Confronting the War Machine: Draft Resistance during the Vietnam WarShedding light on a misunderstood form of opposition to the Vietnam War, Michael Foley tells the story of draft resistance, the cutting edge of the antiwar movement at the height of the war's escalation. Unlike so-called draft dodgers, who left the country or manipulated deferments, draft resisters openly defied draft laws by burning or turning in their draft cards. Like civil rights activists before them, draft resisters invited prosecution and imprisonment. Focusing on Boston, one of the movement's most prominent centers, Foley reveals the crucial role of draft resisters in shifting antiwar sentiment from the margins of society to the center of American politics. Their actions inspired other draft-age men opposed to the war--especially college students--to reconsider their place of privilege in a draft system that offered them protections and sent disproportionate numbers of working-class and minority men to Vietnam. This recognition sparked the change of tactics from legal protest to mass civil disobedience, drawing the Johnson administration into a confrontation with activists who were largely suburban, liberal, young, and middle class--the core of Johnson's Democratic constituency. Examining the day-to-day struggle of antiwar organizing carried out by ordinary Americans at the local level, Foley argues for a more complex view of citizenship and patriotism during a time of war. |
Contents
| 19 | |
The Draft as a Political Issue and a Movement Target | 48 |
October 16 A Resolute Show of Moral Force | 76 |
Filtered Resistance Draft Resisters Image and Reality | 113 |
Uneasy Waiting Draft Resisters and the Johnson Administration | 131 |
Getting by with Little Help from Their Friends | 158 |
A New BeginningConfrontation Renewal and Triumph | 223 |
Spring 1968 A Hothouse Atmosphere | 262 |
Beyond Draft Resistance New Strategies and Dangling Men | 294 |
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Common terms and phrases
1997 Boston Draft activism Alex Jack antiwar movement April Arlington Street Church arrested BDRG Boston Draft Resistance Boston Globe Califano called civil disobedience civil rights Clark Clennon CNVA Coffin confrontation conscientious objector Court crowd David David Clennon defendants deferment demonstrations draft card turn-in Draft Resistance Group draft resistance movement Draft Resistance Survey England Resistance Ferber and Lynd Harvard Hershey Hershey's Howard Zinn ibid interview issue January Johnson Jupin Justice Department later March Marston ment Michael Ferber military moral Nan Stone Newsletter Noam Chomsky October 16 Oestereich Olimpieri parents participants peace percent police political president prison prosecution protest rally Ramsey Clark Ray Mungo reclassified refused induction resist the draft Resistance organizers response sanctuary Selective Service Selective Service System sistance social Spock tion trial turned veterans Vietnam Vietnam War William Sloane Coffin women wrote young