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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, APR 2–8, 2025  
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_ LBJ Wouldn’t Give Peace a Chance (1965), A Mob Stands Strong to
Defend Justice (1860), March for Women’s Lives (1992), A Rare
Benefit of the Great Pandemic (2020), A Brave Bid for Freedom Fails
(1760) _

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_LBJ WOULDN’T GIVE PEACE A CHANCE (1965)_

APRIL 2 IS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY of a speech that so infuriated
President Lyndon Johnson that he assaulted the speaker, who was the
Prime Minister of Canada. 

Prime Minister Lester Pearson – who had already won the Nobel Peace
Prize for his leadership role in bringing a peaceful conclusion to the
illegal 1956 invasion of Egypt by France, Britain and Israel – was
speaking in Philadelphia while accepting an award for his
world-renowned ability to calm international conflict. 

At the time of his speech Pearson expressed concern about the enormous
ongoing escalation – which began a month earlier – of the U.S. war
against Vietnam. The day-in, day-out bombardment of North Vietnam by
the U.S. was inflicting enormous damage but also failing to achieve
its stated objective, which was to bring about a negotiated
cease-fire.

In his speech, Pearson offered a modest suggestion: “If increasingly
powerful retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam does not bring
about this preliminary condition of cease-fire, surely serious
consideration must be given to every other way in which the stalemate
might be broken,” he said. “There does appear to be at least a
possibility that a pause in such air strikes against North Vietnam at
the right time might provide the Hanoi authorities with an
opportunity, if they wish to take it, to inject some flexibility into
their policy without appearing to do so as the direct result of
military pressure.”

It was good advice from a man with a track record of averting
bloodshed, but not what LBJ wanted to hear. The next day, at a private
meeting, Johnson literally attacked Pearson by grabbing the Prime
Minister’s lapels, lifting him off the ground, and yelling, “When
you’re in my home, don’t piss on my rug!” 

The confrontation took place when Johnson and Pearson were alone on an
outdoor terrace of the presidential retreat at Camp David, but it was
witnessed by high-level aides who could see the two men from inside
the house. The angry exchange was the subject of rumors at the time,
but the details remained a secret for nearly a decade.
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_A MOB STANDS STRONG TO DEFEND JUSTICE (1860)_

APRIL 3 IS THE 115TH ANNIVERSARY of a dramatic example of a mob’s
successful effort to prevent a shameful miscarriage of justice.

In 1860 Frank Sanborn was a militant abolitionist living in Concord,
Massachusetts. Sanborn had been a member of a 6-person committee that
had secretly been raising money to support the work of radical
abolitionist John Brown. The so-called Secret Six might or might not
have helped to plan Brown’s unsuccessful effort to seize control of
the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and thereby start a shooting
war against slavery, but the Sanborn and the rest of the committee
were at least aware of Brown’s plan, which put the committee members
at risk of arrest for conspiracy to commit treason.

More than four months after Brown and four of his collaborators had
been executed, federal marshals arrived in Concord to serve a warrant
on Sanborn and force him to travel to Washington, D.C., where a Senate
committee wanted his testimony about the Harpers Ferry raid. 

If Sanborn had been compelled to testify, he would have been at risk
of either being charged with aiding and abetting Brown’s attack, or
with perjury.

Before the marshals could take him away, Sanborn raised a ruckus to
attract the attention of his neighbors. By surrounding the carriage,
the townspeople made it impossible for the marshals to take Sanborn
anywhere, which gave Sanborn’s lawyer time to go to the nearby home
of a judge, who gave the lawyer a writ of habeas corpus, which
required the marshals to take Sanborn to a judge for a hearing on
their right to force Sanborn to travel to Washington. 

As might be expected, the marshals tried to ignore the writ and take
Sanborn away, but they did not reckon with the local county sheriff,
who deputized many of Sanborn’s neighbors, who then overpowered the
marshals and forced them to release Sanborn. The crowd then chased the
marshals out of town. The next day the Massachusetts Supreme Court
ruled that the marshals’ warrant had been served illegally, which
cleared him and his rescuers of any liability for having taken the law
into their own hands.
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_MARCH FOR WOMEN’S LIVES (1992)_

APRIL 5 IS THE 33RD ANNIVERSARY of the March for Women’s Lives,
during which some 400,000 protesters, organized by the National
Organization for Women, marched through Washington, D.C. It was one of
the largest pro-choice demonstrations ever.

In addition to NOW, the event’s main organizers were the American
Civil Liberties Union, Black Women’s Health Imperative, Feminist
Majority, NARAL Pro Choice America, National Latina Institute for
Reproductive Health and Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The demonstration was called to impress members of Congress and
federal judges of breadth and depth of support for abortion rights,
which were coming under increasing attack.
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_A RARE BENEFIT OF THE GREAT PANDEMIC (2020)_

APRIL 6 IS THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of one of the Covid pandemic’s
silver-lining moments. 

On this day San Francisco needed to temporarily close a 2.5-mile
stretch of the Great Highway because it was covered with wind-blown
beach sand. Great Highway closures for sand removal were not unusual,
but they normally lasted several hours at most.

But in the spring of 2020 – when thousands of San Franciscans were
looking for outdoor spaces where they could recreate without fear of
infection and when  pandemic-related lockdowns were causing record
lows in traffic volume – the unplanned closure of a 4-lane divided
highway posed an opportunity. 

Because the highway, which borders the city’s Pacific coast beach,
is a beautiful location to walk or bike or just hang out, the city
decided to leave the sand be and kept the road closed for more than a
year, giving countless San Franciscans easy access to what became a
very popular recreation area.

In August 2021 the city reopened the highway to traffic, but only on
weekdays, leaving the closure in effect on weekends and holidays. When
advocates of permanently closing the highway managed to put the
question on the ballot in November 2024, it passed by a 55-45 margin.
San Francisco’s newest ocean-front park, which has yet to be named,
will open officially on April 12.
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_A BRAVE BID FOR FREEDOM FAILS (1760)_

APRIL 7 IS THE 265TH ANNIVERSARY of one of the most well-planned and
initially successful rebellions of enslaved people ever, which began
when rebels led by Tacky captured Fort Haldane in Port Maria,
Jamaica. 

During four months of fighting many enslavers were killed. The only
thing that enabled the enslavers to defeat the rebellion was their
ability to call for the assistance of British ships and soldiers from
all over the Western Hemisphere.
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* enslaved persons
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