Felon for Peace: The Memoir of a Vietnam-era Draft ResisterWhen Jerry Elmer turned eighteen at the height of the Vietnam War, he publicly refused to register for the draft, a felony then and now. Later he burglarized the offices of fourteen draft boards in three cities, destroying the files of men eligible to be drafted. After working almost twenty years in the peace movement, he attended law school, where he was the only convicted felon in Harvard's class of 1990. This book is a blend of personal memoir, contemporary history, and astute political analysis. Elmer draws on a variety of sources, including never-before-released FBI files, and argues passionately for the practice of nonviolence. He describes the range of actions he took--from draft card burning to organizing draft board raids with Father Phil Berrigan; from vigils on the Capitol steps inside "tiger cages" used to torture Vietnamese political prisoners to jail time for protesting nuclear power plants; from a tour of the killing fields of Cambodia to meetings with Corazon Aquino in the Philippines. A Vietnamese-language edition of Felon for Peace has also been published. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
School | 5 |
Students for Peace in Vietnam | 11 |
Nonregistration | 33 |
Six Draft Boards In Boston | 65 |
The Rhode Island Political Offensive For Freedom | 94 |
Still More DraftFile Destruction And a Plot to Kidnap Henry Kissinger? | 108 |
The American Friends Service Committee | 133 |
Travels in Southeast Asia | 173 |
In Vietnam in 1981 | 178 |
The killing fields of Cambodia | 186 |
With Cory Aquino May 1984 | 192 |
Mass Civil Disobedience | 194 |
Human Rights in Vietnam | 211 |
The Assembly to Save the Peace Agreement Washington DC | 234 |
Neither Fish nor Fowl | 255 |
Presenting AFSC petitions to the White House 159 | 134 |
Rhode Islanders at the nuclear Freeze demonstration in New York | 164 |
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Common terms and phrases
AFSC AFSC office AFSC staff AFSC's American Friends Service anti-war arrested Baez bombing burning Cambodia Capitol Carol Bragg Catholic Left civil disobedience civil rights civilian Congress Dave DeCourcy demonstration destroying draft files direct action discussed Don Luce draft boards draft resistance draft-board Action draft-file destruction effect efforts Friends Service Committee high school human rights indictment Indochina issue Jerry Elmer Jim Peck Khmer Rouge ment Mitch nationwide NERO never Nixon nonviolent action North Vietnam nuclear power nuclear weapons organizing pacifist parents participants peace activists peace movement person Phil Berrigan Phnom Penh Photo planning Pol Pot President programs Providence raid Rhode Island Rochester Selective Service Steve Suzi tactic tiger cage tiger cage replica Tiger Cage Vigil tion took trip U.S. policy United Vietnam War Vietnamese Vigil and Fast violence wanted Washington week World York