The San Marcos 10: An Antiwar Protest in Texas - Softcover

Bills, E. R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1467141275 ISBN 13: 9781467141277

Publisher: The History Press, 2019

Synopsis

On November 13, 1969, ten students at Texas State University were suspended for participating in a peaceful protest against the Vietnam War. They had kept vigil in front of the Huntington Mustangs, bearing signs that read, "Vietnam Is an Edsel" and "44,000 U.S. Dead, For What?" while an increasingly hostile anti-protest crowd chanted, "Love it or leave it!" and "Let's string 'em up!" It was a day after news of the My Lai massacre broke. Part of a coordinated, nationwide Vietnam Moratorium effort that confounded and infuriated the Nixon White House, the "San Marcos 10" challenged their suspension, taking their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court. Author E.R. Bills offers this fascinating glimpse into the 1960s antiwar movement in Texas, the extraordinary measures to quell it and the broader social activism in which it participated.

About this title

About the Author:

E.R. Bills graduated from Texas State University with a BA in journalism in 1990. He is the author of Texas Obscurities: Stories of the Peculiar, Exceptional and Nefarious (The History Press, 2013); The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas (The History Press, 2014); Black Holocaust: The Paris Horror and a Legacy of Texas Terror (Eakin Press, 2015); Texas Far & Wide: The Tornado with Eyes, Gettysburg's Last Casualty, the Celestial Skipping Stone and Other Tales (The History Press, 2017); and 100 Things to Do in Texas Before You Die (Reedy Press, 2018). Bills has also written for publications around the state, including Texas Co-Op Power magazine, Fort Worth Weekly, Fort Worth, TX magazine, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Austin-American Statesman. He currently lives in North Texas with his wife, Stacie.

Review:

"Fifty years ago, at sleepy Southwest Texas State University (SWTSU, now Texas State University), many of society's complex conflicts aligned in what became known as the San Marcos 10. The story was mostly forgotten--until now. . .  E. R. Bills takes the reader on another journey in this book. Free speech, civil rights, justice, poverty, dress codes, the Vietnam War and abuse of power are masterfully explored at a national level through the detail of experiences taking place in San Marcos."
---Alvin Salee, The Daily News (Galveston)

About this edition

• Publisher: The History Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1467141275
• ISBN 13: 9781467141277
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208