Item #5535 [Press photo] Nixon inauguration protester assaulted by police

[Press photo] Nixon inauguration protester assaulted by police

Washington, D.C.: United Press International Telephoto, 1969. B/w silver gelatin print. 8 x 10 in. Very good. Stamped “Jan 21 1969” and “D.C. inauguration protest” written in ink on verso. Item #5535

Press photograph of police assaulting a participant at the “counter-Inaugural” protest of Richard Nixon’s first inauguration on January 20, 1969. Nixon’s inauguration saw the first organized protest at a presidential inauguration since 1853, organized by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (MOBE). Protesters planned to “In-hog-urate” a pig as president. Demonstrators were amused when the Pig President escaped its pen and led several cops on a chase. Nixon’s motorcade was greeted by protestors with several rocks, while others redecorated FBI and Selective Service Board buildings with rotten fruit and eggs. Later, protestors got wind of an event honoring incoming Vice President Spiro Agnew. They surrounded the museum hosting the event and were moved back by horse-mounted cops, which had mixed results; several attendees of the event were pelted by manure while entering and exiting Agnew’s event. Later during the night, a Molotov cocktail detonated inside the Selective Service Board headquarters, destroying hundreds of records relating to the administration of the draft.

This press photograph shows the police assaulting a protestor, who was likely one of the over 120 arrested. Interestingly, the caption identifies the protester as a “hippie.”.

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