| Catonsville Nine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leaders | Philip Berrigan George Mische |
| Dates of operation | 1968 |
| Active regions | Baltimore (Catonsville, Maryland) |
| Ideology | Anti-war Catholic leftism |
| Size | 9 |
| Opponents | U.S. Selective Service System The FBI |
The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968, they took 378 draft files from the draft board office in Catonsville, Maryland, and burned them in the parking lot.
| Catonsville Nine Incident | ||
|---|---|---|
| Part of the Opposition to the Vietnam War | ||
| Date | May 17, 1968 | |
| Location | Catonsville, Maryland, U.S. 39°16′15″N76°44′21″W / 39.270886°N 76.739219°W | |
| Caused by | Vietnam War | |
| Goals | Destruction of conscription cards | |
| Methods | Arson, theft, protest | |
| Status | Ended, movement still active | |
| Parties | ||
| Lead figures | ||
| ||
| Injuries and arrests | ||
| Injuries | 1 (minor) | |
| Arrested | 9 | |
| Charged | Philip Berrigan & Tom Lewis (3.5 years)1 Daniel Berrigan, Tom Melville, and George Mische (3 years) Mary Moylan, Marjorie Bradford Melville, David Darst, and John Hogan (2 years)2 | |
| Fined | $22,000 | |
| 1Phil Berrigan & Tom Lewis were sentenced for both the Catonsville incident and the 1967 Custom House raid 2Sentenced to two years only since they were not considered leaders of the group | ||
The Nine were:
George Mische and Father Phil Berrigan were prime organizers of the Catonsville Nine. The organizing process was very democratic, with lengthy meetings and voting by raised hands.[ citation needed ]
On October 17, 1967, Fr. Philip Berrigan and Tom Lewis raided the Baltimore City Custom House and poured blood on draft records as part of "The Baltimore Four" (with David Eberhardt and James Mengel) and were out on bail when they burned the records at Catonsville. [1] (The first documented action against draft files is reputed to have been by Barry Bondhus in Minnesota, who, along with other family members, carried human waste into a draft board and defaced draft records. [2] )
On May 17, 1968, the Nine went to the Catonsville office of the Selective Service on Frederick Road. They restrained an employee while gathering records into wire bins, [3] One SSS employee, Mary Murphy, attempted to save the draft records but was restrained by one of the Nine. [4] They then took the bins to the parking lot and set fire to them. [3] They then recited the Lord's Prayer and explained to news crews that they were protesting the Vietnam war. Three hundred and seventy-eight draft records were destroyed. [5]
Baltimore County police officers arrested the nine. While they were in jail, the group sent an apologetic letter and a basket of flowers to the clerk on duty at the office during the event. [6]
The Catonsville Nine were tried in federal court October 5–9, 1968, defended by William Kunstler. They were found guilty of destruction of U.S. property, destruction of Selective Service files, and interference with the Selective Service Act of 1967. [7] They were also sentenced to a total of 18 years in jail and fined $22,000. Mary Moylan, Philip Berrigan, Daniel Berrigan and George Mische failed to report for the beginning of their sentences. Daniel Berrigan caused considerable embarrassment to FBI by giving sermons at various events while a fugitive.
Tom Lewis had been sentenced to six years for a prior protest one week after Catonsville, and had three and a half years added to be served concurrently. [8] Fr. Daniel Berrigan was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison to begin on April 9, 1970. According to Anke Wessels, director of Cornell's Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy, "On the very day he was scheduled to begin his prison term, he left his office keys on a secretary's desk in Anabel Taylor Hall and disappeared." [9] Cornell marked Berrigan's impending imprisonment by conducting a weekend-long "America Is Hard to Find" event April 17–19, 1970, [10] which included a public appearance by the then-fugitive Berrigan before a crowd of 15,000 in Barton Hall. [11] On August 11, 1970, the FBI found and arrested Berrigan at the home of William Stringfellow and Anthony Towne. [12] He was released from prison in 1972.[ citation needed ] Lewis was released in 1971. [8]
The "Nine" inspired many other anti-draft and anti-military actions in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Milwaukee 14, D.C. 9, Silver Spring 3, Chicago 8, Harrisburg 7, Camden 28. Participants sometimes remained at the scene to be arrested, sometimes they departed in order to avoid arrest. It is unknown how many persons were not drafted because of these actions.
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Q&A interview with Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk on their documentary Hit & Stay, June 17, 2018, C-SPAN |
As of 2009 [update] the movement had morphed into a continuing movement with an emphasis on nuclear weapons. The so-called "Plowshares" actions, along with the Catonsville Nine and earlier actions, have been detailed online by Jonah House.
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Fr. Daniel Berrigan wrote a play in free verse, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, about the trial. The version performed is usually an adaptation into regular dialogue by Saul Levitt. The play is based on a partial transcript of the trial.
In 1972 a film version of the play was produced by Gregory Peck. It cost $300,000 and Peck "lost every penny". [18]
In 2009, it was presented on a tour by a company called "the Actors' Gang" of Culver City, California, founded by film star Tim Robbins. [19]
In 1969, while briefly released on appeal, Tom Lewis published a portfolio of etchings he made while imprisoned at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. It contains ten etchings, in a run of fifty copies, some printed with ink he had to scrounge together from ashes, coffee or cocoa powder. He wrote accompanying text and the cover was printed by fellow Catholic activist Corita Kent. The etchings depict the psychic torment of his fellow prisoners by suicidal thoughts, boredom or isolation, as well as scenes of police brutality. [8]
Catonsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Baltimore County, Maryland. The population was 44,701 at the 2020 US Census. The community is a streetcar suburb of Baltimore along the city's western border. The town is known for its proximity to the Patapsco River and Patapsco Valley State Park, making it a regional mountain biking hub. The town is also notable as a local hotbed of music, earning it the official nickname of "Music City, Maryland." Catonsville contains the majority of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a major public research university with close to 14,000 students.
Philip Francis Berrigan was an American peace activist and Catholic priest with the Josephites. He engaged in nonviolent, civil disobedience in the cause of peace and nuclear disarmament and was often arrested.
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John Dear is an American Catholic priest, peace activist, lecturer, and author of 35 books on peace and nonviolence. He has spoken on peace around the world, organized hundreds of demonstrations against war, injustice and nuclear weapons and been arrested 85 times in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience against war, injustice, poverty, nuclear weapons and environmental destruction.
Investigation of a Flame is a 2001 documentary by Lynne Sachs about the Catonsville Nine, nine Catholic activists who became known for their May 17, 1968 nonviolent act of civil disobedience in burning draft files to protest the Vietnam War.
Thomas P. Lewis was an artist and peace activist, primarily noted for his participation with the Baltimore Four and the Catonsville Nine.
Elizabeth McAlister, also known as Liz McAlister, is an American peace activist and former nun of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary. She married Philip Berrigan and was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. McAlister served prison time for nonviolent acts of civil disobedience.
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The Silver Spring Three refers to a Vietnam War era anti-draft action. On May 21, 1969, three young men walked into a Silver Spring, Maryland Selective Service office where they destroyed several hundred draft records to protest the war. Les Bayless, his brother John Bayless, and Michael Bransome lived at a commune known as Blair House just down the street from the draft board. Files were mutilated with blood and black paint, office equipment was destroyed, and the office was completely ransacked. The three waited for police and FBI agents to arrive and were arrested.
This is a bibliography of works by and about Daniel Joseph Berrigan, S.J., who was an American Jesuit priest, anti-war activist, poet, essayist, and university instructor. Berrigan was an award-winning and prolific author, who published more than 50 books during his life in 1957, he was awarded the Lamont Prize for his book of poems, Time Without Number.
The Milwaukee Fourteen were fourteen peace activists who burned Selective Service records to protest the Vietnam War. On 24 September 1968, they entered Milwaukee's Brumder Building, site of nine Wisconsin draft boards, gathered up about 10,000 files, carried them to an open public space, and set them on fire with homemade napalm. The fourteen then remained at the site, singing and reading from the gospels of John and Luke as Milwaukee firemen and police officers arrived. The subsequent trial of twelve of the protestors became the first resistance trial in which the defendants chose to represent themselves. After a trial of eleven days, the defendants were each found guilty of theft, arson, and burglary.
Mary Moylan was a nurse-midwife and political activist, primarily known for her participation with the Catonsville Nine.
Margarita Melville, is a Mexican-born American anti-war activist, and retired university professor and associate dean. Melville's advocacy for Guatemala led her and her husband to join the group known as the Catonsville Nine.
Thomas Robert Melville (1930–2017) was an American priest, activist and writer. He was born in Boston Massachusetts on December 5, 1930, and he wanted to be a priest since he was five. He and his brother, Arthur Melville, were both ordained as Maryknoll priests. He went to Guatemala in 1957, where he worked closely with local peasants. He was expelled by the government as a result of his organizing work. He left the priestly order and, in 1968, married another ex-Maryknoll sister Marjorie Bradford in Mexico. Returning to the US, the couple continued to be vocal in the Guatemalan cause, which eventually led them to be part of the Catonsville Nine group of antiwar Catholic activists.
The Chicago 15 were a group of 15 American antiwar activists known for protesting the U.S. war with Vietnam. On Sunday, May 25, 1969 the group broke into the Selective Service office at 2355 W. 63rd Street in Chicago, which housed the records of 34 south side draft boards. They removed 40,000 records, stuffing the documents into burlap bags and dragging the bags outside to the alley where they doused the records in gasoline and set them ablaze. The 15 men and women stood singing songs around the bonfire until police arrested and transferred them to Cook County Jail.
David Mack Eberhardt, is an American peace activist and poet. He is best known for his participation, with Philip Berrigan and two others, in the antiwar action known as the Baltimore Four, an immediate precursor to the Catonsville Nine.
Frida Berrigan is an American peace activist and author. She published the 2015 book, It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood, about her life in a family of prominent activists and her own philosophies of parenting. Raised in the Plowshares movement, she has been featured in documentaries and studies of the movement, including award-winning director Susan Hagedorn's 2021 The Berrigans: Devout and Dangerous. Frida Berrigan has documented and interpreted the movement's history and meaning from her first-hand perspective for a global audience.
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