Washington Peace Letter Special Edition • June 2006 • 1

25 Years at the White House Gates25 Years at the White House Gates25 Years at the White House Gates25 Years at the White House Gates25 Years at the White House Gates

Longest Continuous Vigil Anywhere?

Since June 3, 1981, nine years to theday before tanks rolled into TiananmenSquare to put a halt to the pro-democracymovement, signs calling for "Wisdom andHonesty," justice and nuclear disarma-ment have stood every day and night infront of the White House. According to National Park Servicefigures, the signs have been seen by overthree million people per year. To those who maintain perhaps thelongest continuous vigil in human his-tory, the signs represent the ancient right-- Thomas Jefferson may have termed it"the duty" -- of people in a democracy tononviolently voice opinions on issues ofbroad public concern, even if it meansthey must go to prison for their beliefs.

By Ellen Thomas

On June 3, 1981 a pilgrim namedWm. (“Doubting”) Thomas sat down onthe White House sidewalk with acardboard sign -”Wanted, Wisdom andHonesty”- to talk about truth, justice,freedom, peace, and the threat ofnuclear war. Concepcion Picciotto also came toLafayette Park and began working withThomas in 1981.

To the public, those who maintain thevigil outside the White House arouse aspectrum of perceptions. The 1991 and 1994 Berlitz TravelGuide for Washington, DC pictured thevigil over the caption, "It's the right of

every American to set up a stand andmake a point in Lafayette Park."

Four presidents have, with varyingdegrees of patience, reduced and en-dured the vigilers' presence. Those who share the materialisticvalues symbolized by the White Housesometimes view the vigil as "visualblight." The Washington Times and Wash-ington Post have called the vigilers

"weirdos" and "lunatics" and the signs"eyesores," "gibberish" and "junk." On the other extreme, there are thosewho, valuing life, view the policies ofthe White House as slightly "mad," andbelieve that the vigil reflects sanity. Some journalists have been more thantolerant, likening the vigilers to saintsand prophets, and even beautiful! Actually the vigilers are just trying topractice what they preach. They stillhave hope for humanity. They believesomeday, if they hold on long enough,people might wake up to their ownresponsibilities and begin, at last, to actcompassionately, wisely, honestly. Forthis, and for the children, they endureharsh weather, the whims of police, andabusive behavior by hostile bystanders.For they know they're not alone.

So, the vigil continues... working forpeace, hoping for humanity.

It Hasn’tBeen Easy

During the early1980’s, hostile ParkPolice and SecretService officerstried to driveThomas andConcepcion away. At first they werearrested andcharged with“loitering” or“disturbing thepeace.” But few judgeswould convict them,and no judge would imprison them,knowing the history of the FirstAmendment. Thanks to the 1976 Stacey Abneydecision by the U.S. Court of Appeals,sleep as part of a round-the-clock vigilwas still considered, in and of itself,“expressive conduct protected by theFirst Amendment.” So there was a meeting betweenPresident Reagan and Department ofInterior lawyer Richard Robbins, andshortly thereafter regulations beganappearing in the Code of FederalRegulations, to: (1) define “camping” as “using thepark for living accommodationpurposes, regardless of the activity inwhich one might otherwise beengaged,” thus negating the FirstAmendment and the Abney decision;

(2) move thevigilers from theWhite Housesidewalk toLafayette Park;

(4) reduce the amount of “property”a person might have other than thesigns to 3 cubic feet, a real hardship incold and wet weather.

Lafayette Park, and have been usedextensively to chase most peopleaway. But patience,perseverence,creativity, Thomas’spro se lawsuitsagainst police

Many people havejoined Thomas andConcepcion invigiling for varyinglengths of time. Iwas one of them,from 1984 to 2002. Of the many extraordinary peopleand events the vigilers haveencountered over the years, here arebut a few.

Norman Mayer In1982,NormanMayerbroughtsigns and

misconduct, and sympathetic friendshave kept Thomas and Concepcionnorth of the White House, touchingthe minds and hearts of many.

Other PeopleCome and Go

your vigil, the truth can’t beignored.” On December 8, 1982, NormanMayer staged a very scarydemonstration at the WashingtonMonument, demanding that the newsmedia devote "90% of its time" to thesubject of nuclear weapons or hewould blow up the monument with hisvan (which he claimed had 1,000 lbsof explosives, but in fact containednothing but a battery-powered TVset). When he drove away afterseveral hours of intense mediascrutiny, sharpshooters killed him,for which they received medals. Thomas erected a 12’ x 18’reproduction of Norman’s flier inLafayette Park.

(3) reduce the number of signs thatan individual might have to two, andthe size to 4' x 4' x 1/4", no higherthan six feet off the ground, andrequiring that someone always bewithin three feet of the signs; and

Theseregulationsallowed police toharass,intimidate, andarrest alldemonstratorswho came to

literature tothe WhiteHousesidewalk withthe messagethat abolishingnuclear

weapons must beeveryone’s numberone priority. Norman foundThomas fasting, andtalked him intoeating by saying “Aslong as you keep

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Mitch Snyder and CCNV

while. But in 1984, the Supreme Courtruled that the Park Service had a rightto keep people from sleeping in tents. Although Concepcion and Thomashad nothing resembling a tent, theywere arrested under the “camping”regulation. During the ‘80’s, Mitch Snyder’sfasts for the homeless attracted agreat deal of media attention. As aresult, the Reagan administrationprovided a multi-million-dollarhomeless shelter and medical clinic at2nd and D NW, and in 1984 voterspassed an initiative (#17)guaranteeing homeless people a rightto shelter.

Mitch droppedin on old friendsto reminisce. Hespent anunusually longhalf hour withThomas at the signs. The first week of July, exhausted,despairing, his vision and health failing,Mitch killed himself. With Mitch’sdeath, CCNV became simply ashelter, and the star-studded vigils andmarches for homeless people ceased.

Dr. Charles Hyder

Mitch andeveryone’s friend,B Wardlaw, wenton a cross-country campaignin 1986 whichculminatedin“Hands Across America.” In June, 1990, however, the city wona referendum rescinding Initiative 17.Mitch began a very debilitating open-ended fast, but this time the mediaweren’t interested in his fast or theplight of the homeless, and neither,apparently, were the voters.

310-pound astro-geo-physicist fromNew Mexico, came to the park to fastfor global nuclear disarmament,losing 180 pounds in the process.He attracted a lot of people.

From September 23, 1986 toMay 1, 1987, Dr. Charles Hyder, a

Hyder brought with him hisscientific analysis of the dangers ofburying nuclear waste in salt caverns(salt will melt under extreme heat, andrise to the surface). He also warnedthat Chernobyl cancers would bekilling people in increasing numbersin decades to come. At first local newspapers refusedto report about Hyder’s fast, someclaiming, when called, that theyweren’t going to be blackmailed intowriting a story every time someonestopped eating, but by spring 1987,so many international stories hadbeen written, even the WashingtonPost published an article. To the best of our knowledge, Dr.Hyder is the only protester to ever havea sack full of mail hand-delivered toLafayette Park by a White Housestaffer, addressed by Japanese schoolchildren to “Dr. Hyder, c/o The WhiteHouse.”

members of Congress,

and was sent toGeneva by CarlSagan to take his proposal to theU.N. talks on disarmament. He received a letter fromGorbachev asking him to end his fast,and a float was built in his honor forthe May Day parade in Moscow. Apass in the Urals mountains wasnamed after him. Dr. Hyder quit fasting and returnedto New Mexico in early May, 1987.

to the legislators of the U.S. andthen-USSR calling for a commitmentto abolish all nuclear weapons anduse the money instead for humanneeds.

Dr. Ted Taylor, who was designer ofthe biggest and smallest nuclear bombsbefore he quit working for thegovernment and spent all his timetrying to eliminate nuclear weapons,came to meet Dr. Hyder, and remaineda good friend of the vigil, and lobbiedsuccessfully on behalf ofProposition One. (See next page.)

So effective was the scene in thepark in those days that policeenforcement was stepped up.

The Ragtag Band

During Dr. Hyder’s fast, someyoung musicians arrived separately,each staying to build signs and feedpeople, write and teach songs, andperform daily as the Ragtag Band.

and I for three months, chargedwith “camping.” Concepcion keptthe vigil going while we were gone.

When we immediately returned tothe park upon our release, the policebacked off for a while. The RagtagBand drifted away by 1992. Sunrisenow lives in France, Mojo in Texas,and Song in the Philippines.

Peace Park

In 1985, we began calling LafayetteSquare “Peace Park.”. A sign on thecorner read “Welcome to Peace Park,”

and back when there was still trafficon Pennsylvania Avenue, we couldhear the Trolley Tour drivers pointout our signs to tourists as “PeacePark.” During our time in jail, the CityPaper and Washington Post bothpublished articles and letters to theeditor referring to “Peace Park.” So the National Park Serviceannounced they were going to removethe beloved sculpture, “TheAwakening,” from Hains Point, andbuild a “Peace Park.” It’s not hard tobelieve they hoped this woulddistract the public from the vigil. The National Park Service neverdid build their “Peace Park,” and “TheAwakening” has been returned toHains Point after a cleaning. Manypeople still call Lafayette Square“Peace Park.” We hope it sticks.

Atlantic Life Community

For decades, a very specialcommunity of faith-based activistshas been coming to the White

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Hyder wasvisited byNobel Prizewinners,educators, and

Theycirculatedthispetition foryears afterHyder wasgone.

Hyder,Mojo, Sunrise, Scott,Song, Robin

Prison (1988)

Early in 1987, police issued“camping” tickets right and left. In1988, Sunrise and Mojo went toprison for two months, and Thomas

Unfortunately he regained all theweight he had lost and more, and hisheart failed. He died in 2004. During Hyder’s fast the vigilerswrote and began circulating a petition

In 1981 and1984, theCommunity forCreativeNonviolence(CCNV), led byMitch Snyder, pitched tents inLafayette Park as a statement abouthomelessness. In 1981homelesspeopleactuallyslept in thetents for a

Washington Peace Letter Special Edition • June 2006 • 3

House regularly to speak out aboutthe insanity of war. Twice a year they hold a retreatin DC, hosted by Jonah House ofBaltimore and Dorothy Day CatholicWorkers of DC, and young peoplecome from around the country to

The 40 days and nights ofcontinuous drumming had aprofound effect.

One of the drummers, DianaNomad, was arrested and convicted forchanting “Na myo ho reng e kyo” andtapping a prayer drum, but the Court ofAppeals overturned the conviction,ruling that drumming outside the WhiteHouse is a form of speech protectedby the First Amendment.

The Dorothy Day CatholicWorkers also feed homeless peopleevery Thursday night, formerly inLafayette Park, but the police havechased most homeless people awayfrom the White House area.

prison for performing “Plowshares”actions, symbolically beating swordsinto plowshares, for example, bypouring their own blood andhammering on missile silos andsubmarines, and prayerfully waitingto be arrested.

In 1990, when it became obviousthat Bush 41 was going to go to waragainst Iraq, members of the AtlanticLife Community began a vigil on theWhite House sidewalk every Friday atnoon, which has continued now forsixteen years, against sanctions andbombings during the Clinton years,against war during the two Bushadministrations. They also hold a

The Ground WarAt Home (1991)

vigil earlyeveryMondaymorning atthePentagon.

After President George H.W. Bushtold a group of supporters, “thosedamned drums are keeping me awakeall night,” the police began enforcingan absurd “60 decibels” rule(background noise was 80 decibels),snatching drums and signs and arrestingpeople, sometimes brutally. Bushlater retracted his statement as“hyperbole,” but the damage was done. A video we produced after the war,“The Ground War At Home,” played onpublic access television all over the

and utter disregard for the FirstAmendment.While anti-warprotesters wereharassed andarrested foreven putting asign or drum down, or drumming atmore than 60 decibels, halfway downthe block a few pro-war advocateswere encouraged by police when theystuck signs in the fence, blew whistles,and encouraged motorists to honk.

can now drum with impunity, inhopes that the President will hear.Please remember the Nomad case ifthe police try to silence your drums.

By 1990, the thousands ofsignatures we had collected on ourpetition proved that the idea ofglobal nuclear disarmament waspopular all over the world, even in theU.S. We lobbied Congress withpetitions in hand, to no avail. Joe Vigorito, whohad just come fromArizona’s “ImpeachGov. Meachem”campaign, advised usto bring the idea to thevoters of DC, in hopes that this mightimpress the politicians. So welaunched a voter initiative campaignand in September, 1993, brought thepetition to the voters as “PropositionOne”, or D.C. Initiative 37- the“Nuclear Disarmament and EconomicConversion Act.” A hard-working crew of unpaidyoung people registered to vote andhit the streets, collecting thousands ofsignatures at shopping centers,churches, bus stops, grocery stores,

and (with assistance from well-knownactivists) we got the idea on theballot, and won the election. As a result, since1994 a bill hasbeen introducedseven times by DC’sdelegate EleanorHolmes Norton into the U.S. House ofRepresentatives as “The NuclearDisarmament and EconomicConversion Act”(HR-1348 thissession - see next page for text.) Proposition One has also traveledoverseas. In 1990, Bob Dorroughand Lynn Fredrikssen went toMoscow and Kazakhstan and carrieda Russian petition with them.

Peoplestood in lineto sign thepetitionwhereverthey went.

Hiroshima/NagasakiPeace Committee

Each year since 1981, during thefirst week of August, the Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee of theNational Capitol Gray Panthers,founded by Louise Franklin-Ramirez,sponsors a series of eventscommemorating the bombings inJapan, and hosting survivors of thebombings (known as “Hibakusha”).To find out about this year’s events,contact John Steinbach - 703-369-7427 <johnsteinbach@starpower.net>

Pennyslvania Ave Closure

In some ways, life has been easierfor the vigilers under PresidentsClinton and Bush 43. No newregulations have been written, and thepolice are somewhat more civilized -that is, when they aren’t closing thepark for bogus “bomb” scares andlimousines. But during the Clinton years,Pennsylvania Avenue was closed totraffic for the first time ever.

learn aboutfaith-basednonviolentwitnessingfor peaceand thepoor.

Manymembers ofthiscommunityhave chosento spendyears in

One of our most memorable sharedexperiences with the WashingtonPeace Center was during the firstGulf War, when Lisa Fithian andothers very effectively reached outto the community to join thedrummers in Lafayette Park.

countryduring thespring of1991,showingpolicemisconduct

Dianadied a fewyears ago ofbrain cancer,a great loss.The rest ofus, however,

Proposition One

Bob had been a part of the vigiloff and on since 1983. He wasarrested in 1986 when the large signswere removed under the sign-sizeregulation and was arrested severaltimes for drumming during the GulfWar. Bob now lives in Japan,teaching English. In 1994, I was invited to go toJapan to talk about the vigil andProposition One. The Japanesepeople are perhaps the most gratefulof all foreign travelers who stop atthe signs. Concepcion has hadphotographs from Hiroshima andNagasaki bombings on her signs formore than 20 years.

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So Thomas took hissign, “Wanted, Wisdom& Honesty,” to themiddle of PennsylvaniaAvenue. It wasn’t longbefore he was arrested. It was instructiveto observe how thisclosure came about. First, there was a news articleannouncing that the Secret Servicehoped to put a tunnel underPennsylvania Avenue by 2000. Then in 1994 there were a seriesof very highly publicized oddballevents.

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Somebody flew a small plane intoa tree on the south lawn, and died. A pedestrian in a trench coatpulled out an automatic weapon andshot between the floors of the frontof the White House. Then a desperate homeless man,who had been kicked and scornedby a Park Police officer for a week,staggered after his tormentor fromthe park to the White House sidewalkwith a knife taped to his paralyzedhand, and was killed by another ParkPolice officer who wheeled up in acruiser, leapt out, crouched, and fired.

Letter to Editor,published December 22, 1984Washington Post "Free For All"

Elizabeth Rowe (Close to Home,Dec. 9, 1984) lamented that "LafayetteSquare ... is no longer a place to delightthe eye and invite the passerby" andthat the park should be "restored to itstraditional use as a 'public pleasuringplace.'" She suggested establishing "thecity's new Hyde Park on the Ellipse." In a letter Dec. 15, Thomas W. D.Wright praised Elizabeth Rowe'sinspiration and opined that "some[demonstrators] are aware they aredefiling beauty." It seems grossly unfair to creditElizabeth Rowe with this "inspiration."In January 1983, the secretary of theInterior, James Watt, had the samenotion. Fortunately (or unfortunately,depending upon one's perception of"beauty"), he ran up against the FirstAmendment. As early as July 1981 a touristsuggested that I move my signs ("trash"he called them) from in front of theWhite House to the Ellipse. I repliedthat if I moved, it would only be amatter of time before someone else'saesthetic sensibilities would beoffended and would suggest I move toGreenbelt, Md. or Yosemite NationalPark, or the top of Mt. McKinley. AndI pointed out that freedom of speech issomething of a moot point if there isno one to hear what you are saying. Perhaps Elizabeth Rowe has hertraditions crossed, or maybe I justdon't understand what she means by "apublic pleasuring place." But one thingis certain--no place on the planet is amore traditional place for publicdiscourse than Lafayette Park. And,traditionally, intolerant segments ofthe ponderous majority have soughtto stifle minority dissent in front ofthe presidential palace.

Somebody went over the fence.People go over the fence severaltimes a year, usually, and the SecretService has NO problem dealing withthem. This time it was big news. A few weeks later, PennsylvaniaAvenue was closed to traffic, perhapsforever. Rollerbladers were thrilled with thequiet new Avenue, but the vigilerswere disappointed, for this seriouslyreduced the numbers of people whoget a chance to read the signs. Since 9/11, even the rollerbladersare usually elsewhere. PennsylvaniaAvenue has been taken over by thepolice forces, and the rest of us areonly tolerated.

Until recently those who consid-ered the free expression of ideasless significant to the interests ofdemocracy than the preservation ofthe status quo have been thwartedin their attempts to prohibit criticismin the area where it is most likely toreflect on the chief administrator. As recently as 1965, a bill wasbefore Congress (it was voted downby the Senate) which was aimed atbanning demonstrations within 1,000feet of the White House. Now wehave entered a new era where bureau-crats write regulations that restrictfreedom of religion, speech, thepress and the right of the people topeaceably assemble and petition thegovernment for redress of grievance. In "Birth of a Street Person" (Style,Dec. 14), a story about my wife,[Ellen] Thomas, and me, the U.S.attorney, Royce Lambeth. was quotedas asking, "Why can't (the demonstra-tors in front of the White House)conform?" Perhaps the answer lies inthe question: "Why couldn't Shadrach,Meshach and Abednego kneel downand worship the king's idol?"

I have two additional solutions forfolks who don't like to listen to folksthey don't like to look at: 1) Build a chain-link fence aroundthe District, call it "King's Domin-ion," and prohibit protesting withinthe fence. 2) Move to the Soviet Union andleave Lafayette Park to those whovalue individual freedom and humanlife above "perfect" Polaroid snap-shots and the "sanctity" of nationalicons.

William Thomas

Lafayette Park Belongsto the Dissenters

[Note: substitute “Iraq” for “SovietUnion” and it still makes sense. et]

HR-1348“The Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act”

The United States Government shall-- (1) disable and dismantle all its nuclearweapons and refrain from replacing them atany time with any weapons of massdestruction; (2) redirect resources that are currentlybeing used for nuclear weapons programs touse-- (A) in converting all nuclear weaponsindustry employees, processes, plants, andprograms smoothly to constructive, ecologi-cally beneficial peacetime activities during the3 years following the effective date of thisAct, and (B) in addressing human and infrastruc-

ture needs such as housing, health care,education, agriculture, and environmentalrestoration, including alternative fuel sources; (3) undertake vigorous good faith effortsto eliminate war, armed con-flict, and allmilitary operations; and (4) actively promote policies to induce allother countries to join in these commitmentsfor world peace and security. This Act shall take effect when thePresident certifies to the Congress that allforeign countries possessing nuclear weaponshave established legal requirements compa-rable to those set forth [herein] and thoserequirements have taken effect.

IMMORTALIZED INDOONESBURY

Garry Trudeau has showed a stronginterest in Lafayette park since 1984,and paid particular attention in 1991:

To contact the vigilers:

Peace Park Antinuclear VigilP.O. Box 27217,

Washington DC 20038Phone: 202-682-4282

Email: Thomas <prop1@prop1.org> Ellen Thomas<et@nucnews.net> Concepcion Picciotto<concepcionpicciotto@yahoo.com>

To learn much more:

http://prop1.org

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