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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, OCT 15–21, 2025  
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_ Chaplin’s Timeless Attack on Dictatorship (1940), U.S. Anti-War
Rally Was Record-Big, but Not for Long (1965), Revolutionary Stirrings
in Manhattan (1765), Permission to Come Aboard, Who Needs It? (1960),
Is the C.I.A. Is a Law Unto Itself? (1975) _

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_CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S TIMELESS ATTACK ON DICTATORSHIP_

OCTOBER 15 IS THE 85TH ANNIVERSARY of the 1940 premiere of “The
Great Dictator,” written, directed, produced and starring Charlie
Chaplin. It has always been a film for the ages, but at this moment,
when the occupant of the White House makes no bones about his
admiration for dictators, Chaplin’s moving defense of democracy and
his searing satirization of fascist posturing is amazingly up-to-date.

Chaplin decided to make a feature film lampooning fascism after seeing
Leni Riefenstahl’s powerful 1935 pro-Nazi epic, “Triumph of the
Will.” Chaplin decided it was essential to produce a similarly
powerful cinematic defense of democracy, and devoted himself to the
project for more than three years. It premiered more than a year after
the beginning of World War 2 and six months after German troops
occupied western Europe. For an examination of the importance of
“The Great Dictator” and reflection on its place in Chaplin’s
career, visit
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The still image, showing Chaplin’s spot-on impersonation of the
Hitleresque “Adenoid Hynkel,” which is full of touches like his
uniform’s stained crotch and shirtfront.

_U.S. ANTI-WAR RALLY WAS RECORD-BIG, BUT NOT FOR LONG _

OCTOBER 16 IS THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY of the First International Days of
Protest Against American Military Intervention. Three days of events
in 1965 were coordinated by the National Coordinating Committee to End
the War in Vietnam and by the Vietnam Day Committee. More than 100,000
people joined protests throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

As the New York City-based weekly National Guardian reported under the
headline “Vietnam war now a national debate” the protests brought
“almost 90,000 people in at least 93 American cities into the
streets to demonstrate their opposition to U.S. policy in Vietnam.”

The largest demonstrations took place in Manhattan, where some 30
thousand people marched down Fifth Avenue, and in Berkeley,
California, where 14 thousand attempted to march from the University
of California to the Oakland Army Base, but were prevented from
crossing into Oakland by hundreds of police massed at the city line.

Calling the Manhattan event the “biggest anti-war rally ever in the
U.S.,” the National Guardian also devoted a full page to listing
demonstrations in 37 locations in 21 U.S. states, adding that it
lacked space to list at least 40 more. In addition, demonstrations
against U.S. policy took place in Toronto, Mexico City, London,
Dublin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Rome and Tokyo.
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_REVOLUTIONARY STIRRINGS IN MANHATTAN_

OCTOBER 19 IS THE 260TH ANNIVERSARY of the adoption of the Declaration
of Rights and Grievances by the Stamp Act Congress, an extra-legal
1765 convention in New York City of 27 delegates representing nine of
the 13 colonies. Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Virginia
did not send delegates. The congress was the first such meeting of
colonial delegates since 1754.

According the the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, colonists had
the right to trial by jury, Parliament could not rule the colonists
unless the colonists had the right to elect members of Parliament,
there should be no taxation without representation in Parliament, and
only colonial assemblies had a right to tax the colonies. 

Even though Parliament rejected the assertions in the Declaration of
Rights and Grievances, only six months later it repealed the taxes
that the colonists objected to, while at the same time asserting it
had the right to impose new taxes in the future.
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_PERMISSION TO COME ABOARD, WHO NEEDS IT?_

OCTOBER 20 IS THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY of a 1960 confrontation between a
dozen members of the Committee for Non-Violent Action and the crews of
two nuclear submarines moored in the Thames River at the U.S. Navy’s
New London submarine base. 

When the CNVA members paddled across the river from downtown New
London in broad daylight, three of them were able to manifest their
strong opposition to nuclear-missile armed submarines by jumping from
their boats and hauling themselves aboard two of the subs, the _USS
George Washington_ and the _USS Patrick Henry_.

The surprised crew of the submarines’ harbor watches eventually used
fire hoses to force the demonstrators back into the water, leaving
them free to return to where they started, dry off, and celebrate
their success. The damage to the Navy’s dignity and its reputation
for tight security took longer to be restored.
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_IS THE C.I.A. IS A LAW UNTO ITSELF?_

OCTOBER 21 IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of shocking 1975 testimony to the
Senate Intelligence Committee by former CIA Director Richard Helms. He
revealed that the CIA had illegally opened and read at least 215
thousand letters destined for addresses in the Soviet Union in a
secret program that started in 1953 and was alleged to have ended in
1973.

In addition to the Soviet-bound letters that had been opened and read,
the envelopes of another 27 million letters had been photographed,
also illegally.

Helms told the committee that he was not aware of any legal
authorization for the mail interception, but he “assumed” that at
least one of the men who had preceded him as CIA director had received
authorization from a President or an Attorney-General.

Helms also testified that when he had signed a statement in 1970
informing President Richard Nixon that the mail opening program had
been ended, he had been referring – without saying so – to an FBI
program, and that the CIA program continued until 1973. He added that
if he had misled Nixon with his 1970 statement, he had not intended to
do so. [link removed]
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For more People's History, visit
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* Charlie Chaplin
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* Anti-Vietnam War movement
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* American Revolution
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* pacifism
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* Government Spying
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