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The draft sent more than 2 million Americans to Vietnam, many of them baby boomers. Millions more avoided the war through deferments. Draft dodgers burned their cards to protest the war. (Loan, Gary E. Stevens)

The First Amendment took center stage in anti-war demonstrations 49 years ago this week, as the first draft card was burned in public amid nationwide protests decrying U.S. involvement in the escalating Vietnam conflict.

In August 1965, Congress passed a law prohibiting the willful destruction of draft cards. Two months later, a young Catholic pacifist, David Miller, burned his draft card in front of a crowd a rally in New York part of the Vietnam Day Committees International Days of Protest Oct. 15-16. Miller was later arrested by the FBI and sentenced to 30 months in prison. Despite the law, draft card burning became a common form of anti-war protest, even though numerous court decisions including the 1968 U.S. Supreme Court caseUnited States v. OBrien ruled that the law did not violate protesters First Amendment rights to free speech.

When Newseum curators were collecting artifacts for The Boomer List exhibit, they wanted to include a draft card from the era as a defining symbol of the boomer generations story. But they were having a hard time finding one to display. On a hunch, director of collections Carrie Christoffersen called her father, who promptly unearthed his draft card and mailed it to the Newseum, still in its plastic wallet sleeve. Why did he have it after all these years? Christoffersen said her father told her, half-jokingly, Its a federal document! You cant get rid of that kind of thing.

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International Days of Protest

First amendment denied at Baldwin county al clerks office
Just holding public servants accountable sorry the vid sucks first one very nervous.

By: Thomas Duke

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First amendment denied at Baldwin county al clerks office - Video

Houston demands pastors turn over sermons
I think the city of Houston is definitely violating our first amendment rights by issueing subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity...

By: DailyWorldwideNews

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Houston demands pastors turn over sermons - Video

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos insists he's a big fan of the First Amendment.

That's what the Republican legislator from Racine County said to justify his belief that corporations, businesses, labor unions or anyone else should be able to spend as much money as they want on political campaigns.

The Supreme Court's controversial Citizens United decision, the one that declared that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as individual citizens, was spot on, the speaker declared as he and Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca engaged in a debate before a packed WisPolitics.com luncheon last week.

Barca had just declared that the biggest threat to American democracy was the court's decision that money equals speech. The Kenosha Democrat added that it's critically important to overturn the decision that opened the floodgates to unlimited spending in political races.

But a smug and confident Vos, cocksure that Scott Walker would be re-elected governor and the Republicans would continue to control the Legislature after Nov. 4, was having none of it. He also declared that not only should corporations be able to give, the so-called independent issue groups should be able to collaborate with a candidate's campaign as well. (That's currently illegal under Wisconsin law and its alleged violation by Walker backers is behind the controversial John Doe investigation.)

I'm a huge believer in the First Amendment, he declared, as if there's no question that the Founding Fathers intended to include corporations in the Bill of Rights.

It was interesting to learn that Vos suddenly had such respect for the constitutional amendment authored by James Madison to protect minority views from "the tyranny of the majority." (It's apparently hard for Vos and the 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court to admit that the Founding Fathers only mentioned individual American citizens in their deliberations.)

Vos is the same guy, after all, who has been a consistent defender of secret legislative caucuses and was behind the move to forbid the Governmental Accountability Board from allowing online access to campaign contribution disclosure forms filed by legislators.

He was also one of the instigators of tough rules to limit demonstrations in the State Capitol during and after the protests in 2011, including prohibiting cameras and other recording devices in the Assembly balconies.

But when it comes to corporations-as-citizens, he's suddenly a firm believer in that First Amendment.

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Plain Talk: Robin Vos gets First Amendment religion

MANCHESTER James Foley, the New Hampshire journalist murdered by ISIS forces in Syria last summer, has been named this years recipient of the Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award.

The freelance journalist and videographer, who grew up in Wolfeboro, was announced yesterday as the recipient of the 12th annual award given by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications.

A panel of judges decided to honor Foley for his work in telling the personal stories of people trapped by war and senseless violence.

He gave voice to people in places where there is no free speech or free press, and he gave his life because of it, said school executive director David Tirrell-Wysocki.

The award will be presented posthumously at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester on Nov. 12. The evening event will also feature an address by Donald Trump, who joins a notable group of national figures who have donated their appearances on behalf of the nonprofit school.

The First Amendment Award was established to honor New Hampshire organizations or residents who protect or exemplify the liberties granted in the First Amendment.

Past honorees include former state Attorney General Philip McLaughlin, former Keene Sentinel Editor Thomas Kearney, state Rep. Daniel Hughes, Dover City Councilor David Scott, First Amendment attorney William Chapman, ConVal School Board member Gail Pierson Cromwell, The Portsmouth Herald, David Lang and the Professional Fire Fighters of New Hampshire, and The Telegraph of Nashua.

Foley had reported from Iraq and Afghanistan and was kidnapped in Libya for 44 days in 2011. His work appeared in Stars and Stripes and GlobalPost, among others. He went to Syria in 2012 to report on conditions there and was taken by militants at Thanksgiving that year. His parents, Dr. John and Diane Foley of Rochester, did not hear from him for more than a year.

He was executed in August of this year, becoming the first American civilian to be killed by Islamist fanatics called ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). Foleys beheading shocked the world. His parents plan a funeral Mass for him in Rochester this Saturday, which would have been his 42nd birthday.

Nackey Loeb, the late president and publisher of the Union Leader Corp., founded the school in 1999 to promote understanding and appreciation of the First Amendment and to foster interest, integrity and excellence in journalism and other forms of communication. More than 7,000 people have participated in the schools media-related classes, workshops and other events.

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Award to honor James Foley's work telling the stories 'of people trapped by war'