Marches on Washington: Protests and rallies in Washington, D.C. (as well as other cities, especially New York and San Francisco) were popular ways of expressing anti-war and anti-government views. This was a popular way to show government officials how the protesters felt about the war, and also was a way to draw media attention to their cause. There were protests in Washington, D.C. as early as 1962, and by November of 1965, over twenty thousand people attended an anti-war march. One of the most famous of these demonstrations took place in 1967 when over a hundred thousand people attended, and half marched from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon. The government called out U.S. Army troops to defend the Pentagon, but the protesters stayed peaceful, as smiling hippies placed daisies and other flowers into the soldiers' rifles. The largest march on Washington, D.C. took place in the fall of 1969, when over 250,000 people crammed into the Mall between the Washington Monument and the Congress.

Moratorium Day, October 1969: A series of Moratorium days was organized by two of the largest anti-war groups (the Vietnam Moratorium Committee and the New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam). The biggest of these days took place on October 15th, 1969. The idea of a Moratorium day was to stage a national strike, in effect, in which people protested against the war instead of going about their normal day. Millions participated in many different ways. People attended marches, sit-ins, teach-ins and other organized events. Some of the things they did were small-lighting a candle, leaving headlights on, bringing their children with them, etc... By this time, even the basic working class, who had originally supported the war, participated in the Moratorium. The mayor of New York declared it a day of mourning, and ordered that all flags be flown at half-mast. Even in Vietnam, the soldiers themselves wore black armbands to protest the war. The response to Moratorium day was that Nixon gave his famous "silent majority" speech, saying that there were more people who weren't protesting that should show their support for him and the war. His desperate attempt to secure a peace treaty before the 1972 election shows that even he realized the power and number of the protesters.

Campus Demonstrations: University and college campuses were a natural spot for anti-war protests, as they were filled with service-aged kids and were generally very liberal. Most of these protests were peaceful, especially in the first years of the war. In 1968, the militant New Left groups, including the SDS, staged several seizures of campus buildings. One of the most famous was in New York City, where the protesters shut down Columbia University and had violent confrontations with the police. After this, Columbia agreed to cut its ties to the Defense Department. At the University of Wisconsin attacked fifteen hundred students who were blocking the entrances to campus buildings. Perhaps the most famous demonstration was at Kent State, where National Guardsmen fired into crowds of protesters. A famous picture of a slain student appeared in almost every magazine and newspaper at the time. This convinced many people, especially parents who saw their own children at risk, that the government's support of the war was out of hand.

Democratic National Convention, leading to the Trial of the "Chicago Seven" in 1968: Mainstream liberals had been working within the democratic party to come up with an anti-war candidate so they could change the course of the war through the normal political process. Senator Eugene McCarthy quickly gained popularity, as did Senator Robert Kennedy before he was assassinated. Vice President Hubert Humphrey turned out to be the party's choice, even though he had not entered any primaries. Thousands of protesters converged on Chicago, outraged over the "betrayal" (not choosing McCarthy), but still committed to peaceful demonstrations. Others, however, such as the yippies and the SDS were there to stage more militant displays. The Chicago police were called in, and a violent riot ensued. Television cameras caught policemen beating demonstrators and setting attack dogs on them. This made lots of people give up hope in settling the disputes through the democratic system, and also made a lot of people loose faith in the "establishment". Hundreds of rioters were arrested and brought to trial, most notably the "Chicago Seven", with the addition of Bobby Seale, the Black Panther leader. The trial soon turned in pandemonium as the defendants (including Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin) used it to spread the anti-war message.

Civil Disobedience against Selective Service: One widespread way of declaring yourself to be anti-war was draft resistance, including publicly destroying draft records. Over 110,000 people burned their draft cards. Because so many used this way of protesting, the legal system couldn't prosecute all of them, and only a few went to jail. Some of these people did it on their own, but many were influenced by the religious leaders who saw this as a righteous way to protest. Other young men were draft avoiders, finding legal ways to avoid the draft, such as medical conditions. Draft dodgers used illegal ways, like fleeing the country. Over 68,000 left America, usually going to Canada or Sweden.