Why are we burning, torturing, killing the people of Vietnam? ... to Prevent Free Elections. Protest this anti-democratic war. Write President Lyndon B. Johnson [poster]

New York: Students for a Democratic Society; New York Committee to End the War in Vietnam, 1965. Poster. 30x46 inch poster depicting a girl with extensive scars; text at the lower left states "This 10-year old girl was burned by napalm bombs." Originally issued by SDS, this example has a piece of printed paper neatly pasted over the SDS contact information, giving instead the address for the New York Committee to End the War in Vietnam. (The case documents for Kissinger v. New York City Transit Authority cite both versions). Creased from having been folded into quarters, with pinholes at corners and edgewear, including several closed edge tears. This poster, the earliest effort at a visceral advertising campaign against the Vietnam War aimed at mainstream audiences, was intended to be displayed throughout the New York subway system. In October 1965, the NYC Transit Authority refused to post them; stating that "the copy submitted is entirely too controversial to be posted on the stations publicly owned by the New York City Transit System. Our policy has always been to refrain from accepting business, the display of which would be objectionable to large segments of our population." This led to a legal case pitting C. Clark Kissinger, Paul Booth and Lee Baxendall against the Transit Authority. The case is discussed in R. Allan Horning's "The First Amendment Right to a Public Forum.