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All told, the Government had earlier mustered more than 11,000 National Guardsmen, paratroopers, military police and Marines to serve as reserves behind Washington's 3,800-man police force. Contingents of troops were placed around the White House and in Government buildings considered likely targets for extremists, including the Justice Department. The Justice Department was also headquarters of Attorney General John Mitchell's intelligence center, where information was gathered and deployments plotted for policing the march. Sure enough, Justice became the scene of the second violent incident, this one on Saturday night. Nearly 5,000 youngsters massed behind red banners, though the majority had come to watch rather than attack. The cry was "Stop the trial!"—the Chicago trial of those accused of conspiracy in last year's Democratic Convention riots. The mob got close enough to the Justice building to throw stones through windows and to substitute a Viet Cong standard for an American flag in front of the building. Again the police were circumspect, and troops stayed out of the action. New Mobe marshals tried to make the mob go back, actually interposing themselves between demonstrators and the police. It was no use. After one of the senior marshals talked to Police Chief Jerry Wilson, he ordered: "Marshals get back to the side. God help us." Using tear gas, the police then broke up the demonstration, sending the marchers fleeing in small groups. There was no punitive clubbing or mass arrests; only 32 were picked up.
March Marshals. The last thing the New Mobe leaders had wanted was violence. Unlike the 1967 march on the Pentagon and the demonstrations at the 1968 Chicago convention—both led by some of those now active in the New Mobe—civil disobedience was explicitly excluded from the advance plans. Further, leaders such as Pacifist David Dellinger, 54, Sociology Professor Sidney Peck, 42, and Economics Professor Douglas Dowd, 50, had sought out younger radical chiefs for assurances that there would be no provocation of the police or the military personnel assembled in Washington.
One potential source of conflict was eliminated when the organizers and the Justice Department compromised on the route of the mass march. At first, officials refused to consider Pennsylvania Avenue. After the intercession of the Federal City's mayor, Walter Washington, and assurances that the New Mobe organizers were indeed attempting to minimize trouble, Justice yielded on Pennsylvania Avenue—the capital's traditional parade route—but insisted that the line of march turn south before reaching the front of the White House. The New Mobe also designated about 3,000 march marshals to help keep order. The motivation was not entirely altruistic. Violence would impeach the entire peace movement, supporting the argument that to be antiwar is to be anti-America.
Most marchers probably did not think of it that way; they were just nonviolent types moved by the spirit of Woodstock—a mingling of festive mood and soulful reflection. Beginning in midweek, by bus, train, plane and car, the kids poured into Washington. Pea coats, bellbottoms, old Army field jackets and blue denim dominated the fashion scene. Those over 25 and conventionally dressed were a small minority.