Earth Day is considered to have two founders. It was originally conceived by Fred Dutton, who was involved in every Democratic presidential run between 1960 and 1972. He was Special Assistant to President Kennedy and managed the campaign of Robert F. Kennedy. The other founder is Senator Gaylord Nelson, who did most of the heavy political lifting. Nelson saw the success of the "teach-ins" - the organized demonstrations which protested the Vietnam War - and thought that the same energy could be turned to helping the environment. Not coincidentally, Earth Day falls between Spring Break and final exams for college students. This made it possible to mobilize university students for the effort. Millions of people participated in the first Earth Day all across the US. Within three years of the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was created. The Clean Air Act and laws to protect drinking water and the ocean can also be tied back to the environmental awareness created by the first Earth Day. In 1971, Senator Nelson proclaimed the third week in April to be Earth Week. John McConnell, however, is the founder of International Earth Day. McConnell wrote the Earth Day Proclamation for the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco in 1969. The Secretary General of the United Nations, U. Thant, picked up on the Proclamation and created International Earth Day which is celebrated at the March Equinox - around March 20th.