Stephen Smale, an American mathematician and Jerry Rubin, who was at Berkeley before dropping out to organise around left wing causes, set up the Vietnam Day Committee in 1965 during a 35 hour anti-Vietnam war protest.
Why was the reason for the 'Day' in its name?
According to the Online Archive of California:
The Vietnam Day Committee, Berkeley, was created out of Vietnam Day, the 35-hour anti- Vietnam war teach-in which brought 35,000 people to the University of California campus on May 21 and 22, 1965. Immediately after Vietnam Day, members of the VDC met and determined the following as priorities for the peace movement...
So, there was a day (plus 11 hours) of protest in May, and out of that came the committee that planned further protests.
