1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frey. This is part two of 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: our two part episode on the draft board raids that 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,400 Speaker 1: took place in the United States during the Vietnam War. 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: In part one, we gave an incredibly basic overview of 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: the war and why the US was involved in it, 8 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: and some of the reasons why people were increasingly opposed 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: to it as the war stretched on. We also talked 10 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: about some of the earliest incidents of vandalism at draft 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: board offices, which started in nineteen sixty six. In nineteen 12 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:51,600 Speaker 1: sixty seven, as US involvement in Vietnam was escalating, but 13 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: before it had reached its peak. It would be hard 14 00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 1: to overstate how deeply device these issues were and how 15 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: incredibly polarized the United States was during the Vietnam War, 16 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:11,400 Speaker 1: so much so that growing up in the aftermath of it, 17 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: not even during the actual war, has made me incredibly 18 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: wary of trying to tackle these subjects in any amount 19 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: of detail on the show. I kind of feel like, 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:24,840 Speaker 1: no matter what I say, people older than me are 21 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: going to be very angry. The United States media framed 22 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: a lot of this discourse about the war as a 23 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: conflict between hawks who supported the war and doves who 24 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: opposed it. Opponents were stereotyped as like dirty hippies and 25 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:49,640 Speaker 1: sanctimonious white college kids who spat on soldiers returning from service, 26 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: but the anti Vietnam War movement in the United States 27 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: was really broad. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Black Panthers, 28 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: and Martin Leuether King Junior were all vocally opposed to 29 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: the war. The Asian American movement was deeply connected to 30 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 1: the anti war movement, and a lot of Vietnamese Americans 31 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: did not want the US to be fighting a war 32 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: in the place that they, or their parents or their 33 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: grandparents had come from. Japanese American young people had been 34 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: raised by parents who were incarcerated in concentration camps in 35 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,559 Speaker 1: the United States during World War II, and they campaigned 36 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: both for redress for their parents and an end to 37 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: US imperialism in Asia. The Chicano Moratorium was a march 38 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,800 Speaker 1: held in Los Angeles that included more than twenty thousand 39 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:45,400 Speaker 1: Mexican Americans. These are just examples. It was not all 40 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: hippies and college kids. Most, but not all, of the 41 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: demonstrations we are talking about today were carried out primarily 42 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: by Catholic clergy and devout Catholic li lay people, and 43 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:04,160 Speaker 1: that's another group that does not really fit in with 44 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: that stereotype of opponents to the war. On September twenty fourth, 45 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight, a graduate student took over the cathedral 46 00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: of Saint John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This was 47 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,560 Speaker 1: a diversion to allow fourteen men to break into the 48 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:25,120 Speaker 1: Selective service building without being detected. Four of them were 49 00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: from Milwaukee and the rest had traveled from somewhere else 50 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: to participate. They included four Catholic priests and one Catholic brother, 51 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: and many of the others were Catholic laypeople. One was 52 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: a member of the Church of Scientology. In photos of 53 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: the incident, the ones who aren't in clerical attire are 54 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: mostly wearing suits and ties, and one looks like he 55 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,360 Speaker 1: might be in a work uniform. After removing about ten 56 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: thousand draft files, they took them outside the building and 57 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: burned them with homemade napalm. They focused on the files 58 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: classified as A one, meaning the people who were eligible 59 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: to be called up at any time. They sang hymns 60 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: while waiting for the police to arrive to arrest them. 61 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: They were charged with burglary and arson. Twelve of them 62 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: were tried together and were all convicted, and two who 63 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: were tried separately were convicted as well. As we talked 64 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 1: about in Part one, destroying draft cards was illegal under 65 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: federal law, but a judge throughout a separate federal case 66 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: because there had been so much publicity that it seemed 67 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:36,480 Speaker 1: unlikely that they could ever convene an impartial jury. One 68 00:04:36,480 --> 00:04:40,839 Speaker 1: of the Milwaukee fourteen, Michael Cullen, was from County Wicklow, Ireland, 69 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: and he spent nine months in prison before being deported. 70 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: He was readmitted to the United States in nineteen ninety one, 71 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: so that was one of the draft rates from nineteen 72 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: sixty eight. Richard Nixon was inaugurated as president in January 73 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty nine. By that point, thirty one thousand 74 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,799 Speaker 1: Americans had been killed in action in Vietnam, and half 75 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: of all Americans personally knew someone who had died in 76 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: combat there. More than half a million American troops were 77 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: in Vietnam. Nixon wanted to end the war within a year, 78 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: but without simply withdrawing troops and abandoning South Vietnam. His 79 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: administration had shifted from deploying increasing numbers of American combat 80 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,720 Speaker 1: troops to Vietnam to supporting South Vietnam and building up 81 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: its own military capacity and also training the South Vietnamese 82 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: to take over these combat roles. There were also public 83 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,080 Speaker 1: peace talks and secret, behind the scenes negotiations going on. 84 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: At first, the American public didn't really know much about 85 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: this policy shift, and while Nixon was reducing the number 86 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: of American troops in Vietnam, overall, people were still being 87 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:00,200 Speaker 1: drafted and deployed, so protests against the war and the 88 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:04,760 Speaker 1: draft continued. As one example, on May twenty fifth, nineteen 89 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:08,760 Speaker 1: sixty nine, fifteen people broke into a draft board office 90 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: in a predominantly non white neighborhood on the South side 91 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:18,640 Speaker 1: of Chicago, destroying about fifty thousand draft records. On November three, 92 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 1: Nixon gave a speech outlining the basics of his so 93 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: called Vietnamization strategy to end the war. He acknowledged that 94 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,520 Speaker 1: the nation was deeply divided over the war, and he 95 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,680 Speaker 1: called on a quote silent majority to support him in 96 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 1: ending it in a way that would bring a just 97 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,800 Speaker 1: and lasting piece to Vietnam, meaning he could not just 98 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: unilaterally decide to withdraw all the troops. Nixon did not 99 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:53,080 Speaker 1: give a specific timetable for this, because the timeline for 100 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: troop withdrawal would have to depend on what was actually 101 00:06:56,240 --> 00:07:00,160 Speaker 1: happening in Vietnam, but, in his words quote, if the 102 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,359 Speaker 1: level of enemy activity significantly increases, we might have to 103 00:07:04,440 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: adjust our timetable accordingly. Also by this point, the war 104 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 1: was unpopular in the United States, but the anti war 105 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: movement was even more unpopular, and Nixon was really willing 106 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,800 Speaker 1: to put the focus on the protesters if it meant 107 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: less attention to his military policy. Four days after he 108 00:07:25,200 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: gave this speech, on November seventh, eight people, including two 109 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: Catholic priests, a nun, and a seminarian, broke into draft 110 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: board offices in the Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica, Plane, Dudley, 111 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: Upham's Corner, and Copley Square, which contained records from six 112 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: different draft boards. They destroyed records for one a draftees 113 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: as well as one y which were designated as people 114 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: who could be drafted in the event of a national emergency. 115 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: They also damaged or destroyed other registers and documents. These 116 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: demonstrators also took some of the records to Washington, d C. 117 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: And destroyed them there and tried to get arrested for 118 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: their actions. During the second Moratorium March, which was held 119 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. On November fifteenth, and which included 120 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: roughly half a million marchers, the Boston Eight issued a 121 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: statement in which they described having marched, written letters, conferred 122 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:26,360 Speaker 1: with officials, and spoken out against the war, capitalist materialism, 123 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: and military control. This statement went on to say, quote, 124 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: if you feel, as we do, that marching and demonstrating 125 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:39,440 Speaker 1: are unproductive, we encourage you to take responsible action to 126 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: secure peace and end injustice. We have fashioned hope with 127 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 1: our bodies, as free people must do. We oppose with 128 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: our lives genocide and Vietnam and the arms race, exploitive 129 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: investment abroad, rape of foreign manpower and resources, domestic racism, 130 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:05,400 Speaker 1: environmental ruin, and militarism in any form selective service, lottery 131 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: or volunteer army. The raided offices were closed for about 132 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: a week, and people whose records were in those offices 133 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: were immune from the next call up, but the records 134 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: were reconstructed before the one that followed. If the Boston 135 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: Eight ever faced charges, I did not find evidence of it. 136 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: It's possible they did, but the Boston Globe quoted a 137 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: US attorney as saying that they would never be indicted 138 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 1: because while they had taken responsibility for the damage, there 139 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: was just no corroborating evidence they had actually been involved, 140 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 1: so the FBI could not justify an indictment. Some of 141 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 1: the people who named themselves in the statement were later 142 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: arrested in conjunction with other anti war demonstrations. Though, just 143 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: a few days after the Boston Eight raids, the public 144 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: learned about the Meli massacre, which had happened so months before, 145 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,400 Speaker 1: in which US troops had massacred more than three hundred civilians. 146 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: Then a few months after that, Nixon ordered ground troops 147 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: to invade Cambodia. Vocal opposition to the war once again 148 00:10:14,040 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: rose in the wake of the revelations around the Meeli massacre, 149 00:10:17,559 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: and Nixon's invasion of Cambodia accelerated that dramatically. On May fourth, 150 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: members of the Ohio National Guard killed four people and 151 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: wounded nine others during an anti war rally at Kent 152 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: State University. The number of draft board raids peaked in 153 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy as all of this was happening, and in 154 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: the months afterward. That February, the Beaver fifty five had 155 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: destroyed an estimated ten thousand draft records in Minneapolis and 156 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: Saint Paul, Minnesota. On July second, a group of women 157 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: calling themselves Women Against Daddy Warbucks rated fifteen draft boards 158 00:10:57,040 --> 00:11:00,959 Speaker 1: in New York City, shredding the paperwork and then throwing 159 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: it around Rockefeller Center like confetti during lunchtime. Eight days later, 160 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 1: on July tenth, teams of two or three people broke 161 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:15,319 Speaker 1: into selective service offices in Little Falls, Alexandria, Winona, and Wabasha, Minnesota. 162 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 1: Eight of them were captured and became known as the 163 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,960 Speaker 1: Minnesota Eight. Their goal was to destroy as many one 164 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:27,280 Speaker 1: A draft files as possible. This was a somewhat more 165 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:30,640 Speaker 1: secular group than some of the others that we've talked about. 166 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 1: Many of them were college students and some were classified 167 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,880 Speaker 1: as conscientious objectors, but religion was still a factor for 168 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: some of them. One in particular, Francis Kronk, laid out 169 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: an argument that what they had done was a necessary 170 00:11:46,280 --> 00:11:50,800 Speaker 1: act required by Catholic moral responsibility and that the selective 171 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: service system was unconstitutional and morally unjustifiable. One of the 172 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: Minnesota eight entered a guilty plea and got no prison time, 173 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: and the rest served between fourteen and twenty nine months 174 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:07,239 Speaker 1: in prison. The last of them was released in January 175 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy three. These were not at all the 176 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: only raids carried out that year. People broke into draft 177 00:12:15,040 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: boards and destroyed records in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 178 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: and Delaware in nineteen seventy as well. These raids continued 179 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: into nineteen seventy one, including in Evanston, Illinois, and multiple 180 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:34,280 Speaker 1: cities in New York. On January twenty fifth, nineteen seventy one, 181 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: Daniel and Philip Berrigan were on the cover of Time 182 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 1: magazine with the headline Rebel Priests the Curious Case of 183 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: the Berigins. At the time, the Berigans were serving their 184 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 1: sentence in federal prison. FBI director Herbert Hoover had claimed 185 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,319 Speaker 1: they were involved in a wide ranging plot to attack 186 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:58,000 Speaker 1: government sites and kidnap Henry Kissinger attributed to the East 187 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,079 Speaker 1: Coast conspiracy to save lives, and when the article was written, 188 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: they and other alleged co conspirators had been indicted for 189 00:13:06,240 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: this as well. Philip later faced trial for this, but 190 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: he was not convicted. I find the two of them fascinating, 191 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: but their story is like way beyond apart from the 192 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:21,640 Speaker 1: draft board raids, like way beyond the scope of the 193 00:13:21,679 --> 00:13:24,560 Speaker 1: podcast for the most part. That brings us to the 194 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 1: Camden twenty eight, which we will talk about after a 195 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: sponsor break. The draft board raid that led me to 196 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: this episode was the Camden twenty eight raid on August 197 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:47,320 Speaker 1: twenty second, nineteen seventy one. By this point, there had 198 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: been hundreds of break ins at draft boards all around 199 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,480 Speaker 1: the United States. As we've said, not all of them 200 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,559 Speaker 1: had been carried out by people who were motivated by 201 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 1: their faith, specifically by like religious convictions. But when those 202 00:14:03,000 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: religious convictions were a factor, getting arrested was usually part 203 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,600 Speaker 1: of the plan, and so was going to trial and 204 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: being convicted and receiving some kind of sentence. While some 205 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: people were fined, a lot of people were incarcerated. So 206 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 1: by nineteen seventy one, almost four years into these raids, 207 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:26,760 Speaker 1: some of the most committed active people in the Catholic 208 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: Left movement either were or had been in prison. There 209 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 1: were often other people who were willing to take smaller 210 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 1: risks with smaller possible consequences, but there were just not 211 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: as many people still prepared to be imprisoned for months 212 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: or years in these Draft Board actions. Also, people had 213 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:53,640 Speaker 1: been protesting US involvement in Vietnam since the war had started, 214 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: or since the American involvement in the war had started, 215 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,600 Speaker 1: and these protests had been growing for years, but there 216 00:15:00,760 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: still did not seem to be any end to the 217 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: war anywhere in sight. So a group of people started 218 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: planning a raid in which they would try to take 219 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: all of the records from the Draft Board office in Camden, 220 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,720 Speaker 1: New Jersey. Camden is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, 221 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: and in the eighteen thirties it became connected to New 222 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 1: York City by rail. It grew into an important industrial 223 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: manufacturing and shipbuilding center over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, 224 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 1: but the city had gone into a major economic decline 225 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: after World War Two as two of its major employers, 226 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: RCA and Campbell's Soup started decentralizing their operations. The third 227 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,520 Speaker 1: major employer, New York Ship, also started losing business as 228 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: newer more modern shipbuilding facilities were built in other parts 229 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: of the country. About twenty percent of the city's population 230 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: moved away between nineteen fifty and nineteen seventy. This was 231 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: part of the postwar white flight to the suburbs, meaning 232 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,520 Speaker 1: that the city's demographics shifted over those years, becoming more 233 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: prenominantly black and Hispanic because of a range of economic factors. Poverty, 234 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: a lack of housing, and a lack of job opportunities 235 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: all became serious problems in the city. The people who 236 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: planned the raid on the Draft Board office in Camden 237 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:28,440 Speaker 1: were white, but they saw the residents of the city 238 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: as disproportionately at risk from the draft and at higher 239 00:16:32,640 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: risk while serving in Vietnam because of their race and 240 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,360 Speaker 1: economic status. They also saw a connection between the country 241 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:44,160 Speaker 1: spending on military and war and the systems of poverty 242 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: at work in Camden. The Camden twenty eight included four 243 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: Catholic priests and one Lutheran priest, and most of the 244 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: rest were Catholic laypeople. Seven were women. The Draft Board 245 00:16:57,000 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: office that they raided was located on the upper floor 246 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 1: of a building that also included courtrooms, actually the same 247 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:09,440 Speaker 1: courtrooms where they would later stand trial and the post office. Initially, 248 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,200 Speaker 1: they cased the building from the outside, but one of them, 249 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: Robert Hardy, known as Bob, decided to try to get 250 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: inside to find out exactly where the draft files were 251 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: and what they would need to do. Once they got 252 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: into the building, he took one of the others with him, 253 00:17:25,320 --> 00:17:27,280 Speaker 1: and he walked in and said that he wanted to 254 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: learn about how the draft system worked. That would seem 255 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: suspicious to me, but the staff was apparently very happy 256 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:38,840 Speaker 1: to show him. Hardy wound up being instrumental in planning 257 00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: this raid. In fact, both he and other members of 258 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:45,679 Speaker 1: the group said they had pretty much abandoned the whole 259 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: idea before he got involved. He was a former marine 260 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,080 Speaker 1: and a contractor. He had some of the tools that 261 00:17:52,119 --> 00:17:54,800 Speaker 1: they would need, and he already knew how to use them. 262 00:17:55,119 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 1: They decided to enter through a fire escape, and he 263 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 1: worked out where to put the ladder to avoid setting 264 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:05,400 Speaker 1: off an alarm. He also provided the latter which participants 265 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:09,280 Speaker 1: practiced scaling against another building, and he taught them how 266 00:18:09,320 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: to drill through a window to break through it without 267 00:18:11,800 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: shattering it. The day after he was approached about being 268 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: part of this raid, Hardy had also started informing on 269 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:22,800 Speaker 1: them to the FBI. He told agents he was concerned 270 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,359 Speaker 1: about what they were doing and thought the FBI should 271 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: put a stop to it. He was against the war 272 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 1: and the draft, but also against tactics like destroying draft records. 273 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 1: According to his sworn affidavit, FBI agents asked him to 274 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: monitor what was happening with the group and keep them informed, 275 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: assuring him that they would prevent the raid from happening, 276 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: they would make their arrest during a dry run, and 277 00:18:47,800 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: that none of the people involved would face jail time. 278 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:54,520 Speaker 1: The FBI did not stop the Camden twenty eight during 279 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,520 Speaker 1: their dry run, and in the early hours of Sunday, 280 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: August twenty second, several of them broke into the Selective 281 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:05,600 Speaker 1: Service office and filled twelve large bags full of draft records, 282 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: throwing him out the window. But before they could leave 283 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: the building, FBI agents arrived on the scene and arrested them. 284 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,919 Speaker 1: A total of twenty eight people were ultimately arrested, some 285 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: who had been part of the break in and were 286 00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: there right that at that moment, and the rest who 287 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 1: had helped with the planning and preparation. It didn't take 288 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:27,680 Speaker 1: long for people to figure out that Bob Hardy had 289 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: tipped off the FBI, among other things. As everyone else 290 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: was taken into custody, no one could figure out where 291 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 1: he was. According to Hardy, the FBI had paid him 292 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: the equivalent of his usual daily wage while he was 293 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: acting as an informant. He said the FBI had provided 294 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: the walkie talkies they used to communicate during the raid. 295 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: The FBI reimbursed him for that ladder and all the 296 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: other tools and equipment that Camden twenty eight used, and 297 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,600 Speaker 1: even for the gas for his van that he used 298 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,840 Speaker 1: to drive them around. Hardy had been updating the FBI 299 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:08,359 Speaker 1: about their progress daily. Hardy's affidavit about this and a 300 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: lot of points was not very flattering. In his characterization 301 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: of the Camden twenty eight, he wrote, quote, it's really 302 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 1: impossible to exaggerate how inept, undisciplined, and generally unable to 303 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,120 Speaker 1: pull off this action they were. They wouldn't keep to schedules, 304 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: and they kept making simple matters complicated. At the same time, 305 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: he did write this while trying to make the argument 306 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,239 Speaker 1: that the raid would not have happened without him or 307 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,879 Speaker 1: without the FBI, and in the same statement he described 308 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: the Camden twenty eight as quote, the finest group of 309 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: Christian people I have ever been associated with, and he 310 00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,679 Speaker 1: described the raid as the best cooperative effort that he 311 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:53,639 Speaker 1: had ever experienced. Understandably, many of the rest of the 312 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 1: Camden twenty eight felt immensely betrayed by Harty's actions. But 313 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: on September tenth, less than a month after the raid, 314 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: Hardy's nine year old son, Billy, fell from a tree 315 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,040 Speaker 1: and landed on a fence, and he was seriously injured. 316 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: He died on October third. Some of the Camden twenty 317 00:21:12,880 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 1: eight really rallied around Hardy during all of this. In 318 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,440 Speaker 1: a two thousand and seven documentary about the raid, some 319 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:22,719 Speaker 1: of the members talked about encouraging others to forgive Hardy 320 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 1: in this moment, because if they didn't, they would regret 321 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,800 Speaker 1: having not done so. Later, the Reverend Father Michael Doyle, 322 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:33,920 Speaker 1: one of the Camden twenty eight, led Billy Hardy's funeral mass. 323 00:21:35,200 --> 00:21:38,160 Speaker 1: Back at the beginning of part one of this episode, 324 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 1: we mentioned that two of the Camden twenty eight had 325 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,760 Speaker 1: been involved in the break in into the FBI office 326 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: in Media, Pennsylvania. That was Keith Forsyth and Robert Williamson, 327 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,119 Speaker 1: although that was not known until much much later, way 328 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:57,600 Speaker 1: after all of this. At the time, nobody knew the 329 00:21:57,640 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 1: identities of the people who had broken into the FBI 330 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: office in Media, but Media and Camden were only about 331 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:09,080 Speaker 1: twenty miles apart, and the FBI believed that the media 332 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,200 Speaker 1: perpetrators were among the people planning the raid in Camden. 333 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 1: So it appears that one of the reasons the FBI 334 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: allowed this raid to continue and even enabled its happening, 335 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:23,760 Speaker 1: was with the hope of using all of this to 336 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 1: apprehend the people who were responsible for the break in 337 00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:31,199 Speaker 1: in Media. We will talk about what happened when the 338 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:34,080 Speaker 1: Camden twenty eight went to trial after we paused for 339 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. A year and a half passed between 340 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,159 Speaker 1: the arrest of the Camden twenty eight and the trial. Initially, 341 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 1: prosecutors planned to try everybody together, which was a huge 342 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,919 Speaker 1: challenge for the defendants, not just a lot of people 343 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:01,919 Speaker 1: and on time that the Camden twenty eight was not 344 00:23:02,200 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: one unified, coalesced organization. It was more like several smaller 345 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:12,480 Speaker 1: groups of closer knit people which then had some connections 346 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,679 Speaker 1: among one another. Some were Catholic clergy, but most of 347 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: them were lay people, and everybody had different priorities and 348 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: different responsibilities going on in their lives. They did not 349 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: have anything close to unanimous agreement on a lot of 350 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: really important questions, like whether they should accept a plea 351 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:36,080 Speaker 1: deal if they were offered one, or what their goal 352 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:39,199 Speaker 1: should be at the trial, like did they want to 353 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:42,720 Speaker 1: focus on winning so that they could hopefully avoid jail time, 354 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: or did they want to have what had become known 355 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 1: as a movement trial or a political trial, making the 356 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: trial itself part of their anti war advocacy, not just 357 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,400 Speaker 1: keeping it in the news, but making their testimony an 358 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,359 Speaker 1: anti war act. They were really all over the place 359 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,719 Speaker 1: on everything from how to raise money for bail to 360 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: how and how much to prepare for the trial. Eventually, 361 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,080 Speaker 1: an organization called the Camden twenty eight Defense Committee formed 362 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:17,600 Speaker 1: to help coordinate, raise funds and support the defendants. This 363 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:21,600 Speaker 1: included holding regular rallies that were part anti war demonstrations, 364 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: part fundraising, and support for the defense. Once the trial started, 365 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:30,199 Speaker 1: the Defense Committee also made sure there were always lots 366 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,400 Speaker 1: of supporters in the gallery. In the eighteen months that 367 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,199 Speaker 1: passed between the raid and the trial, public opinion in 368 00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:41,640 Speaker 1: the United States had continued to turn against the war, 369 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:46,680 Speaker 1: and against the Nixon administration. The New York Times had 370 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 1: started publishing excerpts from the Pentagon Papers a couple of 371 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,560 Speaker 1: months before the break in at the Camden office. These 372 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: top secret documents had been leaked to the press, and 373 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: they revealed all kinds of details about now the US 374 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 1: involvement in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia more broadly, going 375 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:09,240 Speaker 1: all the way back to the Truman administration. These reports 376 00:25:09,280 --> 00:25:12,439 Speaker 1: and the decision to publish them were really controversial, but 377 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,480 Speaker 1: a lot of the details that they contained were also 378 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: very damaging to the government's reputation. Also, the Watergate break 379 00:25:21,320 --> 00:25:24,600 Speaker 1: in took place during the period between the draft board 380 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: break in and the trial, and that led to an 381 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:32,600 Speaker 1: enormous scandal for Richard Nixon. Eventually, the prosecution decided to 382 00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: sever ten of the defendants from the Camden twenty eight trial. 383 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:39,480 Speaker 1: These were people who had been accused of being involved 384 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:43,040 Speaker 1: in the planning and coordination, but not the actual break in. 385 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 1: One other defendant accepted a plea deal. The remaining seventeen, 386 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: which included four Catholic priests, were all tried together. Two 387 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: defendants were charged with conspiracy and the rest with conspiracy, 388 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: breaking and entering and destroying draft records. The prosecution really 389 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,040 Speaker 1: thought it had an open and shut case. The people 390 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: who had broken into the draft office had been caught 391 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 1: red handed, and others had acknowledged what they had done. 392 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: They had photographs, they had recorded conversations from those walkie 393 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:22,639 Speaker 1: talkies that the FBI had given to Bob Hardy. The 394 00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,800 Speaker 1: prosecution also argued that these were not hapless amateurs, but 395 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 1: experienced anti war demonstrators, and they expected Bob Hardy to 396 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,959 Speaker 1: be a key witness. It just really did not seem 397 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: like it was going to be difficult at all to 398 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: get a guilty verdict. But according to Hardy's account, he 399 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: had been assured that the authorities were going to stop 400 00:26:45,640 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 1: the raid before it happened, and that any charges that 401 00:26:48,840 --> 00:26:52,080 Speaker 1: Camden twenty eight might face wouldn't lead to prison time 402 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:56,680 Speaker 1: if they were convicted. Now they were facing the possibility 403 00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,360 Speaker 1: of lengthy prison sentences. He felt complempletely betrayed by this, 404 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,840 Speaker 1: and like it just wasn't what he had agreed to. 405 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: In March of nineteen seventy two, Hardy filed a motion 406 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,400 Speaker 1: for the case to be dismissed, which read, in part quote, 407 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:15,240 Speaker 1: the substantive crimes were committed because the government wanted them 408 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,440 Speaker 1: committed and made their commission possible. They were committed by 409 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:24,639 Speaker 1: and or with the indispensable assistance of the government. Without 410 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,680 Speaker 1: the action, expertise, and material support of the FBI informer, 411 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: the conspiracy would have remained abandoned. This motion to dismiss 412 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: was denied, but Hardy instead became a witness for the defense. 413 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,439 Speaker 1: He helped to build a case that the raid would 414 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: not have happened without his involvement and support, and that 415 00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,879 Speaker 1: he would not have been involved had the FBI not 416 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,959 Speaker 1: directed him to keep on working with the group and 417 00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: provided him with the money and the supplies to do it. 418 00:27:54,640 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 1: The resulting trial was in many ways unconventional. In a 419 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,320 Speaker 1: lot of the political trials or movement trials that evolved 420 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:07,359 Speaker 1: over the nineteen seventies, people often defended themselves. This was 421 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: the case for a lot of the Camden twenty eight. 422 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 1: Although some of the defendants did have attorneys, there were 423 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 1: three attorneys involved with the trial, and many of the 424 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:21,440 Speaker 1: defendants acted as one another's co councils. The defense pursued 425 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: a strategy of jury nullification, that is that the jury 426 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: would find the defendants not guilty in spite of their 427 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: established guilt because of the moral and ethical questions surrounding 428 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: the case. To successfully do this, the defense would need 429 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,040 Speaker 1: to prove misconduct on the part of the government and 430 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: also convince the jury that an acquittal was the only 431 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,400 Speaker 1: moral and just thing to do. The defense also needed 432 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: the right jury to be able to pull this off, 433 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:53,960 Speaker 1: so there was a lot of research into potential jurors, 434 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,480 Speaker 1: paired with a very careful jury selection process. This was 435 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: a fairly new strategy which had been employed in only 436 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: a couple of trials and is now known as scientific 437 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,840 Speaker 1: jury selection. This also only really worked because the judge 438 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: US District Court, Judge Clarkson Fisher, was pretty permissive in 439 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: what he allowed the defendants to do. The defendants were 440 00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: allowed to give testimony about their opposition to the Vietnam War, 441 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 1: and to bring in details about things like the Watergate 442 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,320 Speaker 1: scandal and the Pentagon papers and those documents that had 443 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: been stolen in the raid on the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, 444 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 1: which were a big part of shutting down co Intel 445 00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: pro None of this was directly related to what had 446 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: happened at the Draft Board, but the defense used it 447 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 1: to establish a pattern of dishonesty and malfeasance on the 448 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:50,320 Speaker 1: part of the US government. Defendants also gave their thoughts 449 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 1: on greater social and political questions during the trial. One 450 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: of them showed slides of burned out villages in Vietnam 451 00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: juxtaposed with destroyed buildings in Camden, and his opening statement, 452 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:09,200 Speaker 1: Father Michael Doyle asked rhetorically whether a place as troubled 453 00:30:09,240 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: as Camden should exist in a nation as rich as 454 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 1: the United States. Opening statements started on February twenty seventh, 455 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:21,560 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, and since there were so many people 456 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,960 Speaker 1: acting as attorneys, there were a lot of statements. Overall. 457 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:29,080 Speaker 1: The defendants tried to create an atmosphere of an almost 458 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: spiritual community during the trial, like the defendants who were 459 00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 1: also acting as one another's attorneys, introducing themselves and saying 460 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:41,800 Speaker 1: hello and calling each other brothers and sisters, or celebrating 461 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,600 Speaker 1: whoever's birthday it was in the courtroom. They also took 462 00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: questions directly from the jurors, which was another new thing 463 00:30:49,720 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: in US legal proceedings. The defendants, whose cases had been 464 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: severed from the rest were still present in the courtroom 465 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: almost every day and over the course of the trial, 466 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,160 Speaker 1: the Camden twenty eight became a lot more coalesced than 467 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: they had ever been before it. Bob Hardy appeared as 468 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: a defense witness on April tenth and was questioned for 469 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: the next three days, building a narrative about how much 470 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: of his involvement in the raid had been facilitated and 471 00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:23,720 Speaker 1: encouraged by the FBI. During a cross examination, an FBI 472 00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 1: inspector had also confirmed that he had been paid about 473 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,560 Speaker 1: seven thousand, five hundred dollars, both for his work as 474 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 1: an informant and for various tools and travel expenses that 475 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: he was reimbursed for. Philip and Daniel Berrigan were among 476 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:45,760 Speaker 1: the expert witnesses. Historian Howard Zinn, who had also testified 477 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 1: in the trials of other draft board readers, was another 478 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: expert witness, giving an overview of the history of colonialism 479 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 1: in Southeast Asia and civil disobedience in the United States. 480 00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: There was also testimony by some of the defendant's parents, 481 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: including Betty Good, mother of Bob Good. Another of her sons, 482 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,320 Speaker 1: Paul Good, had been killed in Vietnam, and she gave 483 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:15,560 Speaker 1: wrenching testimony about his death. This trial lasted for fifteen weeks. 484 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: When it was time for the jury to deliberate, Judge 485 00:32:18,400 --> 00:32:22,680 Speaker 1: Fisher gave them instructions that included this quote. If you 486 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:28,280 Speaker 1: find that the overreaching participation by government agents or informers 487 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:31,480 Speaker 1: in the activities as you have heard them were so 488 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: fundamentally unfair to be an offense to the basic standards 489 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 1: of decency and shocking to the universal sense of justice, 490 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: then you may acquit any of the defendants to whom 491 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:50,720 Speaker 1: this defense applies. The jury deliberated for four days. Part 492 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: way through, the foreman had to be replaced. Apparently her 493 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: family had been telling her they thought the jury should 494 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: find the defendants guilty, and base on all their pressure, 495 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,440 Speaker 1: she did not want to be the one to deliver 496 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 1: the verdict. At this point, the defendants thought they might 497 00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: be winding up with a hung jury. There had been 498 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: one juror in particular who had asked a lot of 499 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 1: questions during the trial, and some of those questions really 500 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:21,040 Speaker 1: seemed to imply that he was in favor of the war. 501 00:33:22,040 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 1: But on May twentieth, nineteen seventy three, the jury found 502 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: the defendants not guilty on all counts. To my knowledge, 503 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,760 Speaker 1: the remaining ten defendants were never tried. I could not 504 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,960 Speaker 1: find any mention of them eventually going to trial, and 505 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: this also did not reveal any connections or lead to 506 00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,880 Speaker 1: any prosecution for the people who had broken into the 507 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 1: FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. That investigation was closed in 508 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, and the identities of the people who 509 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: were involved remained unknown until twenty fourteen, when five of 510 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: them agreed to have their identities revealed. Although there had 511 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: been a lot of testimony about the Camden twenty eighth 512 00:34:03,880 --> 00:34:07,880 Speaker 1: moral opposition to the war, the case itself really wasn't 513 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,680 Speaker 1: about whether the war was just or whether the US 514 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,360 Speaker 1: was right to be fighting it. The judges instructions to 515 00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,080 Speaker 1: the jury had also put the focus on the actions 516 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,800 Speaker 1: of the government in relation to the raid, not the war, 517 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,759 Speaker 1: But this verdict is often read as a referendum on 518 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: the public's attitudes about the Vietnam War in the spring 519 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy three. By the time the trial ended, 520 00:34:33,000 --> 00:34:36,960 Speaker 1: the draft had ended as well. The last US troops 521 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,520 Speaker 1: had also left Vietnam. That happened on March twenty third 522 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy three. Two years later, the US suspended 523 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:51,000 Speaker 1: selective Service registration, although it resumed in nineteen eighty. Still today, 524 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:55,280 Speaker 1: male US citizens and male immigrants to the United States 525 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:58,960 Speaker 1: are required to register within thirty days of turning eighteen. 526 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:04,160 Speaker 1: With few excit, President Jimmy Carter issued a blanket pardon 527 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:07,040 Speaker 1: for the people that had evaded the draft during the 528 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:09,880 Speaker 1: Vietnam War, but not to people who had deserted the 529 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:14,120 Speaker 1: military on his first full day in office. The people 530 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 1: who were part of all these various draft raids all 531 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 1: went on to have their own lives, with many of 532 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: them continuing their anti war activism. The Berrigan brothers, who 533 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,440 Speaker 1: both had long and complex lives beyond this, became founding 534 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:33,000 Speaker 1: members of the anti nuclear Plowshares movement, whose activities included 535 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 1: damaging warhead nose cones and pouring blood onto files at 536 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,640 Speaker 1: a General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, 537 00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania in nineteen eighty Nixon's remarks in his Silent Majority 538 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:50,080 Speaker 1: speech that we referenced earlier focused on the idea of 539 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: removing US troops in a way that would leave South 540 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:58,240 Speaker 1: Vietnam able to defend itself, and in January of nineteen 541 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:02,120 Speaker 1: seventy three, the US and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam 542 00:36:02,200 --> 00:36:06,399 Speaker 1: had signed peace accords, but the fighting there had continued. 543 00:36:06,920 --> 00:36:10,240 Speaker 1: By April of nineteen seventy five, the US had started 544 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:15,120 Speaker 1: evacuating non essential personnel from Vietnam and had brought people 545 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,600 Speaker 1: from the more remote areas of Vietnam into the South 546 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:22,960 Speaker 1: Vietnamese capital of Saigon. An effort was also made to 547 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:28,320 Speaker 1: evacuate South Vietnamese orphans, called Operation Babylift. We talked about 548 00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,760 Speaker 1: that in an installment of Six Impossible Episodes in June 549 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 1: of twenty eighteen. Saigon ultimately fell to the North Vietnamese 550 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:40,960 Speaker 1: Army on April thirtieth, nineteen seventy five, leading to a 551 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:45,520 Speaker 1: massive effort to evacuate remaining diplomats, embassy staff, and other 552 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:49,560 Speaker 1: Americans who were still in Vietnam. Since other routes of 553 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,080 Speaker 1: evacuation had been blocked, the one way remaining out was 554 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 1: by helicopter from the US Embassy. US Ambassador Graham Martin 555 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:01,360 Speaker 1: ordered the evacuation of South Vietnam these officials and staff 556 00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:06,480 Speaker 1: as well. Ultimately, about five thousand, five hundred Vietnamese people 557 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:10,879 Speaker 1: were evacuated from South Vietnam, but thousands more had tried 558 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 1: to get a spot aboard departing helicopters and were not 559 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:18,879 Speaker 1: able to. In nineteen seventy six, Vietnam unified as one 560 00:37:18,960 --> 00:37:22,279 Speaker 1: nation under the Communist Party of Vietnam, which is the 561 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 1: nation's sole legal party today. There's a pretty new book 562 00:37:26,640 --> 00:37:28,960 Speaker 1: about the Camden twenty eight. I think it came out 563 00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:32,840 Speaker 1: last year. It's called Spiritual Criminals by Michelle M. Nickerson. 564 00:37:33,320 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 1: I only read a couple of chapters of it leading 565 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:37,920 Speaker 1: into this because there was like one particular area that 566 00:37:37,960 --> 00:37:42,399 Speaker 1: I felt like I needed another perspective on. But those 567 00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: chapters were really good. So if you want to check 568 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: that book out, it exists. Do you have some listener 569 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,560 Speaker 1: mayl Now that we have wrapped up this rather large topic. 570 00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:55,560 Speaker 1: That's that's such a large topic, we'll talk about more 571 00:37:55,600 --> 00:38:00,279 Speaker 1: about how big it is on Friday. I do have it. 572 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 1: This is from Sammy. They wrote and said, Hi, Holly 573 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,760 Speaker 1: and Tracy, I just listened to your episode on Exem Clement, 574 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,520 Speaker 1: attorney at law, in the Saturday Classic on the Lost 575 00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:13,960 Speaker 1: Cause of the Confederacy. I was tickled to hear that 576 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,200 Speaker 1: Exem started as a stenographer and clerk. Since I am 577 00:38:17,239 --> 00:38:22,000 Speaker 1: currently a court clerk and looking into stenography. Clement's connection 578 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:24,840 Speaker 1: to the lost cause is very interesting to me, since 579 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,360 Speaker 1: the most important part of stenography is maintaining an accurate 580 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:33,319 Speaker 1: and honest record of events. But it is just like 581 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 1: an attorney to pick out the words states' rights and 582 00:38:35,960 --> 00:38:39,799 Speaker 1: leave behind to own slaves when defending their point, even 583 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: if it's a bad one. Most people know that court 584 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:48,799 Speaker 1: reporters slash stenographers type really fast and transcribe hearings. What 585 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:51,920 Speaker 1: many don't know is that the Steno machine is a 586 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:56,600 Speaker 1: shorthand keyboard that's completely different from a standard quirty keyboard 587 00:38:57,000 --> 00:39:01,399 Speaker 1: and uses different letter combinations to type the meal and syllabically. 588 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:05,720 Speaker 1: This allows for typing speeds as fast as two hundred 589 00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:09,160 Speaker 1: words per minute, when most people can type forty words 590 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:11,760 Speaker 1: per minute. It's much easier to keep up with people 591 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:15,239 Speaker 1: talking that way. For example, the word keyboard would look 592 00:39:15,320 --> 00:39:18,279 Speaker 1: like this on a Steno machine. Sammy has then put 593 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,600 Speaker 1: in kind of a little It's two lines with letters 594 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: broken out over the two lines, and only some of 595 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,120 Speaker 1: them line up with each other. It's a little hard 596 00:39:27,160 --> 00:39:30,680 Speaker 1: to describe, but like the top line is K and 597 00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:33,000 Speaker 1: then a space AO, and then a space and E, 598 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,480 Speaker 1: and then at the bottom there's some space and then 599 00:39:35,520 --> 00:39:37,680 Speaker 1: PW and then space, and then AO and then a 600 00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,319 Speaker 1: bigger space, and then R and then a space and 601 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:45,160 Speaker 1: then D. Sonography isn't to sought out as a career anymore, 602 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:49,440 Speaker 1: screw you, AI, but its applications are so important to 603 00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:53,799 Speaker 1: Not only do sonographers transcribe legal and medical hearings, they 604 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:57,160 Speaker 1: also provide closed captioning services to death and heart of 605 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:00,879 Speaker 1: hearing folks. Any Ways, thanks for this show and all 606 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,239 Speaker 1: that you do, and of course obligatory cat pictures attached. 607 00:40:04,960 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: Binks mostly black tuxedo, the only one not related Bebop, 608 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: mostly white tuxedo, Jet, all black Valentine multicolor jet and 609 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:20,120 Speaker 1: Bebop's mom. All my best wishes, Sammy. Thank you so much, 610 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 1: Sammy for this this email. I did not really know 611 00:40:25,120 --> 00:40:29,799 Speaker 1: that about the tools that stenographers used to keep all 612 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:31,960 Speaker 1: their typing. I did kind of think that they typed 613 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:36,600 Speaker 1: just really fast. Also, I see your Cowboy Bebop naming convention. 614 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,680 Speaker 1: I see it. Yeah, yeah, I love that. These are 615 00:40:39,719 --> 00:40:43,640 Speaker 1: some adorable cats, Oh my goodness, just so much. They're 616 00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:47,560 Speaker 1: all loungy, except for one who looks like this kitty 617 00:40:47,640 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: cat might attempt to eat a part of a Christmas tree. 618 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:55,319 Speaker 1: I'm not sure that's actually what's going to happen, but 619 00:40:55,440 --> 00:40:58,239 Speaker 1: if this were my cat, I'm thinking that cat is 620 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:00,840 Speaker 1: about to jump up and grab the end of the 621 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:05,479 Speaker 1: Christmas tree. Froud. This has just given me fresh fear 622 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:07,800 Speaker 1: in my soul as I have been talking about our 623 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,200 Speaker 1: ill behaved new cats lately. I'm like, oh, man, Christmas 624 00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:20,160 Speaker 1: is gonna be a disaster. But oh goodness goodness. Now 625 00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,319 Speaker 1: I'm kind of wondering should there be an episode on 626 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:26,040 Speaker 1: the Steno Machine. Maybe I don't know. So thank you 627 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: so so so much, Sammy for this email and these 628 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,200 Speaker 1: cat pictures. We always love cat pictures. If you don't 629 00:41:34,200 --> 00:41:38,799 Speaker 1: have cats or dogs or any other pet animals, you 630 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,880 Speaker 1: don't have to worry about that. You can send pictures 631 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 1: of a bird you saw or a flower you saw outside, 632 00:41:44,840 --> 00:41:48,440 Speaker 1: or some other random thing, or no picture. It's fine. 633 00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 1: But we do love all the pictures that folks send in. 634 00:41:51,239 --> 00:41:54,520 Speaker 1: So thank you, so so so much, Sammy. If you 635 00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:56,719 Speaker 1: would like to send us a note about this or 636 00:41:56,760 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 1: any other podcast, we are at History Podcast at heartradio 637 00:42:00,600 --> 00:42:03,640 Speaker 1: dot com, and you can subscribe to our show on 638 00:42:03,680 --> 00:42:06,600 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you'd like to get 639 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:14,600 Speaker 1: your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 640 00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 1: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 641 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,520 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 642 00:42:22,560 --> 00:42:23,280 Speaker 1: favorite shows.