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Felon for Peace: The Memoir of a Vietnam-Era Draft Resister, by Jerry Elmer
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When Jerry Elmer turned eighteen at the height of the Vietnam War, he publicly refused to register for the draft, a felony then and now. Later he burglarized the offices of fourteen draft boards in three cities, destroying the files of men eligible to be drafted. After working almost twenty years in the peace movement, he attended law school, where he was the only convicted felon in Harvard's class of 1990.
This book is a blend of personal memoir, contemporary history, and astute political analysis. Elmer draws on a variety of sources, including never-before-released FBI files, and argues passionately for the practice of nonviolence. He describes the range of actions he took—from draft card burning to organizing draft board raids with Father Phil Berrigan; from vigils on the Capitol steps inside "tiger cages" used to torture Vietnamese political prisoners to jail time for protesting nuclear power plants; from a tour of the killing fields of Cambodia to meetings with Corazon Aquino in the Philippines.
A Vietnamese-language edition of Felon for Peace has also been published.
- Sales Rank: #1671390 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Vanderbilt University Press
- Published on: 2005-09-09
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.04" h x .72" w x 6.10" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 280 pages
Features
- Used Book in Good Condition
Review
"This is a timely book, to help us reflect on what we should have learned from Vietnam and to bring back those counselors we too quickly set aside with the draft. Young people today need to know they have choices, and that protest can take many forms."
—Providence Sunday Journal
". . . Elmer's daring exploits in the cause of peace and his trenchant observations about the background, foreground, and aftermath of the Vietnam-Era will provide entertaining and provocative reading for both those who lived through that period as well as those who came after but wish to know about a watershed period of modern American history that continues to influence national policy and personal responses to it."
—Rhode Island Bar Journal
"Jerry Elmer's story is not only a fascinating memoir, but a thoughtful discussion of the most important issue of our time: can society's addiction to war be replaced by nonviolent direct action as a means for achieving a just and peaceful world?"
—Howard Zinn, historian
"Jerry Elmer's story spans the breadth of nonviolent direct action during the Vietnam War and after. A new generation of activists in the peace and global justice movements now emerging will want to read this book to reflect on the tactical and strategic choices open to us today."
—Mark Rudd, last National Secretary of SDS and a co-founder of the Weather Underground
"Elmer's account of the paths he took, the reasons for them, the disappointments and achievements, the dilemmas and hard decisions, reaches well beyond the fascinating story of one courageous and honorable person. It also provides penetrating insights into the goals, principles, and tactical choices of the nonviolent activist, and the lessons they can teach to a troubled and dangerous world."
—Noam Chomsky
From the Publisher
A Vietnamese-language edition of FELON FOR PEACE will be published later this year.
About the Author
Jerry Elmer currently practices commercial litigation in Providence, RI.
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
A crucial work
By Joseph Tropea
Memoirs are a mixed-bag. Some, like Bill Ayer's Fugitive Days are filled with pages of anecdotes and passion. They're endlessly interesting and entertaining, but may leave the reader feeling more like they've just read a novel rather than a memoir (read: history). They may even leave the reader with more questions than answers--not necessarily a bad thing. With Felon for Peace, Jerry Elmer has offered an analytical work that manages to be highly personal, entertaining, and informative. It leaves the reader with a perhaps more useful set of questions.
Elmer is a fearless writer: He takes on antiwar movement/scholar heavyweights like DeBenedetti and is not afraid to criticize his fellow activists. And he does not hesitant to criticize himself or admit when his own thinking was flawed.
Felon for Peace is an important work, as historians interested in the Vietnam War era well know--activists from the period need to offer up their versions of their history. They would do well to use Elmer's work as model (or inspiration). And despite that it lacks foot- or endnotes, any class on American history, peace studies, or activism would be better for using this excellent text.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Power of Direct Action
By Alan Mills
This is a wonderful exposition of the power of direct action to effect social change. Mr. Elmer does a great job of showing how a typical, suburban, middle class kid can end up burning draft records and sitting in a tiger cage for the summer on the capital steps. He makes a convncing case for the efficacy of direct action for those closed out of the political process. In effect, while very few decision makers will directly change their position because of sit-ins, protests, hunger strikes,etc., they have the power to change public opinion. As he explains, 10,000 young people may not have had the votes to elect anyone, and certainly didn't have the money to play politics in the usual way of making campaigndonations, etc., what they did have was the power to show that the only way to fight the Vietnam war was to send tens of thousands of middle class kids to jail--something thqt this country ultimately was not willing to do (at least, given the reality on the ground created by the Vietnamese themselves, and the international climate).
Where Elmer over sells his case is in arguing that non-violence is always an appropriate (and seems to argue that it is always the best tactic). It is hard to believe that this would ever work in a society such as Somalia, iraq, Cambodia (under the Khmer rouge), etc. It is one thing to ask masses of people to risk a short (or even long) jail sentenceas the price of civil disobedience, It is quite another when the price is immediate death, and the torture/murder of one's entire family. In other words, civil disobedience assumes a certain level of commitment to law and openness which simply is not present in all societies at all times.
One final criticism--Elmer confuseses non-violence as a tactic for mass mobilization with pacificism as a way of life. While the civil rights movement certainly won great victories using nonviolent protest as a mass protest strategy, it is unclear that those demonstrations would have been possible but for a committed core of people who were commited to self-defense--including resort to violence. The civil rights workers we all know about--certainly including Dr. Martin luther King, Jr., himself, were constantly protected during the most dangerous days of the movement by body guards. Especialy in the deep south, it is not at all clear that anyone would have surived long enough to lead a voter registration drive without the armed protection of men with guns. Certainly, it was the risk of outright war that motivated the federal government to intervene.
One must ask, reading Elmer's account, where today's activists are. Is there a cause today for which you would be willing to defy the wrath of the entire federal government and spend years in prison?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Ethics in Action
By Selena Maranjian
I've long known that during the '60s and '70s there were many protests against the Vietnam War. But my knowledge, I confess, didn't go much beyond that. Thanks to this entertaining and informative book, my embarrassing ignorance has been greatly reduced.
Elmer's book opened my eyes to the many forms that protests took, such as the destruction of records at draft boards across the country. I also learned about the kinds of personalities involved in protest actions, and about their motivations and philosophies. Those who called themselves pacifists varied in their views. When it came time to issue statements to the press and public, words were chosen carefully. Participants in covert actions didn't always agree on whether and how to reveal what they'd done.
The book raises many questions I'd never thought about, such as whether destroying draft records is a violent act, and many questions I haven't thought about enough, such as why so many people who feel strongly about something fail to take action. Elmer ties his experiences in with other pacifist movements, such as Gandhi's, and explores ethical issues in a very accessible way.
This is a personal history book that's well worth reading. Elmer faced many tough questions and decisions in his life and took many risks in the service of humanity. The book is inspirational and often moving. When Elmer was being interviewed as he applied for a license to practice law in Rhode Island (and legitimately worried that he might be rejected due to his "criminal" past), his interviewer said, "My brother was classified 1-A when you [destroyed draft files in Providence]. You probably saved his life. I've been waiting 20 years to thank you. You're approved."
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