestors curiously carefree.
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