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The Intellectuals &the War Machine Author(s): Denise Levertov Source: The North American Review, Vol. 253, No. 1 (Jan., 1968), pp. 11-14, 16-20 Published by: University of Northern Iowa Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25116719 . Accessed: 17/05/2013 18:42
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The importance of this event shouldbe clear... Over2000 leaders intellectuallife have of America's a lawthey consider committed to opendisobedienceof the law; themselves solemnly unjustand immoral. a or even them not of 1 would have made such decision 3,2, year ago. Theestab Many undoubtedly down. lished, legal channelsfor expressionof the will of the peoplehavebroken

The

Intellectuals

The

War

Machine
by Denise Levertov

The Pentagon March and Sit-in on October 21st, as was to be expected of so dramatic an event, involving so many thousands of people, made front-page head lines in the nation's newspapers. the re Unfortunately, ports presented by a press whose vision is, to say the were distorted. the Not least, astigmatic, only was as an irresponsible sit-in itself widely misrepresented occurrence and violent perpetrated by 'riff-raff and but even the more drop-outs,' intelligent and thought ful reporters and commentators failed to place it in its or ignoring other highly signifi context, underplaying cant but less sensational anti-war actions of the week of October in the interests It is necessary 16th/21st. of historical accuracy and of our not-so-good (but not national moral health to set these events yet hopeless) in better focus. First of all it is important to remember that the movement of anti-war activity from protest to resistance htas occurred after years of conventional protest that have produced no effect on the Government's policy in and Viet Nam (though they have had an educative on The numbers effect of stimulating large people. in the New York Times steps from the advertisements (and elsewhere) signed by every kind of professional 3 years ago, and from the teach-ins and read-ins that seemed bold 2 years ago, to the widespread civil dis obedience of the Fall of 1967, have not been sudden, and certainly not irresponsible, impulsive, impatient, but on the contrary have been the gravely considered steps taken by a growing number of deeply conscien tious citizens who have first tried every other means at their command?including the giving of their vote January, 1968 11

to Johnson in 1964 because he promised all things op posite to those he has done. On October 20th?the the Pentagon day before an action that march?there took place inWashington has received relatively little publicity but which in its turn out to be of considerable im implications may was This the to the portance. delegation Attorney General's office at the Department of Justice of clergy, peo college professors, writers, and other professional ple, to declare their full support of the young men who are actively resisting the draft, and to declare their in to counsel, aid, and abet these tention of continuing
draft-resisters.

to this action is as follows: The background last while teaching Goodman, spring my husband, Mitchell at Stanford University for a term (in a special pro im The Voice met, and was deeply gram, Project) a of the and courage group of pressed by sincerity who, not young men calling themselves The Resistance, content to blithely accept 2S deferment, were putting in jeopardy for the sake of their principles. themselves He was active in helping to form a supportive group of later headed by Dr. Genevi?ve older people, Knupfer of the Stanford U. Medical to the School, committed assistance of these boys in their effort to locate and others of like views; and on his return to encourage the East was intent on gathering together a similar in the professions to act in soli group of older people
most recent is The DENISE LEVERTOV'S hook issued hy 'New Directions. She and her hushand, are active movement. in the draft resistance man, Sorrow Mitchell

Dance, Qood

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darity

with

Eastern

war-resisters.

In New

York,

'Sup

port in Action' (started by Grace Paley, Karl Bissing at the Green er, and Paul Goodman with headquarters a similar wich Village Peace Center) had proposed but there seemed to be little supportive role, response in this area as compared to the West Coast (where, in May for example, of the Stan 1967, 45 members ford Faculty had signed a pledge to 'acts of mass civil to stop the war in Viet Nam.' disobedience designed included 8 full professors in the Medical Signatories of the campus ministry, the Counsel School, members the High Energy Physics Lab, ling and Testing Center, and many of Stanford's most distinguished professors in the Departments of Chemistry, Health, Physics, Eng Politi lish, Statistics, History, Economics, Philosophy, cal Science, Anthropology, and Speech and Drama. The Stanford pledge stated in part that:
to protest We do not want the war any longer; we want are prepared, to stop mass it. We civil disobedi through . . . We to our government. to say NO can not be ence, certain that such acts will We the war. do believe, stop that nothing else has any chance it. however, of stopping on 10% the war If only of those who marched against 15th will we involve in such an action, themselves April to reverse the escalating murder might realistically hope and suffering.

one lution the most calls tragic (that Sen, Fulbright of in our history) its abdicated mistakes the Senate blindly on for consent" to "advise and constitutional obligation con A cynical cheers the General eign policy. Congress the most barbaric when is brought he ducting of wars, from Viet onstrations Nam against to counteract the war. dem effect of massive same President who has the mandate of no-larger-war to sell his vicious the military the The

At the very moment people. are numbers and large awakening a hair of the war, we are bombing within against turning China. have been led to the brink Step of by step we war. world when Americans in WE HAVE NEVER We have CONSENTED. protest ed?and have had our protests when they were ignored not a at by a President sneered who is pure politician, a man who ruthless and danger has steadily manipulator, eroded what remains process. ously of the democratic Senator what he calls has condemned of Ohio Young the assumption by the military of "an increasingly larg er role in formulating York national The New policy." Times this the "most calls alarming" aspect of the Viet nam or war. in Congress cannot If our representatives not will the military and Com control its overbearing then we must do it ourselves, mander-in-Chief, by an act of personal representation. laws exist" Thoreau "Unjust . . . or content to obey them at once?" It that even exclaimed. we shall "Shall transgress we be them

the huge ignored totally now uses 1964 elections, to the country. policy are an unrepresented We

And the press release that went out to announce the signing of this pledge quoted a memorandum stating that 'The "We Won't Go" Movement among draft-age youth
represents an extreme, potentially effective, and appar

in the society' and that ently infectious development there is 'a great need for an analogous activity among those who are past draft age.') Easterners seemed more sent aroused. letters out Personal slowly by my hus to various band, after his return from the West Coast,
academic people of our acquaintance, brought sympa

servitude is an unjust system military of involuntary war. new to this unjust is the key The law, draft more than the old one, is now resisted unjust being re in passive men, many by tens of thousands of young in active resistance. others these young fusal, Many of men have have thousands gone of others underground; the country; still others have resisted left openly by re or pledging to refuse to serve when Those called. fusing who the war in this way oppose face long jail sentences. now?the kind of support that re need our support, They to equal their own. tell us that the courage quires They time for protest is behind us?that basic human decency to the war. THEY ARE RIGHT. resistance requires They are right as the Abolitionists, the Suffragettes, the Civil were the Nuremburg Trial As Rights campaigners right. was right. . . . The law commands not aid, that we shall draft men or counsel as a group to refuse But the draft. re men when have the clergy said, young of recently to allow to be violated their conscience fuse by an un then it is necessary war, just law and a criminal for their to make elders?their clear teachers, ministers, friends in conscience, to aid, abet, their committment, and coun Most sel them against conscription. of us have already we will Now done this privately. demonstrate, publicly abet side by continue side with these to do so. young men, our determination to

thetic but Resistance

selves ning Braun a

inconclusive that the So, knowing replies. had which then established them groups by
locations draft-refusal across the action were country on October plan 16th,

in many concerted

in the middle
(a poet

of
and

the

summer
who

he

and

I and Henry
summer neigh

teacher

is our

bor

sat down together in our kitchen, and in Maine) the drafted Resistance) (under heading Conscientious a Call to Action, which we had printed locally and
sent out to our writers, own friends and artists?a and academics, among acquaintances list of approximately

names. en for those who chronically (So much / to want behind 'But who's that's what it, quire, know'!) This call read in part: 250
To the Clergy, and Women the Men of the Professions, to the A Call Resistance Teachers: for Conscientious It is impossible, to the Threat and War of Militarism: to be associated the Mexican said during Thoreau War, without "this American with being disgraced. government" a war, not to which would It was he said, "the people at the outset. he said, The time had come, have consented" to resist. for honest men are a dishonorable He for all of us now. We speaks The Ex in the hands government. of a degraded people now the connivance the military, domi with ecutive, of nates For and peace, that government. purposes of war with no is a quasi-dietator, the President of life and death, the mandate from the electorate. In the Tonkin Gulf Reso

Our original intention, as described in this first Call, was on to hold our demonstration at the Pentagon Oct. 16th. But we soon came to realize that this would be impractical for a relatively small group (we were intent on 'quality,' that is to say on gathering a group of recognizably sober citizens, well-informed people and more of status and fame, rather than on quantity) over we learned just after the Call was mailed that the to hold its mas had decided Mobilization Committee on the 21st. It at the Pentagon sive demonstration was necessary to change our locale. Mitch therefore to consult with the Goodman went down to New Haven at Rev. William Sloane Coffin, the Protestant Chaplain 12The North American Review

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IIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllM

Reistance A call forConscientious the Teachers: 'Tothe Clergy,theMen andWomenof the Professions, to theWar and to the Threat saidduringtheMexican Thoreau of Militarism: It is impossible, War, to be a was It he with "thisAmerican associated without war, said, to which being disgraced. government" at the outset. The time had come,he said, for honestmen to "the peoplewould not have consented"
resist.'
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllMllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

and courage have made Yale, whose cogency leader in the Peace Movement (and in many ways to the late Rev. A. J. Muste, who natural successor up to his death early this year at the age of 80 was for to all who worked such a source of inspiration us to and continues whose peace, memory give hope). Mr. Coffin suggested that we make the Department of Justice the objective of our action?an appropriate ob jective since we were dealing specifically with an issue for the oc outlined a plan of procedure of law?and casion. This change of locale, together with a descrip in a tion of what we would do there, was announced second Call; and by the time this mailing went out, the Resistance had joined forces with Conscientious Ille Resist 'A Call to Resist statement, group whose in the had meanwhile appeared gitimate Authority'* and of Books, New York Review the New Republic, is elsewhere. (It should be noted that 'The Resistance' the general name for the loosely-knit groups of young men of draft age who are refusing to comply with either 'Resist' is the group of induction or deferment; while older people who put out the Call to Resist Illegiti I have mate Authority. The group whose beginnings It is like been describing is 'Conscientious Resistance.' ly that the two latter groups, as well as 'Support in Ac aims are identical and which acted con tion,' whose will soon merge under a single ceitedly at Washington,
name.)

him

a a

This second mailing, then, went out not only to those to whom we had sent the first Call, but to those who to and additionally had signed the Resist Statement; a part of the mailing list of Clergy and Laymen Con The 'first edition' cerned about the War in Viet Nam. had been sent out over the signatures only of Mitchell the 'second edi Goodman, Henry Braun, and myself; the text I have quoted remained un tion' (in which Sloane carried also the names of William changed) and Dwight Mc Coffin, Noam Chomsky (of M.I.T.)
Donald, representing 'Resist'; and noted that among

to par had already committed themselves in this action were Robert Lowell, Norman ticipation Arthur Waskow (of the In Mailer, Ashley Montagu, from most of and professors stitute for Policy Studies) those who

in the East. the major universities and colleges we ourselves?the originators of the Call? Although and many others who had sent in their names, were in Committee's full accord with the National Mobilization on at the Pentagon plans for a mass demonstration were we that felt there October persons many 21st, in the De who, though they would want to participate about be hesitant of Justice action, would partment it had been rumored because the Mobilization (false and other that H. Rap Brown ly, as it turned out) would 'take it over' and that it Black Nationalists even of full an occasion of violence, might become scale riot. Therefore we carefully made it clear that our of any other taking place proposal was 'independent in October.' in Washington Only those who, as indi in the would wished to, viduals, stay on to participate march on the following day. took place at the On October 2nd a press conference The large room was filled with re New York Hilton. and the conference cameras, porters and television in the 'media,' however, was lasted 2 hours. Coverage poor. The NY Times in its city edition the next day did a fairly good job (though it reported Mitch Goodman for West as stating that the demonstrations planned Coast locations to coincide with ours were arranged by in fact they were 'students' whereas by organized but subse like ourselves); middleaged professionals quent editions omitted the names of all but two of the only Wil speakers at the news conference, mentioning The speak liam Sloane Coffin and Mitchell Goodman. ers whose names were left out were: Noam Chomsky, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Robert Lowell, Ashley Montague, Mark Raskin, Ar Paul Goodman, Dwight McDonald, the draft-age thur Waskow, and, representing youth, of Reconciliation. Ron Young of the Fellowship Among those present, but not on the speakers' platform, were Richard Mumma (Pres Stanley Kunitz, Nat Hentoff, Paul Lauter, Robert at Harvard), byterian Chaplain the Edenbaum of Temple University, William Davidon from Haverford and other notable College, physicist intellectuals. One of the reporters asked Dr. Spock if he would actually be willing to go to jail. He replied, to 'No one wants to go to jail, but yes, I am prepared

I summarize: has 8 points, which 'A Call to Resist share the moral outrage of the young men who refuse to 1) We Authority' Illegitimate of the war the UN Charter). in this war. 2) We deny the legality and constitutionality and moreover (as undeclared participate 3) We violating war to as in be defined by the Geneva Conventions crimes declare the actions of the US Vietnam of 1949. 4) We believe denial of draft exemption an we to to those who, while not complete pacifists, what consider is unconstitutional. believe that Therefore war, they unjust object 5) every free man has a legal and moral duty to exert every effort to end this war, to avoid collusion with it, and to encourage others to do the same. 6) We that open resistance with the war. Most of us believe to it is the course of action most support all forms of nonviolent noncooperation likely to 7) We will raise funds, to supply legal defense and bail, support families, and organize draft resistance unions; bring an end to the war. however. to the war in whatever ways may seem appropriate. and otherwise aid resistance is the sort of speech that under the 8) We believe our statement must be free. We to the youth many 1st Amendment feel we cannot shrink from fulfilling our responsibilities of us teach, to the country whose which we strive to preserve in this generation. traditions of religion and philosophy freedom we cherish, and to the ancient call upon men 9) We we call on the universities with immoral authority. Especially of good will to join us in this confrontation to fulfill their mission of enlightenment, is the time to resist. of brotherhood. Now to honor their heritage and religious organizations The long list of signers includes (as well as names I have mentioned in the text of this article) Albert Wilfred Szent-Gyorgyi, Sheed, Muriel P. Elliott, Robert Brustein, Robert McAfee Linus Pauling, Herbert Kohl, and Thomas George Rukeyser, Philip Roth, Dr. Martin Niemoller, Brown, Merton.

January,

1968

13

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How curious it is that go to jail for this principle.' this man, whose name is a household word, was on not judged 'newsworthy'! The Times this occasion in its fuller city edition did mention this interchange; but it too was cut out of later editions. Nor was it widely reported elsewhere. On the 16th of October young men of the Resistance ?over a thousand of them?publicly or destroyed handed in their draft-cards across at locations the Den San Francisco, country, including Los Angeles, Ce ver, Portland (Oregon), Minneapolis, Chicago, dar Rapids, Pro Iowa, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Boston, vidence, R. I., New York, Albany, Philadelphia, Ithaca, N. Y., and Washington. The ceremony at Boston was one of the most impressive and, thanks to the Boston Globe the Boston Herald also did (though especially '67 BURN quite well by it), one of the best-reported. DRAFT CARDS 214 Turn In Cards, IN BOSTON: 5000 at Rally' said the Globe's frontpage headlines on 17th. And above Oct. at the very top the headlines, of the page, was this quotation:
owe it to our conscience, to the people of this country, We to the principles of American to declare our inde democracy, of to resist it this in every way we can, until it pendence war, comes to an end, until there is peace in Vietnam. Howard Zinn Boston University Professor.

the world, while in doing so it loses its own soul?') and the Rev. William Sloane Coffin (\ . . To hundreds of not revered most to serve the state has heroes, history's appeared the best way to love one's neighbor'). Of all the demonstrations all over the country on the 16th of October, the one most people heard about was the one towards which the most police hostility was therefore became bloody enough to shown, and which engage the interest of the average newspaper. At Oak demonstrators from the whole land, California, Bay on the Induction Center, not only to Area converged refuse the draft but to block, at least for a symbolic to it of the busloads of inductees day, the entrance coast. A daily brought in from all over the California hundred and twenty five demonstrators including Joan
Baez and her mother and sister were arrested ? not

that day. But the thousands of others ? came back on less than 2000 on any day ? and though a peak of police brutality was Tuesday; reached on that day, with clubbings and the use of tear gently never
gas and 'chemical mace' (the new anti-riot weapon,

Here

at least was one major newspaper of courage and The under the headlines story honesty. reported how the 214 who turned in, rather than burning, their draft cards, gave them into the hands of Protestant, Catho lic and Jewish clergymen. The 67 who chose to burn their cards did so at the altar of the church. 'The mass followed a morning burn-in, turn-in ceremony rally on Boston Common attended by some 5000 anti-war and anti-draft demonstrators. and Students, faculty members from many New England clergymen colleges, universi as nine rally ties, and seminaries applauded vigorously
speakers assailed the war. . . .' "I am

ashamed, simply ' an American" to call myself the ashamed, deeply on to quote from Howard Globe went Zinn's speech. ' "When I read, and in the most conservative papers, that the U.S. Airforce has bombed, again and again, the residential areas of North Vietnamese cities, that it ? has bombed, too often to be an again and again accident ? signifi villages that are devoid of military cance ? a hospital that it has bombed for lepers in ... 13 times I am ashamed, North Vietnam and I want to dissociate myself from these acts. That is not ' should stand for." The con my idea of what America tinuation of the story on another page was headed '100 Ministers Join Protest' and it quoted Ray Munro, and now a graduate stu former editor of B. U. News an to is honorable alternative dent at Harvard ('Jail Dr. in McLean Dana Vietnam'), serving Greeley, presi ... Association dent of the Unitarian Universalist ('I a nation in forcing young do not know what justifies men to fight and die for a cause in which they do not believe. That is not democracy, it is totalitarianism. And it is not freedom, by tyranny"), Dr. Harold Fray Jr. of the Eliot Church of Newton and the Committee for Peace of Religious Concern ('What does it profit a nation to impose its military might upon peoples of

the long-range after-effects of which on eyes and skin are not yet known), all directed upon unarmed dem onstrators who were sitting down: nevertheless the pro testers came back Wednesday, and Thursday, and Fri day. And by Friday they had adopted new tactics; no to mass in front of the In they longer attempted duction Center in direct confrontation with the police; instead they spread out to block traffic in the sur streets, and they no longer sat down, but rounding stood ? 'eye to eye with the cops' as one participant put it. Many, football, or by Friday, wore motorcycle, construction and instead of the usual card helmets, board picket signs carried heavy wooden shields. But to practice non-violence. And on that they continued day only 28 were arrested, only 23 injured (none ser out of an estimated 5000. Did the changed iously) ? or is it possible that strategy confuse the authorities such persistence had at least some temporary effect on the authoritarian psychology? One of the most important facts to note and to re member is that the draft-age war refusers are boys of in who would have no difficulty intelligence high their 2S status and going on to graduate maintaining school if they chose to. Their action is strictly one of disinterested As a U.S. Senator, himself that principle. rare quantity, a politician with principles and humane said to me a few days later, 'They are imagination, noble and heroic'. On October 20th the cards that had been given into of the clergy, as in Boston, the safekeeping and fac or turned in similes of those that had been destroyed elsewhere on the 16th, were brought to Washington by of the various 'Resistance' groups (the representatives adult supportive for raised the money groups having them to fly in). At 1 p.m., upwards of 500 profession al people met in the hall of the Church of the Reforma a partici tion, kindly lent by its Pastor (not himself us were perhaps With 40 of the 'Resistance' pant). as were poets youths. represented, Clergy were well and other professional vast majority but the writers; 14 The North American Review

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were academics from different fields, and of these?as I know precisely from the list of those present which was compiled on the spot ? 90% were of professorial from several uni rank, including heads of departments versities. art, classics, Biology, physics, math, music, various branches of medicine, science English, political and history, economics ? these and other disciplines were represented by some of their most distinguished at random Seymour Melman of I mention scholars. R. B. Kalish of W. Donald Lewis of Yale, Columbia, of Alfred Conrad of CCNY, Leo Hamalian UCLA, of of Yale, Patrick Gallagher CCNY, Gordon Rogoff Ohmann of Richard George Washington University, were Norman writers the Mailer, Among Wesleyan. Adrienne Robert Lowell, Robert Duncan, Rich, Gal way Kinnell, Robert Bly, John Logan, Walter Lowen and Louis Jim Harrison, fels, Lou Lipsitz, Simpson, to name but a few. Writers who were Grace Paley ? them not able to be present but who have committed Susan selves to further action include Richard Wilbur, Yet the New Carruth. Sontag, Studs Terkel, Hayden this as a gathering of 'students York Times described and young writers'! (And they did so on an inside page, at the end of a long and detailed account of the to defend extensive military being made preparations the Pentagon from invasion.) all those present signed a further assembled, Having of the pen statement brief testifying to their knowledge alties incurred under the law for interfering in any way others to resist it (up with the draft or encouraging to 5 years in jail or up to $10,000 fine). After a brief by a pre ing on the order of affairs, we then walked Justice to of route the building Department arranged on Constitution where we had secured per Avenue, A bus was on hand to to hold a meeting. mission the 2-mile dis some older of the transport participants tance. On the shallow steps of the Justice building, where we had installed a loudspeaker system, the Rev invoked of Philadelphia) erend Gracie (Episcopalian, a blessing on the proceedings, and he, Dr. Spock, Rob and some of the ert Lowell, William Sloane Coffin, addressed the crowd of about 600, young draft-refusers, of participants and news which was mainly composed on are men. Consti few (There pedestrian passers-by at that hour of the afternoon.) These tution Avenue in of our purpose brief speeches were reconfirmations solemn the ceremony ? being there. There followed and quiet ? of the draft cards from all over the coun try being brought up to the speakers' stand, where they were placed and when this had in a large briefcase; most of them young profes been done, individuals ?
sors ? came up to add their cards to the others, some

and was accepted with down', that seemed reasonable at the chief to This present good grace.) delegation, seat of Law these documents of refusal to comply with that re the law and to declare our complicity with was Dr. W. B. R. of Lewis, fusal, Spock, composed Arthur Waskow, Mark Raskin, Seymour Melman, Wil and Mitchell liam Sloane Coffin, Goodman, together After with four young men of 'The Resistance.' they the had entered the building (passing, under escort, at Norman Noam the doors) Mailer, heavy police guard Mrs. and others, among including Spock, Chomsky, the 'Resistance' the young war speakers Gary Rader,
resister who once was a wearer of the Green Beret,

made brief speeches, interrupted from time to time by 5 members Nazi Party, who shouted of the American 'We Want Dead Reds' from the borders of the crowd. addressed Mrs. Benjamin Spock, petite and elegant, a women and with that encourage plea they especially and in their conscientious dissent, support their men not let fear of jail-sentences deter them. Show your love for them by backing them when they do right, was her message. 'When Ben says to me about something I say to him, Go ahead!' like this, Shall I do it??

A In my
writers,

own
and

?1 statement
especially

I tried to make
writers who are

the point
also

that

teachers,

a special responsibility: since we were particular of ly articulate people we had the frequent privilege ? in print, in public, in class, making our words heard this and had used with in conferences students ? war and there to the the draft; privilege speak against to back up our fore we had all the more obligation had
words with our deeds, to show our readers and stu

dents that we had not been 'just talking,' but that we meant what we said. (The distinguished German writ er Hans Egon Holthusen, commenting recently in the on a World Algemeine Frankfurter Zeitung Poetry I at which in September Conference held in Montreal had spoken on this obligation of the writer and on the insisted that need to move from 'protest to resistance,' a This is the I was, 'nat?rlich,' only using metaphor. kind of genial misunderstanding the sober, thoughtful, growing, and increasingly determined Peace Movement has to overcome, along with its dismissal by reporters as 'a bunch of crazy hippies and and the ill-informed teeny boppers' etc.) When the delegation
General

to the Asst.
more ? after

Deputy
an

Attorney
inter

of them making
so.

a short personal

statement

as they did

? over a thousand ? By the time all the cards was 3 the hour at which an it had been collected p.m., a to enter been for had made delegation appointment the Assistant the building and see Mr. John McDonough, General. (Our request had been, of Deputy Attorney meet the with to course, Attorney General himself, but an with 'the third man when appointment granted

and re Mr. Coffin came to the microphone on the of Members what had group happened. ported and of the legal validity had made formal challenges of the draft in its context of an un moral defensibility declared war, undesired by those asked to fight it, and Then had stock answers. had received the expectable come the crux of the matter: the attempt to put into the hands of the law, personified by one of its highest shared of our evidence representatives, voluntary 16The North American Review

view ?

emerged

once

hour's

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'crime.' Mr. McDonough 'What?' he waved it away. was asked, to the refuse accept legal responsibili 'you ties of your office? To whom, then, if not to you, should these documents, the evidence of our liability to jail sentences or heavy fines, be delivered?' There was no answer ? only a repeated refusal to accept them. Fi that the law refused to look at was nally the evidence on left desk of the Asst. Deputy Attorney the simply into the General ? of course, it soon passed whence, hands of the FBI, who began, within a few days, to returners. The complicity and the draft-card question men women has and of the support non-draft-eligible at the time of writing continued to be officially ignored. until we Our intention is to pursue our commitment to stop sweeping our actions force the administration under the rug. The importance of this event should be clear, I hope, to the readers of the North American Over Review: 2000 intellectual life have sol leaders of America's to open disobedience of themselves emnly committed the law; a law they consider unjust and immoral. Many would not have made such a de of them undoubtedly cision 3, 2, or even 1 year ago. The established, legal channels for expression of the will of the people have that in committing broken down. Those who believe Civil Disobedience they are serving the best interest of their country, and that only by a breaking of immoral and laws can the principles of just law be removed rectified, are a minority, strictly speaking: but they are a minority constituted of the most thoughtful, most de most such they As veloped, genuinely respectable. a spearhead; each of them represents more constitute than himself, those many who on Octobef represents 20th this year were not yet quite ready for such a step but who, encouraged by seeing these leaders take it, will unless the war ends. That follow them before long ? is why I believe it was an event of historic importance, not to be ignored by any serious student of this coun try's history. who attended the rally at the The 100,000-150,000 next day, the 80,000 who continued Lincoln Memorial in a 4-mile march across the Memorial bridge and to the Pentagon north parking lot (the area for which a and the 4,000 (at the peak) permit had been granted) ter who crossed police lines to sit in on the Pentagon race from about 5 p.m. Saturday until late on Sunday (with a lessening number remaining steadfastly until the last 200 were arrested at midnight Sunday) were ov same the kinds of people and their young erwhelmingly
er counterparts: members of the most thoughtful, cour

The rifles bare hands and their earnest consciences. were not loaded and the bayonets were sheathed; never force was absurd and theless this show of physical in Had it been only a show, its tragic disproportion. the absurd and the tragic might have the scale weighing But the billy clubs, tipped on the side of absurdity. the rifle butts, and the tear gas were used. Heads were broken. Blood flowed. Demonstrators crossing the po lice lines were not simply arrested, they were knocked about the head down and savagely beaten (especially In the night, the hands and feet and over the kidneys). of the sitters-in were deliberately stepped on; bodies were kicked; dozing girls were pulled out of the sit ters' line by their long hair. Earlier in the day, at least one group of distinguished demonstrators, including and Noam Chomsky, Dagmar Wilson, Barbara Deming, Dave Dellinger, arrested before they had even reached which they had been marked by a rope ? the line ? about to cross, were kept in a stationary, locked, air af Indian-summer in Washington's less paddywagon ternoon heat for over an hour, their request that the vents be opened refused. Not all of the police, soldiers, and marshalls acted brutally, obviously; and to different shifts of them, during the 34-odd hours of the 'siege,' But it seemed that different orders had been given.
there was a great deal of wanton violence ? and even

a little was too much. No one expected that they would let us walk in, unobstructed, naturally; but the demon strators could have been restrained and arrested with That there was not out being beaten and mistreated. a riot of the bloodiest kind is a tribute to the stead it Yet of the demonstrators. purposes fastly peaceful for was the military and police that were congratulated their 'restraint' by the press. Here is a typical example taken from a Nov. of such misplaced congratulation, in 'Grit', whose 5th editorial (1,153 large circulation in the rural areas: 881 weekly) is mainly
Observers well-meaning, though misguided, say that many citizens helped form the throng at the capital, but that in the end it was taken over by the political hippies, or lunatic fringe, who and defied orders to disperse upon tried to storm the Pentagon through Fortunately, expiration of the permit for the assembly. taken by Secretary of Defense McNa the security precautions mara and his aids the violence was held to a minimum.

It is tragic that such 'observers' cannot distinguish of high artists teachers, scholars, writers, clergy, and students in good standing at the best achievement, activities ? have that week's from coast to coast, and from churches and induction centers to the and the Pentagon-achieved? Justice Department Within the Peace Movement, they have given stimu to further actions: actions which lus and encouragement began only a few hours after the last demonstrators were carried away to the paddywagons at midnight noon, a group of students just re Sunday. By Monday were already picketing turned from Washington the In at Princeton, stitute for Defense Analysis to protest that involvement in war research. Within university's days there were sit-ins and pickets at Harvard, Brown, Ob What erlin, Yale, Indiana, CCNY, Columbia, Berkeley?name the campus, and it has had, or is having, or will have had by the time this article appears, some form of pro
colleges, from a 'lunatic fringe.'

and well-informed ageous, segment of the educated at the classes. Yes, there was violence and privileged ? was it much of it inflicted But violence Pentagon. and under cover of darkness ? the police military by forces massed that collectively there by a government ? whatever the I.Q. of its individual members may be ? is too resistance stupid to understand what non-violent a force of 10,000 means; soldiers, police, and hastily armed with billy clubs, tear sworn-in U.S. marshalls, a vast to defend fortress gas, rifles, and bayonets, armed with nothing but their against men and women January, 1968 17

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test demonstration against such involvement, most of them directed specifically against campus recruiting by the armed forces, the CIA, and the manufacturers of war products. on The debate this issue continues is it an infringement of free along with the protests: speech to prevent those who wish to be interviewed by the spokesmen for these organizations from fulfilling their wishes? Or is it a violation of the ideals of high er education to give their for university administrators tacit approval to the war by permitting these recruiters on campus? student Could they not, as one Oberlin in the local Post office hours their hold suggested, or some other Federal Office, building off-campus? and those of Columbia Some student bodies, notably have voted to let interviewing policies now in Fordham, that if the inter Others are proposing force continue.
viewers are to continue to come on campus, they do so

on condition that they agree to engage in public dis It issues involved. and physical cussion of the moral to related the is a matter obviously holding by closely in for research contracts of government universities fields chemical warfare and other morally questionable some institutions of learning, un ?contracts which der pressure from indignant students and faculty, have It still hold. but which many relinquished, already been have these that is of major questions importance the vote has fa raised. Even at those colleges where it is of campus the continuance vored recruitment, clear that the issue is not therefore a dead one. Those to do so, because it will continue who have opposed if these moral outrage is not appeased by a vote. And students and faculty are dismissed, others will take their focus par The Dow Chemical representatives place. who are while for non-pacifists strong feeling; ticularly see some all not to but to this war, war, may opposed for students being told something rational justification in the armed forces in the same about career prospects and way that they are told about careers in business aware that to be expected, industry, they are keenly to be places within the confines of what are supposed of humane study, to entertain the producers of napalm, an a genocidal atrocity, and be invited to join them, is functions twin those and 'hearts to their insult minds,' are so fond of referring to. college presidents
Among other post-Pentagon-Sit-in events has been

? is the sort of challenge Vice-Pr?sident Humphrey action that immediately raises the cry 'Bad Taste!' from gentle civilized folk. But those who do these things are so gentle and civil themselves gentle and civilized ? in that their and ized, fact, outrage anguish at the at rocities of war cause them to overcome their fear of should be honored for their seeming excessive. They in the face of a war whose taste is vile. acts, performed To those who are more shocked by such dramatic moments than by the burning alive of countless human beings, what can one say? Often one is at a loss. But there is something one can say and do; patiently, and are a to realize that from trying always suffering they is what underlies most failure of imagination (which and of just indignation) failures of compassion and often, also, from simple ignorance of the facts, one can in the rea them with the evidence keep on presenting sonable hope that eventually their imagination? and with it their intelligent responses, will awaken. For example, one can reiterate to such people the story by Bernard New York Times correspondent, dated Sai Weinraub, gon, Sept. 19 th:
The director and key staff of a major volunteer agency sup in . . . States government has resigned ported by the United war. the Vietnamese protest against At the same time, 45 teachers, and agricultural specialists of the agency have signed a social workers who are members letter to President Johnson that calls the war "an overwhelming . . . "We have seen enough to say that the only monu atrocity". ments to this war will be the dead, the maimed, the despairing and the forlorn", says the letter, signed by members of Interna a tional Voluntary private group suppoted by the U.S. Services, aid program, and which has 170 volunteers, more than any of the other relief groups in South Vietnam. One of the most in the country, it has sought to help highly respected agencies at the village and hamlet level, with volunteers the Vietnamese on agricultural teaching English, refugees, training working . . . Don and orphans. projects and aiding the war's widows the 33-year-old director of IVS Luce of East Calais, Vermont, . . . who has worked for 9 years, said slowly and in in Vietnam tensely, "We need an end to this war. We're witnessing right now of Vietnamese the destruction family life, of its agriculture and transportation. We're of city the seeing development I have a feeling that the changes needed are slums ... kind of thing IVS does . . . greater than the person-to-person As individuals, we cannot become part of the destruction of a people we love. We're leaving here because this is the only with the tragedy going on way to express our disagreement here." Don Ronk, of Arcata, leader of IVS in the DaNang Cal., who has worked there for area, a former military policeman two years with pickpockets and juvenile delinquents, said: "This war is much, much more than the guns, bombs, and battles. Not only do I speak against the dying and maiming of the body ... I speak also against the dying and maiming of those qualities separating man from beast. I believe that friends my protest is in the best interests of my Vietnamese and is intended to say what they are largely unable to say: ... war. As much as I love these Vietnamese who Stop this have gathered with me, as much as I desire to be here as some form of shelter and solace in these times of horror, as much as I realize their personal hurt if I must go, I must it against speaking out against the cause of so much weigh of their anguish and the anguish of all Vietnamese.

on October 27th when the spectacular one in Baltimore Thomas Father Philip Berrigan, Lewis, of 'Artists S.J., David Eberhardt, about Vietnam/ Concerned secretary and the Rev. Interfaith Peace Mission, of the Baltimore of the United Church of Christ, poured James Mengel, full of containers blood, some of it their own, into 17 for in file drawers at an Induction Center. This?like, at Nation the Goodman's Mitchell up standing stance, to publicly last February al Book Awards ceremony

Let those who are shocked by the desperate meas ures taken by men of good will in their attempts to ? whether by burning draft bring this war to an end

what he calls the assumption SenatorYoungof Ohiohas condemned by themilitaryof "an increasingly as national policy." The New YorkTimescalls this the "mostalarming" larger role in formulating or in war. our will not cannot If control themilitaryand representatives Congress pect of the Vietnam an act thenwe must do it ourselves, of its overbearing Commander-in-Chief, by personalrepresentation. 18
The North American Review

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cards or blocking public buildings that house the bur eaucratic machinery for directing the war traffic, or by the moral file drawers ? let them examine bloodying nature of their disapproval, it against that and weigh Is this not a desperate situation, that calls testimony. man and wo an for desperate measures? honest Many man will find their viewpoints their sense of changing, values being rectified, if they are presented with rele of imagina vant juxtapositions of the facts. Failure to look tion is in part a failure to make connections, as but at things not in unrelated parts compartments How often E. M. Forster's words ring in of a whole. my mind when I am confronted by this failure in nice, ? decent, well-intentioned people 'Only connect!' as I have said, of the week One of the achievements, of October 16/21, has been to confirm and strengthen in the participants. the spirit of war-resistance (The is being prepared next wave of draft card turnings-in rent already as I write. A New York theater is being film? an accounts?and ed for evening of eyewitness affair. Local and regional actions of of the Pentagon has been to Another many kinds are being organized.) ? both hawks to the evidence further politicians give to the the opposition of how widespread and doves ? Admin of the war has become. The more intelligent and the op istration supporters, however unwillingly, are at last be looking for the next move, portunists are ginning to realize that though the active protesters are ?lite of of the nation, still a small minority they of this There have been indirect indications quality. in various quarters. To the more intelligent realization those who and humane Senators and Representatives, thous of the the the war, assembly already oppose can only have been in Washington ands of protesters in an encouragement; Senator Mansfield's statement, the Sit-in (on the basis of distorted which he deplored of it, surely) notwithstanding. accounts (I have evi dence from at least 2 other Senators that they do find to an important the demonstrations encouragement their own stand.) To the many uncommitted, confused, but openmind ed citizens back home in the academic, professional, re to which the 100,000 and residential communities in their turned to tell the tale truly and to persevere at the that week brought wonder dedicated activities, a reconsideration of their determination of so many, own inaction, and, to some, a resolve to join at least next peace vigil in their neighbor instance?the ?for hood. Thus, step by step, more people are being stir red out of their inertia. And after all, some of those inert not so long presently most active were themselves ago. The attempt by an irresponsible press and by in to make the whole temperate war-committed politicians thing 'look bad,' to cheapen it (as by references to 'the or by choosing to focus on the two odor of marijuana' a Viet Cong flags?paraded close-knit group of by out of hundreds of banners, twelve persons ? among the Stars and Stripes predominated, carried at which or by talking of 'violence' without the demonstration; . .) is violence it was. whose admitting being quietly countered by the personal influence of the eyewitness January, 1968 19

MARRIAGE
(for our anniversary) Elbows on the glass I watched till the wings tipped Then I blinked you gone. After that last hard talk ! like work we'd done you leave me
an ice-burn

into the sun.

in a fit of calm,
cool,

easy in our distances. Look, they are only miles.

Measurable.

NO TRUCE
Each of us woke on a different morning and the world was upside grass blue sky green a violent flame inching out of the west

down

across

the lawn

We got to work grunting blood gone to our heads shoving the balance back and more than ourselves we've spent each other no breath left no tricks

and swearing

The sun not teasing licks at these hands that dangle down the sky And
to walk

if we never
on it.

learn Rosellen Brown

. . .

ROSELLEN BROWN, the past three years

has been from 'New Jork, in lougaloo, Her Mississippi. Review in Poetry, Quarterly appeared previously and other magazines. ture, Poetry Northwest,

living for work has of Litera

es. Who can say whether lies or the truth will prevail. in a But I do think, judging from my own experience in shops rural area of Maine and from conversations bus stations and beauty parlors, in and lunchcounters, many States in the last couple of years, that the 'com mon man'?and woman?is skeptical of increasingly accounts news-media and of politicians' speeches (whether or not they are familiar with the term 'credi And bility gap'). they are readier to concomitantly listen to a view that condemns the war, especially when it is neither very they see that the person expressing eccentric in dress or manner. Yet young nor noticeably

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sons and brothers these are the people whose and are in Vietnam or soon expect to be sent husbands there; they have quite personal reasons to be thought ful about the war?but also to be defensive about it. If the underprivileged with masses, alas, few whom, peace activists come into much direct contact, will lis ten thoughtfully and often express their own disillus ionment with the war, then surely the more privileged ?the of the middleclass intelli peripheral members come contact? whom the in with activists do gentsia are going to be quite widely affected, at least to the some nagging thoughts to deal with, point of having veterans' of the demonstrations? the 'returning by
those past and those to come.

'achieved' but un else was not precisely Something at effectuated the Pentagon, intentionally by the re of the their sponse authorities, Pentagon by brutality and by their lying about their brutality (e.g., the at to deny its use of tear gas and to tempt by the Army was it 'if used' it was by the demonstrators that say in the face of thousands of witnesses, themselves?this including, in this case, the press, who saw the soldiers throw it!) I refer to the 'radicalizing' of many of the participants. By some, who deplore the war but are in no way politically this will be, or is be revolutionary, ing, looked on with mixed feelings, perhaps with some fear. Others will rejoice. But whether it is, in the long view, a good or a bad thing, it certainly has happened: in the Peace Movement, i.e., many apolitical people confronted more closely than ever before with a mas found them of Authority, sive concrete manifestation

for the first time the idea that per entertaining war to the would not be enough; that even stop haps if this war is stopped, perhaps we cannot stop other wars unless we radically change a political and econ omic system that promotes war. The Peace Movement ex has never been composed in fact complete pacifists consti clusively of pacifists, tute a small minority within it; but a belief in non-vio lence as the way in which to work for peace has never theless permeated those sections of the movement which feel there are certain wars in which they would in the fight. And this belief prevailed at the Pentagon One of the most face of long hours of provocation. in the minds of many of us now agonizing questions is whether, if the war goes on and on, (and mean while social injustice continues in our ghettos and rural slums) we will continue to find the spiritual strength to we be adhere, in spirit and action, to the non-violence lieve is right, the positive peace-action that refuses to let violence make us violent. the 'Hope deferred maketh heart sick.' For the moment there is hope: and it lies are showing an in the young, who in this generation revulsion methods from of force and brute unparalleled other have taken for granted. that generations authority
We older ones?who have already seen how 'wars to

selves

end war' and 'wars for freedom' lead to more war and to morass ? less freedom, from morass (as Walter Nov. remarked in 6)?must Newsweek, Lippman back them to the hilt. The patience of the young may not be endless. May they not be tried too long!

20

The North

American

Review

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