John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first “bed-in” for peace

On March 25, 1969—five days after their marriage—John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin their first “bed-in” for peace at a Hilton Hotel in Amsterdam. The first of many public anti-war campaigns staged by the Beatle and his second wife, it would blur the lines between protest and performance art, becoming a landmark of celebrity activism.

Knowing their wedding would provoke a media circus, the couple decided to leverage that intense attention and turn their honeymoon into what Lennon later called “a commercial for peace.” As he explained: “We would sell our product, which we call ‘peace.’ And to sell a product, you need a gimmick, and the gimmick we thought was ‘bed.’ And we thought ‘bed’ because bed was the easiest way of doing it, because we’re lazy.”

The bed-in lasted until March 31, with the newlyweds, clad in pajamas and robes, holding all-day press conferences from their hotel bed beneath hand-lettered signs reading “Hair Peace” and “Bed Peace.” Instead of marching, picketing and direct confrontation, their protest prioritized visibility, absurdity and dialogue.

Some two months later, on May 26, 1969, they began a second bed-in at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel. They had originally hoped to hold it in New York City, but Lennon was temporarily barred from entering the United States due to a prior drug possession conviction.

The weeklong Montreal bed-in would become the more famous of the two, thanks in part to the eclectic group of visitors it attracted, including pop singer Petula Clark, poet Allen Ginsberg, comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory, LSD advocate Timothy Leary, and “Li'l Abner” cartoonist Al Capp. On June 1, the bed-in’s penultimate day, Lennon recorded “Give Peace a Chance” with Dick Smothers of the Smothers Brothers TV comedy duo, on guitar, backed by a chorus of those gathered in the room. The song was released as a single on July 4 in the United Kingdom and July 7 in the U.S.

“Give Peace a Chance” quickly became an anthem of the anti-Vietnam War movement, and has since been revived in protests around the world, including demonstrations against Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.