Emily Good's father among the 'Camden 28' in Vietnam
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110807/NEWS01/108070330
by Sean Dobbin
8/7/11
In the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 1971, under the cover of
darkness, several activists broke into a federal building in Camden, N.J.
The group a collection of clergy, blue-collar and white-collar
workers, and students, all of whom opposed the Vietnam War was part
of a national movement known as the "Catholic Left," and once inside,
they began destroying draft documents.
But an informant was in their midst, and FBI agents stormed the
building. Twenty-eight people were arrested, including a 22-year-old
named Bob Good.
Forty years later, Good, a Rochester resident and father of activist
Emily Good, still has vivid memories of the raid.
"There were eight of us that went inside," he said. "Others were on
the outside with walkie-talkies. I was inside."
But it was the legal proceeding that followed, which became known as
the "Camden 28" trial, that captured national media attention and was
seen by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War.
A family torn apart
For Good, joining with the activists was an easy decision. Several
years earlier, his brother had lost his life in Vietnam. "He wasn't
anti-war, and he wasn't pro-war," said Good, 62. "He was an average
kid that worked his way through high school and graduated and wanted
to get a car and wanted to get a girlfriend."
The draft notice arrived in 1966, and Paul Good shipped off to war.
At that early point in the conflict, there were seemingly no options
for those who didn't want to fight. No one thought to flee to Canada,
and conscientious objection had yet to enter the mainstream, said Good.
"He was drafted, he was trained, he was sent overseas, and six weeks
later he was killed," said Good. "Came back just like that."
The death tore the family apart, said Good. Some, including his
mother Elizabeth, felt that Paul had died as a patriot, protecting
the country from a communist evil.
Good didn't feel the same way. So when the opportunity arose to join
the Catholic Left, he jumped at the chance.
"They weren't going to be out there throwing rocks and bombs, but
they weren't just going to stand around with the protest signs," said
Good. "They were finding a way to do something that would actually be
effective on some level."
Hoping to disrupt the draft process in Camden, the group planned a
draft office raid for several months in 1971. But one member of the
group was feeling uneasy about breaking the law and contacted the FBI.
The trial
The 1973 trial, chronicled in the 2007 documentary The Camden 28, saw
most of the activists defend themselves. Though they were potentially
facing more than 40 years in jail, the group collectively rejected a
last-minute plea offer from the prosecution that would have greatly
reduced their sentence.
The defendants testified one after another, saying that most of the
equipment for the raid came from the FBI through the informant,
suggesting they may not have been able to accomplish the raid without
federal resources.
But the most pivotal point of the trial was the testimony of
historian Howard Zinn, said Marty Stolar, a defense lawyer for the Camden 28.
Zinn gave a history of civil disobedience and its importance in the
American way of life, and then launched into an analysis of the
Pentagon Papers, portions of which had been leaked two years earlier.
As he detailed what he saw as the government's true motives behind
the Vietnam War which repeatedly came back to the acquisition of
tin, rubber and oil a cry began emanating from the courtroom audience.
Elizabeth Good was breaking down.
"It was quite dramatic," said Stolar, 68, who now practices in New
York City. "She was shrieking. Now, she understood that her son was
lost for nothing for somebody's greed, not for upholding the
American way of life."
Elizabeth Good was the next to take the stand.
"I think if our country is attacked, I don't think there is a boy in
the country that wouldn't fight for the defense of it ... All of my
boys surely would," she said, according to transcripts of her
testimony. "But I don't believe in sending them to these places for
tin, rubber and oil."
The jury ultimately dismissed the charges against all 28 activists,
citing "outrageous government conduct." The trial became a famous
example of jury nullification, and according to the documentary, it
was the only time in the country's history that a jury dismissed
charges on these grounds. The late Supreme Court Justice William
Brennan called it one of the great trials of the 20th century.
"It became a forum about the war, and the jury recognized that," said
Bob Good. "In the shorthand version, it was: If you feel that all
this was right, and the war was right, and all these lives being lost
in vain was right, then convict us.
"But even though we were caught red-handed at 4 in the morning
inside the draft board with files all around us in the end, the
jury came back and found us not guilty on all charges."
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Also, see:
Emily Good: The making of an activist
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20110807/NEWS01/108070334
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