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Spiritual Criminals
How the Camden 28 Put the Vietnam War on Trial
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2024
About this book
A surprising look at the 28 Catholic radicals who raided a draft board in 1971—and got away with it.
When the FBI arrested twenty-eight people in connection to a break-in at a Camden, New Jersey, draft board in 1971, the Bureau celebrated. The case should have been an easy victory for the department—the perpetrators had been caught red-handed attempting to destroy conscription documents for draftees into the Vietnam War. But the results of the trial surprised everyone, and in the process shook the foundations of American law, politics, and religion.
In Spiritual Criminals, Michelle M. Nickerson shares a complex portrait of the Camden 28, a passionate group of grassroots religious progressives who resisted both their church and their government as they crusaded against the Vietnam War. Founded by priests, nuns, and devout lay Catholics, members of this coalition accepted the risks of felony convictions as the cost of challenging the nation’s military-industrial complex and exposing the illegal counterintelligence operations of the FBI. By peeling away the layers of political history, theological traditions, and the Camden 28’s personal stories, Nickerson reveals an often-unseen spiritual side of the anti-war movement. At the same time, she probes the fractures within the group, detailing important conflicts over ideology, race, sex, and gender that resonate in the church and on the political Left today.
When the FBI arrested twenty-eight people in connection to a break-in at a Camden, New Jersey, draft board in 1971, the Bureau celebrated. The case should have been an easy victory for the department—the perpetrators had been caught red-handed attempting to destroy conscription documents for draftees into the Vietnam War. But the results of the trial surprised everyone, and in the process shook the foundations of American law, politics, and religion.
In Spiritual Criminals, Michelle M. Nickerson shares a complex portrait of the Camden 28, a passionate group of grassroots religious progressives who resisted both their church and their government as they crusaded against the Vietnam War. Founded by priests, nuns, and devout lay Catholics, members of this coalition accepted the risks of felony convictions as the cost of challenging the nation’s military-industrial complex and exposing the illegal counterintelligence operations of the FBI. By peeling away the layers of political history, theological traditions, and the Camden 28’s personal stories, Nickerson reveals an often-unseen spiritual side of the anti-war movement. At the same time, she probes the fractures within the group, detailing important conflicts over ideology, race, sex, and gender that resonate in the church and on the political Left today.
Author / Editor information
Michelle M. Nickerson is professor of history at Loyola University Chicago. She is the author of Mothers of Conservatism: Women and the Postwar Right and coeditor of Sunbelt Rising: The Politics of Place, Space, and Region.
Reviews
"Spiritual Criminals beautifully illuminates not only one of the most contentious court cases of the Vietnam war era but the forgotten religious and political worlds beneath the trial. Radical priests, nuns, and Catholic laypeople emerge from these compelling pages as central to the anti-Vietnam war effort, and their successes and travails tell us much about the trajectory of 1960s era activism."
— John McGreevy, University of Notre Dame"In Michelle Nickerson's often moving Spiritual Criminals, twenty-eight mostly lay Catholics confronted their Church and the US government to end the Vietnam War by destroying draft board records. Nickerson's story of faith, betrayal, theology, and a trial that shockingly acquitted the Camden 28 offers poignant testimony to the power of moral suasion in a compromised world—a deftly researched, powerfully written, deeply touching book."
— Jon Butler, author of 'God in Gotham: The Miracle of Religion in Modern Manhattan'"Spiritual Criminals takes us into the lost but thrilling world of the Vietnam-era Catholic Left, where young people wrestled with great moral questions in dramatic and daring ways. The story of the Camden 28 is a political page-turner, wonderfully well told. It reminds us that the terms 'religious' and 'right' did not always go together. It also has much to teach today's antiwar activists, as both a model and a cautionary tale."
— Beverly Gage, author of 'G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century'"An authoritative text about a Vietnam-era protest and its aftermath, Spiritual Criminals covers a momentous historical event and demonstrates the power of social justice movements."
— Kristen Rabe, Foreword Reviews"Nickerson's detailed history, brimming with facts and concepts, reclaims a key chapter in the annals of American antiwar activism."
— Booklist"A book like Spiritual Criminals has the potential to offer a significant contribution to U.S. Catholics' understanding of our history and provide inspiration for political activism today. Nickerson's question—Is there anything left of the Catholic left?—remains salient. And the endings to the Camden 28's stories can help provide an answer."
— National Catholic Reporter"Nickerson’s definitive account of this underappreciated episode in antiwar history also complicates the standard historiography of the Catholic antiwar movement. But beyond its scholarly merit, it’s an urgent, timely book, particularly as millions of people across the country are grappling with how to reckon with—and resist—contemporary war-making. The teachings of the Catholic Resistance, we learn, are more relevant than ever."
— Commonweal Magazine"A tale told brilliantly and thoroughly, placing it among the best in the literature on 1960s radicalism. . . . Highly recommended."
— Choice"Fascinating. . . Nickerson's book is a wonderful contribution to the scholarship on peace history."
— Peace & Change“In these terrible days, with American democracy on the brink of collapse, people keep asking, “What should we do?” To consider the possibilities, you might want to start by reading Michelle Nickerson’s splendid Spiritual Criminals.”
— Equal Writes“Spiritual Criminals tells an interesting and important story.”
— Journal of Church and StateFor legal scholars, Spiritual Criminals has much to offer as a case study of a fascinating trial that illuminates by contrast the sterility and predictability of more routine criminal proceedings. Nickerson is a historian of politics and social movements, whose prior work has examined the role of women in postwar conservative politics, and Spiritual Criminals rests upon the methods of social history. Nickerson draws upon her own interviews with participants, as well as trial transcripts, published memoirs, and an array of archival materials, to construct a riveting but concise narrative. As such, Nickerson delves more briefly than a legal historian might have into the evidentiary doctrines and courtroom procedures that shaped the trial, but she does provide enough legal context to make clear how unusual the trial was in many respects.
— Journal of Law and ReligionTopics
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Frontmatter
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Contents
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Figures
ix -
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Introduction
1 - Part I The Catholic Left
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Introduction
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Chapter One. A Movement within a Movement
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Chapter Two. Civil Disobedience
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Chapter Three. One Big Catholic Movement Family
55 - Part II Exit 4 to Camden
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Introduction
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Chapter Four. Camden Calls the Catholic Left
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Chapter Five. Where’s Bob?
97 - Part III Putting the Vietnam War and the FBI on Trial
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Introduction
121 -
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Chapter Six. Research, Preparations, and Communion
123 -
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Chapter Seven. A Prosecution Disarmed by Loving Kindness
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Chapter Eight. No Guilt, No Apologies
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Chapter Nine. Aftermath and Results
177 -
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Conclusion. Is There Anything Left of the Catholic Left?
197 -
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Acknowledgments
203 -
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Abbreviations
207 -
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Notes
209 -
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Index
247
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 15, 2024
eBook ISBN:
9780226828046
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780226828046
Keywords for this book
Camden 28; Catholic Left; Vietnam War; Vietnam Resistance; John Edgar Hoover; Catholic Imagination; 1960s; radicalism; peace movement
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
