Mayday 1971: A White House at War, a Revolt in the Streets, and the Untold History of America's Biggest Mass Arrest

This vivid account recounts the largest act of civil disobedience in US history, the Mayday Tribe blockade of Washington in 1971. Fiery radicals, flower children, and militant vets gathered to end the Vietnam War. The paranoid Richard Nixon, determined to stop it, faced the audacious act. Washington journalist Lawrence Roberts, drawing on interviews, archives, and transcripts, recreates the events through dueling characters. Familiar names like John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers leaker, are also included. 

The story begins with a Capitol bombing, an unsolved case Roberts brings new information to. To prevent the blockade, the government used the military, leading to riot squads arresting over 12,000 people. A young female public defender led a legal battle to free the detainees, paving the way for the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s downfall.

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