1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:06,160 Speaker 1: You're listening to History on Trial, a production of iHeart Podcasts. 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: Listener discretion advised. Like most of us, Elizabeth McAllister never 3 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: expected to hear her love letters discussed on the radio. 4 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,440 Speaker 1: She certainly didn't imagine that the person doing the discussing 5 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: would be the director of the FBI, Jay Edgar Hoover. 6 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:35,280 Speaker 1: But here she was, on a November day in nineteen seventy, 7 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: driving to her sister's house in Maryland, listening to a 8 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:44,240 Speaker 1: news broadcast in which Hoover discussed information that he could 9 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 1: only have learned. McAllister thought from reading her private correspondence, 10 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:56,240 Speaker 1: I almost went into a stupor. McAllister remembered, I thought, 11 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: what is this? My God, what is this? She kept 12 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: the radio on for the rest of the three hour drive, 13 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: listening to the story repeat over and over, talking back 14 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: at the broadcasters, trying to make sense of it. How 15 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,479 Speaker 1: else would an ordinary person react to something like this? 16 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: Of course, there were a few ways in which McAllister 17 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:26,720 Speaker 1: was not an ordinary person. To start with, she was 18 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,960 Speaker 1: a nun, a member of the religious of the Sacred 19 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: Heart of Mary. Plus the man she was writing love 20 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: letters to, Philip Berrigan, was a priest, Okay, so these 21 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,880 Speaker 1: letters might be scandalous, But what made them so interesting 22 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: to Jay Edgar Hoover. Well, there was also the fact 23 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: that Philip Barrigan and Elizabeth McAllister were both passionate anti 24 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:57,920 Speaker 1: war activists. Barrigin was so passionate that he'd ended up 25 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:02,440 Speaker 1: in jail for destroying Vietnam tree files. McAllister had been 26 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 1: writing to him in the United States Penitentiary at Louisbourg, Pennsylvania. 27 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: And then there was the content of this particular letter. 28 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: Because McAllister hadn't just written to ber Agin about how 29 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: much she cared for him or how much she missed him. 30 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: She had also written to ask his thoughts on a 31 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: plan to kidnap Henry Kissinger, President Nixon's national security advisor 32 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: and the future Secretary of State. How romantic. Now sitting 33 00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: in her car, McAllister was terrified. The letter, written three 34 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:42,919 Speaker 1: months earlier had been a thought exercise. She and bar 35 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: Agin were always brainstorming new ways to draw attention to 36 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,720 Speaker 1: their anti war cause. He had replied to her letter 37 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:55,799 Speaker 1: with thoughts, suggestions, and concerns, but it had gone no further, 38 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,800 Speaker 1: or so she thought. But now Hoover was claiming that 39 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:05,359 Speaker 1: she and her fellow activists were actively plotting to kidnap Kissinger. 40 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: How had Hoover even heard about the idea? McAllister had 41 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: a guess. To get private letters in and out of prison, 42 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: She and Barrigin had trusted a fellow inmate of his, 43 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: named boyd Douglas, who was on a study release program, 44 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:27,040 Speaker 1: to carry their mail. Douglas must have snitched, But why 45 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: McAllister had known him for months. He was just as 46 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: opposed to the Vietnam War as she and Barrigin were, 47 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: just as committed to the anti war movement. How could 48 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:43,240 Speaker 1: he have betrayed them? But those questions seemed small now. 49 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: What mattered McAllister knew as she pulled up to her 50 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:51,120 Speaker 1: sister's house was that the United States government believed that 51 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: she had planned to kidnap a White House official. The 52 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: director of the FBI was calling her a threat to 53 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: now national security. Whatever was coming next, it would not 54 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:11,120 Speaker 1: be good. That was putting it lightly. Over the next 55 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: year and a half, McAllister, Barrigan, and five of their 56 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:19,360 Speaker 1: anti war colleagues from the Catholic left would be investigated 57 00:04:19,640 --> 00:04:23,880 Speaker 1: and put on trial for conspiracy. It would be a 58 00:04:23,960 --> 00:04:29,160 Speaker 1: journey so filled with shocking revelations and twists and turns 59 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: that hearing her love letters referenced on the radio would 60 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:38,760 Speaker 1: come to seem like a triviality. To Elizabeth McAllister, Welcome 61 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:43,719 Speaker 1: to History on Trial. I'm your host, Mira Hayward. This 62 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: week the United States v. The Harrisburg Seven. By the 63 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,840 Speaker 1: time he met sister Elizabeth McAllister in nineteen sixty six, 64 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,280 Speaker 1: father Philip Barrigan had made quite a name for himself 65 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: in leftist political circles. An extroverted charismatic man, Berrigan and 66 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 1: his older brother Daniel were vanguards of a mid century 67 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,640 Speaker 1: movement within the Catholic Church to liberalize the church and 68 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,520 Speaker 1: make it more appealing and relevant to young people. The 69 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,359 Speaker 1: brothers were also known for their bold and often controversial 70 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 1: stances on civil rights. More than simply taking stances, though, 71 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:34,120 Speaker 1: the Barrigins had reputations as doers, they planned sit ins 72 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:39,120 Speaker 1: in support of racial desegregation, traveled the world meeting activists, 73 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: and organized protests. By the mid nineteen sixties, the attention 74 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: of both Barrigan brothers had been drawn to the war 75 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: in Vietnam. In nineteen sixty five, Daniel founded the Clergy 76 00:05:52,800 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, which became one of the 77 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: largest anti war groups in the country. Meanwhile, became involved 78 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: with the Baltimore Interfaith Peace Mission and organized pickets at 79 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: the homes of the Secretaries of Defense and State. In 80 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven, Philip, feeling that more conventional methods of 81 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: protest were not working quickly enough, decided to take a 82 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: more radical step. On October twenty seventh, he and three 83 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,679 Speaker 1: fellow anti war activists strode into the Selective Service office 84 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: at the Baltimore Customs House and poured blood onto the 85 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: draft records held there, destroying them. The group's bold actions 86 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,840 Speaker 1: inspired dozens of similar raids over the next four years, 87 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,360 Speaker 1: in which protesters, often members of the Catholic left, would 88 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: destroyed draft records. The raiders would normally wait outside the 89 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: draft board offices until the police and the news media 90 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,640 Speaker 1: showed up, willingly going to jail as a show of 91 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: their case commitment to the cause. Philip Berigan himself faced 92 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: jail time for his actions in Baltimore, but while out 93 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: on bail in the spring of nineteen sixty eight, he 94 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: decided to double down and organize another Draft Board raid. 95 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: This time, he convinced his brother Daniel to join him. 96 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 1: On May seventeenth, the Barrigins and seven others entered the 97 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: Draft board offices in Catonsville, Maryland, and stuffed three hundred 98 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: and seventy eight draft records into a trash bin. They 99 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: brought the bin to the parking lot, where news crews 100 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: recorded the group as they used homemade napalm to burn 101 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: the files. It was a highly symbolic action. Napalm is 102 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 1: an extremely flammable compound that the American military was using 103 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: as a weapon in Vietnam, and a photograph of the 104 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: protesters praying for peace as they burned the files appeared 105 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: in newspapers across the conry. In November nineteen sixty eight, 106 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,720 Speaker 1: the raiders, who had become known as the Catonsville Nine, 107 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: were convicted and sentenced to various terms in prison for 108 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: their actions. While the case was appealed, the nine remained 109 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: out on bail. While on bail, Philip Barrigan made two 110 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: very important decisions. The first was personal. He and sister 111 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: Elizabeth McAllister decided to get married. After meeting in nineteen 112 00:08:29,480 --> 00:08:33,760 Speaker 1: sixty six, the pair had grown closer and closer they 113 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: eventually realized that they were in love. It was not 114 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:40,480 Speaker 1: as simple for this couple to wed as it would 115 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: be for others. They were a priest and none after all, 116 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,559 Speaker 1: But by this time their commitment to each other and 117 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: the anti war cause outweighed the rules of the church. 118 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: They privately declared themselves married in nineteen sixty nine. The 119 00:08:56,559 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: second big decision Philip Barrigin made was politic. After their 120 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 1: appeals over the Catonsville convictions were rejected by the Supreme Court, 121 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: the Berigin brothers were ordered to surrender themselves into custody 122 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: in April nineteen seventy. In the past, going to jail 123 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: had been part of the process for draft board raiders, 124 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: but the Bearrigins had begun to wonder if surrendering was 125 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: the most effective tactic. I wanted to confront the mythology 126 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: of the good guy, whose goodness depends on his willingness 127 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:33,679 Speaker 1: to go to jail. Daniel Berrigan said he thought he 128 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: and his brother could be more useful to the movement 129 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:44,839 Speaker 1: on the outside, so they decided to run. For first 130 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: time fugitives. The Berigins were surprisingly successful at eluding capture. 131 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: They moved from city to city, staying with sympathetic families 132 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:58,199 Speaker 1: or church colleagues. As the days went by and the 133 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,400 Speaker 1: FBI did not locate them, the brothers became bolder. They 134 00:10:02,440 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: gave a number of lectures and sermons, always managing to 135 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: slip out just before the FBI arrived. Finally, after twelve 136 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,120 Speaker 1: days on the run, Philip Barrigan was captured by the 137 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:20,199 Speaker 1: FBI and brought to Louisbourg Federal Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. Daniel 138 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: managed to stay out for another four months, during which 139 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: he made his feelings on the FBI clear. You could 140 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,520 Speaker 1: say that my survival is a triumph of the love 141 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 1: and humanity of the people who shelter me over the FBI, 142 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: who are merciless but extraordinarily unimaginative men, he said in 143 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:47,200 Speaker 1: one interview in Washington. J Edgar Hoover fumed he took 144 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 1: Barrigin's taunt personally and put the priest on the FBI's 145 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 1: ten most wanted list. Eventually, in August nineteen seventy, the 146 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: FBI caught up with Daniel Berrigan, and he sent to 147 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. While his brother 148 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: had been underground, Philip Bregan had been adjusting to life 149 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:14,680 Speaker 1: at Louisbourg prison. It had not been easy. Louisbourg was 150 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: a maximum security prison, and most non violent anti war 151 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: protesters who ended up there for processing were quickly transferred 152 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 1: to a minimum security prison. For some reason, perhaps because 153 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: of his time as a fugitive, Barrigin was not. Life 154 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: at the prison was difficult for Barrigin. Prison officials and 155 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: inmates alike were largely hostile to him, and he felt 156 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: disconnected from his community. That isolation maybe why Brigin was 157 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: so quick to trust a fellow inmate, Boyd Douglas. Douglas 158 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:53,000 Speaker 1: was the first participant in the prison's steady release program, 159 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 1: which allowed him to attend nearby Bucknell University while he 160 00:11:56,720 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: completed his sentence. While at Bucknoll, Douglas had become involved 161 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: in the anti war movement. In April nineteen seventy, a 162 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 1: Bucknell professor who mentored Douglas mentioned to him that the 163 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,480 Speaker 1: famous anti war priest Philip Barrigan had been sent to 164 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:17,280 Speaker 1: Louisbourg and encouraged Douglas to connect with Barrigin. The two 165 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:21,360 Speaker 1: men quickly struck up a friendship, and Barrigin soon asked 166 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: Douglas if he would be able to carry a message 167 00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: for him out of the prison. Douglas happily agreed. Throughout 168 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,880 Speaker 1: the spring and summer of nineteen seventy, Douglas regularly carried 169 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: letters in and out of Louisbourg. Many of these letters 170 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:41,840 Speaker 1: were between Philip Barrigan and Elizabeth McAllister. McAllister kept Barrigin 171 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:46,079 Speaker 1: updated on the movement's activities and their plans. She solicited 172 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:49,959 Speaker 1: his feedback on actions, encouraged him to keep his spirits up, 173 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: and passionately expressed her love to him. It was in 174 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:59,360 Speaker 1: one of those letters, dated August eighteenth, that McAllister raised 175 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: the idea of conducting what she called a quote citizen's 176 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:08,359 Speaker 1: arrest on a prominent government official. The day before, McAllister 177 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:11,559 Speaker 1: and a group of like minded activists had discussed the 178 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:16,200 Speaker 1: idea as part of a brainstorming session. The citizen's arrest 179 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:20,800 Speaker 1: had been proposed by Ekbal Ahmad. Ahmad was a Pakistani 180 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: intellectual and activist who had helped coordinate the Barrigin's time underground. 181 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: He now suggested kidnapping a prominent politician and holding them 182 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:34,440 Speaker 1: in exchange forgetting the US to stop bombing raids in Vietnam. 183 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 1: The perfect candidate Ahmad proposed was Henry Kissinger, then the 184 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: National Security Advisor, because Kissinger both had a lot of 185 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 1: influence and also quote was a bachelor with girlfriends and 186 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,959 Speaker 1: wouldn't want a lot of bodyguards around. The group had 187 00:13:51,040 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: tossed the idea around for a while before dropping it 188 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: and moving on. McAllister raised the kidnapping idea again in 189 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: her letter to Berrigan, writing about the group's discussion and 190 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:07,319 Speaker 1: asking barrigin to think about it. She also seemingly unronically 191 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,959 Speaker 1: wrote that the idea was being shared in uttered confidence 192 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: and should not be committed to paper. Douglas delivered this 193 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: letter on August twentieth. Barrigan, in his reply, indicated interest 194 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: in the plan, but urged caution. He also mentioned that 195 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: perhaps the kidnapping could be done in conjunction with another 196 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: proposed action, which involved interrupting heat or power in Washington, 197 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:36,880 Speaker 1: d C. In order to impede government business. This letter, 198 00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:42,240 Speaker 1: dated August twenty second, was the last written record of Barrigan, McAllister, 199 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 1: and their activist cohort discussing plans to either kidnap Kissinger 200 00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: or disrupt Dacey's power grids. Soon after Douglas smuggled this 201 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:55,480 Speaker 1: letter out of Louisbourg, Philip Berrigan was transferred to Danbury Prison, 202 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: where his recently captured brother Daniel was now an inmate. 203 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: Three months later, Elizabeth McAllister was driving to her sister's 204 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: house in Maryland when the radio broadcaster announced that FBI 205 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: Director J. Edgar Hoover had just revealed shocking news in 206 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: testimony to a Senate subcommittee. Hoover had stated that a 207 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: quote militant group composed of Catholic priests and nuns, teachers, students, 208 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: and former students, whose principal leaders are Philip and Daniel Berrigan, 209 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: plan to blow up underground electric conduits and steam pipes 210 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: serving the Washington, DC area in order to disrupt federal 211 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: government operations. The plotters are also concocting a scheme to 212 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: kidnap a highly placed government official. Hoover promised that quote 213 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:59,760 Speaker 1: intensive investigation is being conducted concerning this matter. Like McAllister, 214 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: Ekba Ahmad was shocked to hear Hoover's announcement. It sounded 215 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: so ridiculous to me, he said later, I knew I 216 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: had brought up the matter of a citizen's arrest. But 217 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,080 Speaker 1: the discussion came to nothing. We talked about a lot 218 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: of ideas that were rejected. I was worried about Hoover's accusations, 219 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:22,240 Speaker 1: but more amused than anything else. He became a lot 220 00:16:22,280 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: more worried and a lot less amused when he learned 221 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 1: that Elizabeth McAllister had written down the group's discussion in 222 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:33,880 Speaker 1: a letter that she had trusted a virtual stranger, boy Douglas, 223 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 1: to smuggle into prison for her. Ahmad was right to 224 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:43,080 Speaker 1: be worried. Somehow or other, the FBI had obtained private 225 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: correspondence from the group, and they weren't going to let 226 00:16:46,760 --> 00:16:50,600 Speaker 1: the matter go. The barrigins had been thorns in the 227 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:56,480 Speaker 1: FBI's side for years. Now might be the bureau's chance 228 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:06,199 Speaker 1: to strike back. J Edgar Hoover's declaration to his Senate 229 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: subcommittee that Catholic anti war activists were planning a bombing 230 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: attack and a kidnapping did not just come as a 231 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: surprise to Elizabeth McAllister and Ekbal Ahmad. It also came 232 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 1: as a surprise to Hoover's own Federal Bureau of Investigation. 233 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: Before Hoover's testimony to Congress, his prepared remarks had gone 234 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: to Charles Brennan, an assistant director of the FBI's Domestic 235 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: Intelligence Division, for review. Brennan had strongly encouraged Hoover to 236 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,199 Speaker 1: delete the section about the kidnapping and bombing plot, saying 237 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 1: that revealing the FBI's knowledge of the potential plot could 238 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 1: hurt an ongoing investigation. Hoover ignored Brennan's advice, discussing the 239 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: alleged plot at least three times with government officials in 240 00:17:54,640 --> 00:17:58,159 Speaker 1: the fall of nineteen seventy. In speaking publicly about a 241 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: case in which no charges had been brought, Hoover was 242 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:05,440 Speaker 1: also ignoring Department of Justice guidelines, which discouraged this kind 243 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: of pre trial statement. Attorney General John Mitchell publicly said 244 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: that he was surprised by Hoover's testimony and privately scolded 245 00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: the FBI director. Why had Hoover acted against the advice 246 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: of the Justice Department and his own bureau and spoken 247 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: publicly about an ongoing investigation. Part of his motivation may 248 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: have been personal. Hoover was seventy five years old in 249 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, though he still enjoyed the staunch support of 250 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:40,879 Speaker 1: President Nixon. Public criticism of the longtime FBI director was 251 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:45,639 Speaker 1: growing as his reign entered its thirty fifth year. Hoover 252 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,920 Speaker 1: wanted to prove that he was still in control of 253 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: his bureau's work. He may also have wanted to send 254 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:55,560 Speaker 1: a lesson to the Berrigan brothers, whose time on the 255 00:18:55,680 --> 00:19:00,600 Speaker 1: run had humiliated the FBI. Hoover also wanted to prove 256 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: the necessity of his agency. His testimony to Congress about 257 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:07,880 Speaker 1: the alleged plot had been part of a larger campaign 258 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 1: to get more funding for the FBI. By demonstrating that 259 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 1: threats against the United States existed, Hoover could justify his 260 00:19:15,800 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: requests for more money and more agents. His plan worked. 261 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:27,720 Speaker 1: Congress would soon authorize additional funding for the bureau, but 262 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,960 Speaker 1: Hoover's plan had perhaps worked too well. Discussions of the 263 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,240 Speaker 1: alleged plot dominated the news cycle over Thanksgiving weekend. The 264 00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:41,080 Speaker 1: FBI now needed to back up Hoover's claims, so a 265 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 1: full blown investigation was launched. Hundreds of FBI agents from 266 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: across the East Coast were reassigned to the case. Hoover 267 00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:54,960 Speaker 1: reviewed all their reports, writing notes in the margins helpful 268 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: things like pull out all stops and push this hard. 269 00:19:58,960 --> 00:20:02,720 Speaker 1: An investigation alone was not enough for the hard charging Director. 270 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:07,679 Speaker 1: Hoover was determined to see the case prosecuted. In early 271 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: January nineteen seventy one, a grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 272 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: began hearing testimony on the case. Guy Goodwin, an attorney 273 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:20,800 Speaker 1: working in the Justice Department's Internal Security Division, ran the 274 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 1: grand jury's investigation. On January twelfth, the Justice Department announced 275 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: an indictment in the case. Six people, Philip Berrigan, Elizabeth McAllister, 276 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 1: Ekbaal Ahmad, Joseph Wenderroth, Neil McLoughlin, and Anthony Skoblick, were 277 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: being charged with, quote, conspiring to blow up the heating 278 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 1: systems of federal buildings in the nation's capital and also 279 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:51,080 Speaker 1: to kidnap presidential adviser Henry Kissinger. The conspiracy to commit 280 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: kidnapping charges carried a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The 281 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:02,440 Speaker 1: indictment also listed several unindicted co conspiras, including Daniel Berrigan. 282 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: The actual material of the indictment was thin, and the 283 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: press noticed. The Saint Louis Post Dispatch called the indictment 284 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: quote one of the flimsiest on record. The Barrigans and 285 00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: their lawyers responded similarly, with one of their lawyers calling 286 00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:26,760 Speaker 1: the charges quote a colossal blunder into which the government 287 00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 1: was stampeded after j Edgar Hoover concocted them to justify 288 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: an appropriation for an additional thousand agents. Vice President Spiro Agnew, 289 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:41,840 Speaker 1: on the other hand, rebuked those who criticized the government's motives, 290 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: saying impugning the motives of that grand jury and the 291 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:49,199 Speaker 1: investigative agencies which brought the matter to their attention. In 292 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,959 Speaker 1: other words, popping off for political advantage prior to trial 293 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,359 Speaker 1: is nearly as reprehensible as finding the defendants guilty before 294 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:02,840 Speaker 1: they have been tried and convicted Privately, however, Justice Department 295 00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 1: officials were concerned about the strength of the case. Instead 296 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:09,960 Speaker 1: of shutting down the grand jury after issuing the indictment, 297 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: Guy Goodwin kept the grand jury running and continued to 298 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:19,720 Speaker 1: subpoena witnesses. Critics called it a phishing expedition. Goodwin responded 299 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: that he was simply investigating the possibility of further indictments 300 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:28,240 Speaker 1: even as the prosecutors looked for more evidence. The government 301 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 1: moved towards trial, arraigning the defendants on February eighth. In 302 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:39,879 Speaker 1: mid February, lead prosecutor Guy Goodwin was replaced by William S. Lynch. Lynch, 303 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 1: the head of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, 304 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:48,239 Speaker 1: had an excellent reputation. He took the files home and 305 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:53,280 Speaker 1: studied the case for five days. Lynch was deeply troubled 306 00:22:53,280 --> 00:22:56,639 Speaker 1: by what he saw in his estimation the case that 307 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,119 Speaker 1: Goodwin had drawn up, a case that focused on Hoover's 308 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: allegations of bombs and kidnapping, was untenable. There was simply 309 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: not enough evidence. Instead, he urged his superiors the case 310 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:15,119 Speaker 1: needed to include a broader range of criminal activity. Lynch 311 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:17,919 Speaker 1: wanted to tie in charges about the rating of draft 312 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,720 Speaker 1: board offices. That way, he believed he had a better 313 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: chance of obtaining a conviction. Even more than that, he 314 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:29,119 Speaker 1: told colleagues he could avoid being laughed out of court. 315 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,439 Speaker 1: Lynch's superiors agreed, and he was given the go ahead 316 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:37,879 Speaker 1: to restructure the case. After another round of grand jury testimony, 317 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,320 Speaker 1: a new indictment was announced on April thirtieth. The new 318 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,240 Speaker 1: charges were subtly but crucially different from those in the 319 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:51,000 Speaker 1: January indictment. The indictment now included charges for draft board 320 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: raids and omitted the conspiracy to kidnap charge. Lynch had 321 00:23:55,640 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: replaced the conspiracy to kidnap charge with a general conspiracy charge. 322 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: It was a much easier case to prove, although the 323 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: possible punishments were correspondingly lower. Lynch also gave up on 324 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: trying to connect to Daniel Berrigan to the trial, removing 325 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:17,720 Speaker 1: his name from the list of unindicted co conspirators. There 326 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:22,520 Speaker 1: was one more change. The April indictment added two new defendants, 327 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: Mary kin Skoblick and John Theodore Glick. Glick's case would 328 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,200 Speaker 1: eventually be severed, leaving seven defendants to be tried together. 329 00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: Thus the group became known as the Harrisburg Seven. On 330 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,880 Speaker 1: May twenty fifth, the defendants were arraigned on the new charges. 331 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: Each of them refused to enter a plea, citing their 332 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: belief that the government was acting quote irregularly and extra judicially. 333 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:55,800 Speaker 1: Judge R. Dixon Hermann was uninterested in their speeches and 334 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:59,680 Speaker 1: registered each defendant as having pled not guilty. A trial 335 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:05,240 Speaker 1: date was set nearly seventeen months after Elizabeth McAllister had 336 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:09,520 Speaker 1: written her fateful letter about Citizen's arrest, and more than 337 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: a year after j. Edgar Hoover had discussed the plot 338 00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:21,399 Speaker 1: in Congress the Harrisburg Seven would go on trial. The 339 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:26,040 Speaker 1: courtroom for the Harrisburg Seven trial had a singularly ugly 340 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,359 Speaker 1: paint job. Reporters described the paint color as oppressive, green, 341 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:37,440 Speaker 1: tired algae and mill pond scum. It was an unprepossessing 342 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: setting for such a dramatic case. After nearly three weeks 343 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: of jury selection, opening statements took place on February twenty first, 344 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:52,879 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two. As lead prosecutor William Lynch spoke to 345 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: reporters outside the courtroom, it was clear that a change 346 00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 1: had come over the man in the year since he 347 00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:01,560 Speaker 1: had first come to the case. Yes, While he had 348 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:05,479 Speaker 1: taken the case reluctantly, write Jack Nelson and Ronald j 349 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:10,199 Speaker 1: Ostro in their book The FBI and the Barrigans, Lynch 350 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:13,479 Speaker 1: had psyched himself to the point that he seemed to 351 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 1: loathe the defendants. He described the defendants to the media 352 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: as naive attention seekers who believed themselves above the law. However, 353 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,880 Speaker 1: Lynch usually kept his personal opinions to himself inside the courtroom. 354 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: In his opening statement, he calmly laid out the government's 355 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,840 Speaker 1: case Philip Barrigan, Lynch said, was the ringleader of a 356 00:26:37,880 --> 00:26:43,400 Speaker 1: group who quote hatched a conspiracy in January nineteen seventy 357 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: to commit a series of illegal acts, the thrust of 358 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: which was to disrupt governmental activities. These illegal acts included 359 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: draft board raids in Philadelphia, which the defendant father Joseph Wenderoth, 360 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: among others, had public taken responsibility for. Lynch claimed that 361 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,679 Speaker 1: he would prove that Philip Barrigan and two other defendants, 362 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: Anthony and Mary Skoblick, were involved in planning these raids. 363 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: The next plan in the conspiracy, Lynch shed, was bombing 364 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:20,959 Speaker 1: heating pipes in Washington. He claimed that Wenderrath and Philip 365 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:26,400 Speaker 1: Barrigan had personally visited underground tunnels in DC with quote 366 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,040 Speaker 1: the intent of casing or assessing the feasibility of this 367 00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:35,360 Speaker 1: particular activity. Finally, Lynch shed the group planned to kidnap 368 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:40,880 Speaker 1: Henry Kissinger. Throughout his opening, Lynch buttressed his claims by 369 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: saying that they would be supported by the testimony of 370 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 1: the prosecution's star witness, boyd Douglas. Douglas was the inmate 371 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,240 Speaker 1: who had helped Philip Berrigan smuggle letters in and out 372 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:57,879 Speaker 1: of Louisbourg prison. The defense had long suspected that Douglas 373 00:27:57,920 --> 00:28:01,560 Speaker 1: was the source of the leak, but Lynch's opening confirmed 374 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 1: it and revealed just how much the prosecution's case was 375 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:10,360 Speaker 1: based on Douglas's information. Douglas, Lynch said, in his opening argument, 376 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:16,359 Speaker 1: had become an FBI informant in June nineteen seventy, almost 377 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:20,639 Speaker 1: immediately after he had begun working with Berrigan. In his 378 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: statement for the defense, attorney Ramsey Clark went on the attack. 379 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:29,520 Speaker 1: The defendants had a whole cohort of lawyers representing them 380 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:34,040 Speaker 1: who would share responsibilities during the trial. Clark, the attorney 381 00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 1: General under President Johnson and Lynch's former boss, was chosen 382 00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: to deliver the rebuttal to Lynch's opening. Clark immediately went 383 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: after the prosecution's motives and case. The charges, Clark said 384 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:53,160 Speaker 1: were only brought to quote, justify something j Edgar Hoover 385 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,160 Speaker 1: had done. He said that his clients were quote the 386 00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: gentlest of people, not capable of injuring anyone. Any actions 387 00:29:02,080 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: they had taken against the war had not been part 388 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:09,280 Speaker 1: of a conspiracy, but had been individual actions. This was 389 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:12,600 Speaker 1: a key point for the defense. All of the defendants 390 00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:16,880 Speaker 1: except Elizabeth McAllister, and Ekba Ahmad had at some point 391 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: publicly confessed to participating in draft board raids. Clark wanted 392 00:29:21,400 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: to make the distinction that these raids had not been 393 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 1: part of a larger plot or a conspiracy, which is 394 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: what the government was now charging the defendants with. Much 395 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:36,960 Speaker 1: of Clark's opening was devoted to attacking boy Douglas. You'll 396 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: have to watch Boyd Douglas, see him, judge him, Clark said, 397 00:29:42,240 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 1: He's made lying a way of life. It was clear 398 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 1: from both the prosecution and the defense's opening statements that 399 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:53,920 Speaker 1: the trial would hinge on the testimony of Boyd Douglas. 400 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: But who was Boyd Douglas exactly? This wasn't an easy 401 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: question to answer. Some people, including Philip Berrigan and his 402 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: friends at Bucknell University, where Douglas had participated in a 403 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:11,760 Speaker 1: steady release program while still imprisoned, knew Douglas as a charismatic, 404 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: complicated man with strong anti war sentiments. Douglas told them 405 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,719 Speaker 1: that he had fought in Vietnam and had been horrified 406 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:24,920 Speaker 1: by what he had seen there. Upon his return to America, 407 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: Douglas said he had been caught trying to bomb trucks 408 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:33,040 Speaker 1: carrying napalm to be shipped to Vietnam and jailed. While 409 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,360 Speaker 1: in jail, he volunteered for a medical study, which had 410 00:30:36,440 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: left him with debilitating injuries. He had won a settlement 411 00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: from the government for his suffering, he told Bucknell friends, 412 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 1: which was how he explained his ready supply of money, 413 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: his ever stocked liquor cabinet, and his off campus apartment 414 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:56,080 Speaker 1: lavish living for anyone, especially a prisoner. Douglas could be 415 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:01,080 Speaker 1: insistent and arrogant, but most who him just thought he 416 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 1: was passionate. At the trial, a very different picture of 417 00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: Douglas emerged. On the stand, Douglas described himself as a 418 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:13,360 Speaker 1: Catholic who was concerned about Catholic priests and nuns getting 419 00:31:13,440 --> 00:31:18,680 Speaker 1: involved in anti war activities. He discussed being worried about 420 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 1: quote the threats of these people to the United States government. 421 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,959 Speaker 1: He had gotten in over his head when he had 422 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: agreed to help Philip Barrigan smuggle a letter out of prison, 423 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: Douglas explained, and knowing that he would eventually be caught, 424 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,960 Speaker 1: decided to start copying out the contents of the letters 425 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: in order to help the government. After a warden caught 426 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 1: barrigin with a letter in June and realized that Douglas 427 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 1: was helping him. The warden had put Douglas in touch 428 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:50,960 Speaker 1: with the FBI. In his long answers to Lynch's questions, 429 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: Douglas explained how he had gotten deeper and deeper into 430 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: the movement as a way to aid his investigation. During 431 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: Douglas's testimony, Lynch introduced the letters between Barrigan and McAllister, 432 00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:08,920 Speaker 1: reading them aloud to the jury. Douglas corroborated references in 433 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: the letters to real life conversations he said he had 434 00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:16,000 Speaker 1: with the defendants. Unfortunately for the prosecution, most of the 435 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: letters were so dull and rambling that jurors literally fell 436 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:25,000 Speaker 1: asleep during Lynch's readings. However, two letters, those sent on 437 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: August eighteenth and August twenty second by Elizabeth McAllister and 438 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:33,960 Speaker 1: Philip Berrigan, respectively, were much more exciting. These were the 439 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 1: letters that discussed kidnapping Kissinger and alluded to a disruptive 440 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 1: action against DC utilities. Douglas was key to bringing these 441 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: letters to life. His testimony alleged that the discussion of 442 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 1: these crimes was not confined to these two letters, but 443 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 1: had been an ongoing conversation in the summer of nineteen seventy. 444 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:59,040 Speaker 1: The prosecution would ultimately bring in sixty four witnesses, including 445 00:32:59,160 --> 00:33:03,720 Speaker 1: FBI agents and police officers, but the only one whose 446 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: testimonies supported the charges of bombing and kidnapping was Douglas. 447 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 1: Douglas testified to having discussed the details of the tunnel 448 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:16,120 Speaker 1: bombing project with Joseph Wenderoth, and to having conversations with 449 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:21,800 Speaker 1: Elizabeth McAllister and Ekba Ahmad about the kidnapping plot. Douglas's 450 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: allegation that he had spoken to Ahmad on the phone 451 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: about the kidnapping was hard to believe. Ahmad was the 452 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,640 Speaker 1: most cautious and savvy of all the defendants. He constantly 453 00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: bemoaned the others naivete saying, I am dealing with children. 454 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: Why would he discuss a sensitive matter like kidnapping over 455 00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: the phone with a stranger. Douglas claimed to have spoken 456 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: to Ahmad twice, and said that he picked out Ahmud's 457 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: voice from a tape recording the FBI played him. The tape, 458 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: it turned out, was from a press conference that the 459 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:57,600 Speaker 1: defendants had given in which Ahmad, the only defendant with 460 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:02,840 Speaker 1: an accent, had literally identified himself by name. This identification 461 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,680 Speaker 1: of Ahmad's voice was so suspect that Judge Hermann decided 462 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,719 Speaker 1: to strike it from the record. This was not the 463 00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: only issue with Douglas's testimony. At the end of his 464 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,879 Speaker 1: direct examination, Lynch was forced to raise a concerning matter, 465 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,680 Speaker 1: a letter from Douglas in which he had requested fifty 466 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:24,319 Speaker 1: thousand dollars from the FBI in exchange for his help 467 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:27,319 Speaker 1: with the case. The defense had told the press about 468 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 1: the letter earlier that week, and Lynch was trying to 469 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,320 Speaker 1: get ahead of it. This figure may sound a little high, 470 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: Douglas had written, but considering everything, I feel it is 471 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 1: worth it to the government. I will do all I 472 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,160 Speaker 1: can to help the government obtain enough evidence to prosecute 473 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,239 Speaker 1: these people. However, I don't want to feel that I 474 00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:49,319 Speaker 1: am just being used. Lynch tried to move on from 475 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,759 Speaker 1: the letter quickly. Douglas explained that he had continued helping 476 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:55,759 Speaker 1: the FBI even after his money request was turned down, 477 00:34:56,480 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 1: but the damage was done. Several jurors looked at each 478 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: other and shook their heads. What came next was even 479 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: more troubling for the prosecution. The defense lawyers were unsure 480 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,440 Speaker 1: of their ability to shake Douglas from his story about 481 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:16,120 Speaker 1: the defendant's alleged crimes. He was a confident witness, with 482 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: an excellent memory for dates and places, and was convincing 483 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: in his recall. So the defense, on cross examination decided 484 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:28,479 Speaker 1: to instead go after Douglas's character, and it was here 485 00:35:28,800 --> 00:35:33,360 Speaker 1: that a third side of boy Douglas emerged. This version 486 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:38,239 Speaker 1: wasn't the anti war activist known by Barrigan and at Bucknell, 487 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: or the patriot concerned with protecting his country portrayed by 488 00:35:42,600 --> 00:35:46,320 Speaker 1: the prosecution. The boy Douglas who came out on cross 489 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: examination was as Ramsey Clark had described him in his opening, 490 00:35:51,920 --> 00:35:58,279 Speaker 1: someone who made lieing a way of life. Born in 491 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:02,880 Speaker 1: nineteen forty in Iowa, boyd Douglas had started committing crimes 492 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:06,600 Speaker 1: at a young age. In nineteen fifty nine, he had 493 00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:09,479 Speaker 1: enlisted in the military, likely as part of a deal 494 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: to avoid jail time. After deserting the army multiple times. 495 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: He was charged in nineteen sixty two with impersonating an 496 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: army officer and passing bad checks. He pled guilty and 497 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:26,640 Speaker 1: was sentenced to jail in nineteen sixty three. While in jail, 498 00:36:26,880 --> 00:36:29,400 Speaker 1: he had volunteered for a medical study at the National 499 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: Institutes of Health. It was true that he had incurred 500 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:36,799 Speaker 1: serious injuries during the study, but it's unclear whether those 501 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:40,919 Speaker 1: injuries were self inflicted or not. Douglas filed a two 502 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,560 Speaker 1: million dollar suit against the government, but eventually settled for 503 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:48,400 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand dollars after his lawyer informed him that the 504 00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:54,680 Speaker 1: government suspected fraud. Paroled in nineteen sixty six, Douglas immediately 505 00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:58,200 Speaker 1: began forging checks again. After waiving a gun at a 506 00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:01,520 Speaker 1: bank employee who confronted him and was conson, Douglas was 507 00:37:01,560 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 1: apprehended and sentenced to an additional five years in prison. 508 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:09,000 Speaker 1: It was for these crimes that Douglas was in Louisbourg 509 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,720 Speaker 1: prison where he met Berrigin, not for bombing trucks carrying 510 00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: napalm like he claimed. Douglas also never served in Vietnam. 511 00:37:18,560 --> 00:37:23,040 Speaker 1: Douglas's lies did not stop there. The defense revealed that 512 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 1: Douglas had lied constantly to try to manipulate his friends 513 00:37:27,000 --> 00:37:31,640 Speaker 1: at Bucknell, even over personal matters. While at Bucknell, he 514 00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:35,800 Speaker 1: had dated two roommates. He told one roommate, Jane Hoover, 515 00:37:36,440 --> 00:37:39,560 Speaker 1: that he was dying of cancer and asked her to 516 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:44,760 Speaker 1: marry him. When she refused, he pleaded with her, telling 517 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,560 Speaker 1: her that she was the only girl he had ever loved, 518 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:52,520 Speaker 1: except for a childhood neighbor of his name, Nancy, who, 519 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 1: like Jane, had beautiful blonde hair. After Jane once again 520 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,840 Speaker 1: rejected him, Douglas moved on to her roommate, Betsy Sandel. 521 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:06,960 Speaker 1: He soon asked Betsy to marry him, movingly, declaring that 522 00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:11,360 Speaker 1: she was the only girl he had ever loved, except 523 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,960 Speaker 1: for a childhood neighbor named Nancy, who, like Betsy, had 524 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:21,239 Speaker 1: beautiful red hair. It was a trivial lie, but it 525 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,800 Speaker 1: seemed to stick with the jurors. While Douglas was supposed 526 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:28,200 Speaker 1: to be gathering information for the FBI, he had instead 527 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: spent his time manipulating young college students into becoming romantically 528 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: attached to him. Douglas's admission that he had flagged Betsy 529 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: Sandel as an anti war activist to the FBI only 530 00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:47,000 Speaker 1: after she had rejected his marriage proposal caused one jurors 531 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:52,840 Speaker 1: jaw to literally drop. With all that said, the defense 532 00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,239 Speaker 1: had been right in fearing that they could not get 533 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 1: Douglas to change his story about the crimes. He alleged 534 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:03,799 Speaker 1: the defendants had He consistently maintained that the defendants had 535 00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 1: planned to kidnap Kissinger and bomb the capital. The cross 536 00:39:08,160 --> 00:39:12,520 Speaker 1: examinations had certainly damaged Douglas's credibility, but had they damaged 537 00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:18,319 Speaker 1: the prosecution's case. William Lynch didn't think so devastating cross examination, 538 00:39:18,920 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: he laughed to a reporter. Lynch's real concern lay with 539 00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:26,440 Speaker 1: what the defense would present during their own case. On 540 00:39:26,480 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: March twenty third, after more than a month of testimony, 541 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,879 Speaker 1: the prosecution rested. The defense had called witnesses from all 542 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 1: over the country to testify, and people wondered exactly who 543 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:41,239 Speaker 1: would appear on the stand, which, if any, of the 544 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:46,720 Speaker 1: defendants would testify. On Friday, March twenty fourth, Ramsey Clark 545 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:50,120 Speaker 1: again rose for the defense, but instead of delivering a 546 00:39:50,160 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 1: traditional opening statement, he shocked the courtroom by declaring, your honor, 547 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 1: the defendants will always seek peace. The defendants continue to 548 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:06,320 Speaker 1: proclaim their innocence, and the defense rests. No one knew 549 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: quite what was happening. Had Clark said that the defense rested, 550 00:40:11,360 --> 00:40:15,640 Speaker 1: they weren't going to present a case, Lynch was baffled, 551 00:40:16,000 --> 00:40:18,960 Speaker 1: calling it some sort of trickery, some sort of fraud 552 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:21,719 Speaker 1: on the court, but the defense said that they had 553 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:24,720 Speaker 1: only decided to not present a case the night before. 554 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:30,200 Speaker 1: In a news conference, the defendants explained themselves it had 555 00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 1: not been a unanimous decision. Barrigan, McAllister, and Ahmad had 556 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,839 Speaker 1: wanted to argue their case, but had been overruled by 557 00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:42,480 Speaker 1: a majority of the defendants. The Skobliks, Joseph Wenderroth and 558 00:40:42,560 --> 00:40:47,040 Speaker 1: Neil McLaughlin did not want to present a defense. McAllister 559 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:50,680 Speaker 1: had taken notes on their discussion the night before, writing quote, 560 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,839 Speaker 1: the response of silence seems the best response to the 561 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,480 Speaker 1: illegitimacy of this indictment of the process of this government. 562 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:02,400 Speaker 1: By not present venting a defense, the defendants felt that 563 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,640 Speaker 1: they were refusing to engage in a process they saw 564 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:12,840 Speaker 1: as corrupt. The defendants had not forgone every aspect of 565 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:16,000 Speaker 1: a defense, however, they still wished for their lawyers to 566 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,680 Speaker 1: conduct closing arguments, which were duly completed by both sides. 567 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:25,160 Speaker 1: No one added anything particularly novel. The defense lawyers argued 568 00:41:25,160 --> 00:41:28,920 Speaker 1: that the case was politically motivated, poorly supported, and overblown, 569 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:34,000 Speaker 1: while Lynch contended that the defendants were wolves in clerical clothing. 570 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,880 Speaker 1: Formerly non violent activists who had graduated to violence and 571 00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:43,040 Speaker 1: posed a genuine threat to the nation. On March thirtieth, 572 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,719 Speaker 1: the jury began their deliberations. They had to return to 573 00:41:46,760 --> 00:41:50,680 Speaker 1: the courtroom several times for clarification on the charges. It 574 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:54,440 Speaker 1: was a complicated set of interrelated charges, and the jury 575 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:58,600 Speaker 1: and Judge Hermann himself seemed unsure about just how to 576 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:02,360 Speaker 1: approach the law. Over the next week, the jury delivered 577 00:42:02,360 --> 00:42:05,080 Speaker 1: several verdicts on a few of the more minor charges, 578 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:09,960 Speaker 1: finding Philip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAllister guilty of smuggling letters 579 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:14,640 Speaker 1: out of federal prison. But on April fifth, nineteen seventy two, 580 00:42:15,239 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: the jury declared to Judge Herman that they were deadlocked 581 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: on the conspiracy charges. They could not reach a decision 582 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:26,359 Speaker 1: about the defendant's guilt or innocence in conspiring to raid 583 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:30,920 Speaker 1: draft board offices, kidnap Henry Kissinger, and baumb Washington, d C. 584 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,440 Speaker 1: In the case of the United States v. The Harrisburg Seven, 585 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:43,000 Speaker 1: Judge Herman declared a mistrial. The case might not have 586 00:42:43,239 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: ended there. The government could still choose to retry the 587 00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:52,680 Speaker 1: Harrisburg Seven, but it seemed extremely unlikely. Public opinion was 588 00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 1: against the government. In this case. The local newspaper, a 589 00:42:56,719 --> 00:43:00,799 Speaker 1: conservative journal called The Harrisburg Patriot, wrote, it must be 590 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: evident that conspiracy is an elusive charge, that a principal witness, Douglas, 591 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:10,560 Speaker 1: whose testimony can be eroded as his motivation is revealed, 592 00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:14,280 Speaker 1: is a very weak read, and that a faulty case 593 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:18,400 Speaker 1: is better left untried than subjected to pitiless media and 594 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 1: public exposure. The jurors concurred with the Harrisburg Patriots conclusions. 595 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 1: Interviews with jurors after the verdict revealed that they had 596 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:32,760 Speaker 1: voted ten to two against convicting on the conspiracy charges, 597 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:37,080 Speaker 1: and that the two jurors who supported convictions had had 598 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:39,760 Speaker 1: their minds made up from the beginning of the trial. 599 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:44,719 Speaker 1: The jurors who voted for acquittal cited Boyd Douglas's lack 600 00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:48,799 Speaker 1: of credibility as a major reason for their decision. Any 601 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:52,640 Speaker 1: possibility of a retrial died along with the man who 602 00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:55,920 Speaker 1: had pushed for the trial in the first place on 603 00:43:56,000 --> 00:44:00,560 Speaker 1: May second, nineteen seventy two, j Edgar Hoover of a 604 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:05,040 Speaker 1: heart attack. A little more than a year later, on 605 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:09,600 Speaker 1: May twenty eighth, nineteen seventy three, Philip Barrigan and Elizabeth 606 00:44:09,640 --> 00:44:14,239 Speaker 1: McAllister were legally married, given that they were still technically 607 00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:17,000 Speaker 1: a priest and a nun. The couple were excommunicated from 608 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:21,920 Speaker 1: the Catholic Church, but the excommunication was later lifted. Barrigan 609 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:25,799 Speaker 1: and McAllister had three children. They never gave up their 610 00:44:25,840 --> 00:44:29,920 Speaker 1: activism work. In the early nineteen eighties, they along with 611 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:34,560 Speaker 1: Phillip's brother Daniel, turned their focus to protesting nuclear weapons. 612 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,839 Speaker 1: They employed many of the same tactics they had used 613 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:41,960 Speaker 1: for protesting the Vietnam War, including breaking into nuclear weapon 614 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:47,319 Speaker 1: manufacturing facilities and pouring blood on equipment. Philip Barrigan died 615 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:50,759 Speaker 1: at age seventy nine on December sixth, two thousand and two. 616 00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:55,640 Speaker 1: Daniel Berrigan died at age ninety four on April thirtieth, 617 00:44:55,760 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen. Elizabeth McAllister is still alive. Her last interaction 618 00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:04,520 Speaker 1: with the legal system was her twenty nineteen conviction for 619 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:10,040 Speaker 1: breaking into a nuclear submarine base. Ekba Ahmah died on 620 00:45:10,120 --> 00:45:14,080 Speaker 1: May eleventh, nineteen ninety nine, after a lifetime spent teaching 621 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:18,840 Speaker 1: political science and speaking out against war and imperialism. His 622 00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:23,960 Speaker 1: writings influenced other prominent thinkers, including Edward Sayid and Howard Zinn, 623 00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:28,680 Speaker 1: father Joseph Wenderroth, and father Neil McLaughlin returned to Baltimore 624 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:32,360 Speaker 1: to continue their work as priests. They are both now retired. 625 00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:36,040 Speaker 1: Anthony and Mary Skoblick seemed to have led more private 626 00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:41,160 Speaker 1: lives after the trial. During the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies, 627 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:44,319 Speaker 1: the country struggled to figure out how to respond to 628 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:48,320 Speaker 1: protests over the Vietnam War. America has long been a 629 00:45:48,400 --> 00:45:51,920 Speaker 1: land of protesters. Some of the most famous acts of 630 00:45:51,960 --> 00:45:56,480 Speaker 1: the country's founding were acts of civil disobedience, but exactly 631 00:45:56,560 --> 00:45:59,440 Speaker 1: who is allowed to protest and how they are allowed 632 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:03,520 Speaker 1: to do so are hotly debated issues. I agree with 633 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:07,040 Speaker 1: the protesters, but not with how they're protesting is a 634 00:46:07,040 --> 00:46:12,120 Speaker 1: common refrain during fraught times. The theologian Robert McAfee brown, 635 00:46:12,920 --> 00:46:17,440 Speaker 1: writing about the Barrigin's destruction of draft records in Catonsville, Maryland, 636 00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:21,000 Speaker 1: said that the action was meant to be quote a 637 00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,640 Speaker 1: vivid reminder of what has happened to the collective conscience 638 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:28,600 Speaker 1: of our nation. We are outraged when paper is burned, 639 00:46:29,280 --> 00:46:33,239 Speaker 1: and we are not outraged when children are burned, But 640 00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:37,520 Speaker 1: the ethical stakes for burning paper are very different than 641 00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:42,640 Speaker 1: those for kidnapping and bombing, and ethical considerations are often 642 00:46:42,719 --> 00:46:47,640 Speaker 1: different than legal ones. Prosecuting protesters who commit illegal acts 643 00:46:47,840 --> 00:46:51,920 Speaker 1: is as much an American tradition as protesting itself. The 644 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,400 Speaker 1: system must have integrity, said the Attorney General in the 645 00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:58,759 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. It never seemed wrong to me that the 646 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,560 Speaker 1: rou and Gandhi weer prossecus, or that they went to jail. 647 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:05,480 Speaker 1: That was their point. They so disagreed with their government 648 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:08,400 Speaker 1: that they would sacrifice freedom itself to show their concern. 649 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:13,760 Speaker 1: The speaker there was none other than Ramsey Clark, former 650 00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:18,640 Speaker 1: Attorney General and defense attorney for the Harrisburg Seven. The 651 00:47:18,680 --> 00:47:22,799 Speaker 1: pattern of protest and prosecution, writes William O'Rourke in his 652 00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:26,120 Speaker 1: book The Harrisburg Seven and the New Catholic Left, was 653 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:30,520 Speaker 1: a symbolic one. Church and state are practitioners of myth 654 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:34,680 Speaker 1: and icon. The activists of the Catholic New Left carry 655 00:47:34,680 --> 00:47:38,560 Speaker 1: out their symbolic acts of resistance. The government responds with 656 00:47:38,600 --> 00:47:43,040 Speaker 1: its own. Each side used its own unique powers and 657 00:47:43,080 --> 00:47:47,560 Speaker 1: tools to either upend or uphold the status quo. For 658 00:47:47,600 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 1: the most part, each side understood the rules of the other. 659 00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:59,000 Speaker 1: The Barrigins had upended this balance by choosing to run 660 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:02,240 Speaker 1: instead of surrenders for their prison sentences in nineteen seventy, 661 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:07,040 Speaker 1: but the government in prosecuting the Harrisburg Seven committed an 662 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:12,400 Speaker 1: even graver violation. In this case, the government responded disproportionately 663 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:16,880 Speaker 1: to a basically non existent threat. There is no evidence 664 00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:20,080 Speaker 1: that any of the defendants ever seriously planned to carry 665 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:23,560 Speaker 1: out a kidnapping or a bombing. Had j Edgar Hoover 666 00:48:23,800 --> 00:48:27,120 Speaker 1: not used the alleged threat of these attacks as leverage 667 00:48:27,160 --> 00:48:30,080 Speaker 1: to get more funding from Congress, it's likely that no 668 00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:35,920 Speaker 1: prosecution would have occurred. Hoover's power was so great that 669 00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,520 Speaker 1: it subverted the rule of law right Jack Nelson and 670 00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:44,560 Speaker 1: Ronald Astro quote. When a nation that prides itself on 671 00:48:44,640 --> 00:48:48,680 Speaker 1: being a system of laws, not men, permits itself to 672 00:48:48,719 --> 00:48:54,680 Speaker 1: be so corrupted, the portents are ominous. We often see 673 00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:58,400 Speaker 1: this issue on a smaller scale. The personal whims and 674 00:48:58,520 --> 00:49:03,360 Speaker 1: biases of judges, attorneys, and jurors can radically shape the 675 00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:07,279 Speaker 1: outcome of a trial, But rarely do we see this 676 00:49:07,440 --> 00:49:11,239 Speaker 1: kind of personal influence on his grand or as a 677 00:49:11,280 --> 00:49:14,440 Speaker 1: disturbing of a scale, as we do in the trial 678 00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:19,120 Speaker 1: of the Harrisburg Seven. That's the story of the United 679 00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:23,600 Speaker 1: States v. The Harrisburg Seven. Stick around to learn a 680 00:49:23,640 --> 00:49:32,680 Speaker 1: fun fact about one of the Berrigan Brothers musical legacy. 681 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:37,520 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, Paul Simon was hard at work 682 00:49:37,600 --> 00:49:41,480 Speaker 1: on his second solo album, best known at that point 683 00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:45,680 Speaker 1: as a member of the duo Simon and Garfunkel. Simon's 684 00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:49,640 Speaker 1: first solo album had only been released in England. This 685 00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:53,359 Speaker 1: second album would be getting an American release, and it 686 00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:56,960 Speaker 1: was Simon's chance to define his own voice outside of 687 00:49:56,960 --> 00:50:02,080 Speaker 1: his partnership with Our Garfuncle had to make something good. 688 00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:07,600 Speaker 1: Fortunately for Simon, he did. The album, titled Paul Simon, 689 00:50:08,080 --> 00:50:12,440 Speaker 1: debuted in January nineteen seventy two and was critically acclaimed. 690 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:15,920 Speaker 1: It took a little while for sales to catch up 691 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:18,520 Speaker 1: with the buzz, but the album made it to number 692 00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:22,239 Speaker 1: four on the Billboard Pop Album chart. The album has 693 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:26,359 Speaker 1: remained a classic and was certified platinum in nineteen eighty six. 694 00:50:27,280 --> 00:50:30,319 Speaker 1: One of the best known songs from Paul Simon is 695 00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:34,360 Speaker 1: the album's second single, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard. 696 00:50:34,960 --> 00:50:37,959 Speaker 1: The song tells the story of two boys breaking a law. 697 00:50:38,560 --> 00:50:42,680 Speaker 1: What law exactly is never made clear, With Simon saying 698 00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:45,920 Speaker 1: in a nineteen seventy two Rolling Stone interview, I have 699 00:50:46,000 --> 00:50:49,320 Speaker 1: no idea what it is. Something sexual is what I imagine. 700 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,200 Speaker 1: After the boys are reported to the police by a 701 00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:57,360 Speaker 1: woman called Mama, they are arrested. Fortunately a radical priest 702 00:50:57,440 --> 00:51:00,400 Speaker 1: comes and gets them released, and they all end up 703 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:02,839 Speaker 1: on the cover of Newsweek. And yes, it was very 704 00:51:02,840 --> 00:51:05,040 Speaker 1: hard to read that line without singing. But you don't 705 00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:08,719 Speaker 1: want to hear me sing. Some commentators have theorized that 706 00:51:08,760 --> 00:51:11,680 Speaker 1: the song tells the story of two gay teens getting 707 00:51:11,760 --> 00:51:15,120 Speaker 1: kicked out of their house, and they have also suggested 708 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:19,000 Speaker 1: that the radical priest who gets the pair released is 709 00:51:19,080 --> 00:51:23,560 Speaker 1: none other than father Daniel Berrigan. The biggest hint is 710 00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:26,360 Speaker 1: the line about ending up on the cover of Newsweek. 711 00:51:27,120 --> 00:51:31,120 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, during both the Harrisburg seven fiasco 712 00:51:31,760 --> 00:51:36,240 Speaker 1: and Paul Simon's album recording process, an image of Daniel 713 00:51:36,320 --> 00:51:40,160 Speaker 1: and Philip Barrigan appeared on the cover of Time magazine, 714 00:51:40,880 --> 00:51:45,239 Speaker 1: paired with the headline rebel Priests the Curious case of 715 00:51:45,239 --> 00:51:49,240 Speaker 1: the Barrigins. The song may very well not be about 716 00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:52,720 Speaker 1: gay men, and the radical priest may not be Daniel Berrigan. 717 00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:57,960 Speaker 1: Simon has never confirmed nor commented on either claim. But 718 00:51:58,040 --> 00:52:01,319 Speaker 1: if these theories are true, the Me and Julio down 719 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:05,120 Speaker 1: at the Schoolyard, besides being a very catchy tune, is 720 00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:09,960 Speaker 1: also nice foreshadowing for Daniel Berrigan's later career. In the 721 00:52:10,040 --> 00:52:14,040 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, when 722 00:52:14,080 --> 00:52:17,840 Speaker 1: the cause and treatment of AIDS was still unknown, and 723 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:23,000 Speaker 1: while those affected were largely shunned by society, Daniel Berrigan 724 00:52:23,200 --> 00:52:27,880 Speaker 1: began volunteering at the aid's hospice program at Saint Vincent's 725 00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:32,480 Speaker 1: Hospital in New York City. He spent twelve years working 726 00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:36,319 Speaker 1: with the sick and dying, treating them with love and compassion. 727 00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:40,800 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty nine, he wrote a book about his experiences, 728 00:52:41,640 --> 00:52:46,360 Speaker 1: Sorrow Built a Bridge, Friendship and AIDS. At a time 729 00:52:46,640 --> 00:52:51,319 Speaker 1: when so many, including the American government, wilfully ignored the 730 00:52:51,360 --> 00:52:56,320 Speaker 1: crisis or blamed its victims for their fates, Daniel Berrigan 731 00:52:56,680 --> 00:53:00,640 Speaker 1: once again turned his face towards suffering and did what 732 00:53:00,760 --> 00:53:05,319 Speaker 1: he could to alleviate it. Thank you for listening to 733 00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:09,000 Speaker 1: History on Trial. My main source for this episode was 734 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:13,120 Speaker 1: Jack Nelson and Ronald j Astro's book The FBI and 735 00:53:13,200 --> 00:53:17,520 Speaker 1: the Barrigans, the Making of a Conspiracy. For a full bibliography, 736 00:53:17,680 --> 00:53:20,239 Speaker 1: as well as a transcript of this episode with citations, 737 00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:26,919 Speaker 1: please visit our website History on Trial podcast dot com. 738 00:53:27,360 --> 00:53:31,240 Speaker 1: History on Trial is written and hosted by me Mira Hayward. 739 00:53:31,800 --> 00:53:34,920 Speaker 1: The show is edited and produced by Jesse Funk, with 740 00:53:35,000 --> 00:53:40,719 Speaker 1: supervising producer Trevor Young and executive producers Dana Schwartz, Alexander Williams, 741 00:53:41,040 --> 00:53:44,680 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick, and Mira Hayward. Learn more about the show 742 00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:48,759 Speaker 1: at History on Trial podcast dot com and follow us 743 00:53:48,760 --> 00:53:53,040 Speaker 1: on Instagram at History on Trial and on Twitter at 744 00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:58,480 Speaker 1: Underscore History on Trial. Find more podcasts from iHeartRadio by 745 00:53:58,560 --> 00:54:02,840 Speaker 1: visiting the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 746 00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:03,920 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.