Draft Resisters Act

In early October the DRU voted to sit-in at the local draft board, and two members announced they’d burn their draft cards the day of the event. Herbert Gutowsky, Chemistry Department head, met with SDS and CEWV leaders on their Dow plans, advising a responsible approach. On the day of the sit-in, university faculty held a teach-in, Steve Schmidt and Rick Soderstrom burned their draft cards on the patio of the Union, and hundreds marched to the draft board, where ten protesters were arrested for sitting in. That evening, before Staughton Lynd spoke, bail money was collected for those in jail.

Fall ’67: A Hectic Beginning

News broadcasts in summer 1967 were filled scenes of riots, burning cities, and National Guard troops. The peaceful civil rights movement had morphed into a demand for black power. Death totals were rising in Vietnam as the war intensified and became the central focus of the student movement. As the semester began, President Henry handed off Urbana campus management to Jack W. Peltason, the new chancellor. Millet announced looser women’s dorm rules, Steve Schmidt announced the opening of the Red Herring coffee shop, and Berkey, Durrett, and Fein, the primary campus-movement leaders, announced that SFS was disbanded--just as the Draft Resisters Union formed.

Opposition to the War

While most Kentuckians supported the US entry into the war, some dissent arose. Most notably, influential Southern Baptist pastor H. Boyce Taylor from Murray objected strenuously to the war, prompting investigations by the Kentucky Council of Defense and the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation (BI). Taylor eventually backed down and avoided jail. Another notable case involved three German American men from northern Kentucky (most prominently Charles B. Schoberg) who allegedly made pro-German comments and were prosecuted by federal authorities for sedition and spent time in federal prison. The BI investigated and successfully prosecuted other cases throughout the state, including Holiness Church preachers who opposed war in general and alleged subversion by African Americans. Although a few cases of draft resistance occurred, the number of draft resisters in Kentucky was much lower than in many southern states.