by Courage to Resist

David Finke is a conscientious objector, military counselor, and lifetime nonviolent activist. After receiving a classification as a CO and deferment during the Vietnam War, he has continued to dedicate his life to helping others through his work addressing conscription, supporting GI resistance, and encouraging counter recruitment.

“That was my heritage, as well as a pretty strong foundation in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. From an early age I considered myself to be a follower of Jesus, a disciple of Christ, a person who took seriously what he taught us in the sermon on the mount, his own example of not forming a violent revolution against his oppressors.”

But it was really a point of pride for those of us who were working within that network, whether on a staff or volunteer, that we were able to say to those who were saying no to the war, “Yes. We will say yes to you. And we will stick with you through this long process. We will go to your court-martials, we will go to your trials. We will help your family come and visit you at Fort Leavenworth, and different brigs.”

This Courage to Resist podcast was produced in collaboration with the Vietnam Full Disclosure effort of Veterans For Peace — “Towards an honest commemoration of the American war in Vietnam.” Last year marked 50 years of GI resistance, in and out of uniform, for many of the courageous individuals featured. Interview and edit by Matthew Breems. Production assistance by Stephanie Atkinson. Jeff Paterson, Executive Producer.

We may have the end of official drafting of people, but there still is what could be called the “economic draft.” An all-volunteer army has people who still feel compelled because that’s who will hire them. That’s who offers them education. “Join the army and see the world.” They leave out the last phrase, “and kill people.””

Organizations discussed:

We need to raise at least $15,000 to produce this two-year-long series of 50+ interviews so that this history is not lost!

David Finke:

Matthew Breems:

In short order, he started serving with the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago as a draft counselor. His years of service helped many avoid, delay, and end their military service.

Good afternoon David, and welcome to the podcast. We are excited to hear your story of activism, a unique one from some of the other guests we’ve had on the podcast. But with all of our guests, we like to get some background information on you as a person. What happened that made you decide to become an activist and a conscientious objector?

David Finke:

So, from age 16 until when I registered for the draft at 18, I began building my file, keeping track of donations I made to peace groups, meetings I went to, marches I was in, books I was reading. So, when I turned 18, I did file my form 150, they called it there, where one has to say on what basis a person is opposed to being a part of the military and what in a person’s life demonstrates their sincerity. I think I filed a pretty good claim and the draft board turned it down, but that really is just the first step. It gives you the opportunity to ask to meet in person with them. So, I had what I’ve always realized is a really fortunate set of circumstances. It turned out that the draft board chairman was a guy for whom I’d been doing babysitting for years.

I lived a block away. And he knew that I never would take a gig on Sunday night because that’s when our youth fellowship was. So he knew of my own religious commitments and sincerity. So while I was still 18 and right before heading to college, I was given the 1-0 classification, which means that you are eligible to be drafted in the same order as somebody called up for military service, but you will be sent to some alternative civilian service “in the national health, safety or interest.”

Another unusual thing that happened to me is that the draft board informally deferred me. They knew I was in college because you have to tell them your address, but I never asked for a student deferment and that’s because I had studied the operation of the draft law pretty closely and I learned that if you ever request or receive a deferment, your eligibility to be drafted extends to age 35. If, however, you don’t ask for or receive a deferment, you become overage at 26. So that’s what happened to me and when I turned 26, I was overage. I sent my draft card back to the Selective Service System. I said, “This is yours. I don’t need it. I will no longer cooperate with you.”

Matthew Breems:

David Finke:

One of our programs was to provide draft counseling. What started out being two or three people a week coming into the office when I was hired in the fall of 1967, soon became a real flood. And there were dozens of people. And we realized that even renting two more offices wasn’t going to be enough. So my program associate at that point went to work in establishing a network of community-based counseling centers. And after a year, we had about 30 of them that we could send people to. We also worked on providing training for an ever enlarging group of volunteer draft counselors. Now, running parallel to that of helping people try to get what they were entitled to within the legal draft system, was those whose objection wasn’t just to serving in the military, but to the whole conscription system, and who became variously called non-cooperators, draft resisters, draft card burners.

And when I was hired, then by AFSC to be their peace secretary, we already were beginning a relationship with CADRE [Chicago Area Draft Resisters]. It was… it’d take a couple more hours to talk about all the things we did together, but it was very constructive. And I think that the Quaker presence helped make CADRE a nationwide leader in that movement being predominantly non-violent, rather than training people in methods of sabotage with military or whatever. A parallel line of development, and this may connect with a lot of your audience, was those who were in the military already. And the atrocity and atrocities of Vietnam were saying, “No, I’m not going to do this.” But there was emergence of the group called the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. There were active duty people. During those years of the late sixties and early seventies, there were an awful lot of folks who simply split from the military, went AWOL or what the Navy calls UA, unauthorized absence, and found their way to various Quakers.

So some of those folks came to CADRE. Some came to our office. We had an informal network and the statute of limitations has long run on this, so I can be a little more explicit. There were people who were willing to put up AWOL G.I.s in their home or drive them to medical appointments or to help turn themselves in at one of the military bases to start their discharge process.

There were those who took up a collection and they slipped envelopes with cash under my door. Fund X to give some, some spending money to people who were on the lam. There were those who were on their way to Canada, and we would put them in touch with Canadian war resisters. Just a lot of different circumstances and a lot of different remedies. But it was really a point of pride for those of us who were working within that network, whether on a staff or volunteer, that we were able to say to those who were saying no to the war, “Yes. We will say yes to you. And we will stick with you through this long process. We will go to your court-martials, we will go to your trials. We will help your family come and visit you at Fort Leavenworth, and different brigs.”

Matthew Breems:

David Finke:

Matthew Breems:

David Finke:

We had a relation with some military resisters who were in Fort Leavenworth or other military brigs. The next chapter that I could talk about is what I did professionally after that. And I, and two other guys that I’d met through the draft refusers support group, joined what was called Omega Graphics. And Bob Freeston, one of the original draft card burners, said, “I’d like somebody to take over the shop, keep up the a tradition of serving social change movements, and I will stick around for six months and train you.” By apprenticeship, three of us learned the printing craft from Bob Freeston and kept that shop going. So from that point until 2014, I was a one man print shop and enjoyed telling people about its origins in the draft resistance movement. Because Omega Graphics was printing the leaflets that CADRE people were handing out at the induction center every morning as people came in for their physical. And if they pass to be sworn into the military.

Matthew Breems:

David Finke:

So to be able to give financial support for that is something that I urge. Center for Conscience and War. Becoming trained as a counselor is something one can offer to do it’s a lengthy process, but it certainly is useful. Working to abolish the draft is something that Center for Conscience and War will help people do. The other is to look at the resources of my old employer, the American Friends Service Committee. Their program, Youth and Militarism, for years has been producing a good material for what we will call counter-recruitment. Those are all ongoing efforts that are not as well funded as they ought to be and can use a lot of volunteer help at the local level. Joining up with people nationally and locally who have a concern about not plunging into war again and having constructive alternatives that one looks for at the international level and a community level.

Matthew Breems:

David Finke:

Matthew Breems:

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