This list of political rallies on the National Mall shows the variety of expression of notable political views which have been located somewhere between the United States Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial. The Mall is regulated by the National Park Service which is required to respect the free speech rights of Americans.
Following a controversy over the Million Man March in 1995, the National Park Service stopped releasing crowd size estimates for rallies on the National Mall.[1] Crowd estimates after that point have come from protest organizers, researchers or news outlets. Depending on the methodology, estimates can differ greatly.[2] This table is incomplete, but focuses on the larger events.
| name | date | size | comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus Army | 1932-06-17 | 20,000 | World War I veterans and their families seeking advance payment of bonuses from the Hoover administration; several killed. |
| Marian Anderson concert | 1939-04-09 | 75,000 | Integrated concert at Lincoln Memorial held in defiance of DAR refusal to host her performance[3] |
| Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom | 1958-05-17 | 25,000 | First large demonstration in Washington of the African-American Civil Rights Movement on 3rd anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education. |
| March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom | 1963-08-28 | 250,000 | March at which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have A Dream" speech. |
| Honor America Day | 1970-07-04 | 25,000 | A rally put together by supporters of President Richard Nixon hosted by Bob Hope[4] |
| Vietnam War Out Now rally | 1971-04-24 | 500,000 | call for end to Vietnam War. |
| Million Man March | 1995-10-16 | 400,000 | United States Park Police officially estimated the crowd size at 400,000. |
| Million Mom March | 2000-05-14 | 750,000 | March against gun violence.[5] |
| Restoring Honor Rally | 2010-08-28 | 80,000 | cosponsored by Special Operations Warrior Foundation and promoted as a "celebration of America's heroes and heritage." The number of attendees is disputed. |
| One Nation Working Together March for Jobs, Peace and Justice | 2010-10-02 | 50,000 | Rally at the Lincoln Memorial to press for immigration reform, financial reform.[6] |
| Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear | 2010-10-30 | 215,000 | held by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert to oppose radical political trends in US politics.[7] |