DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Student demonstrations correspondence, 1965 | 1965-11-01 Mrs. Robert F. Acheson to President Howard R. Bowen Page 2

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Student demonstrations correspondence, 1965

1965-11-01 Mrs. Robert F. Acheson to President Howard R. Bowen Page 2

-2-

Certainly we need more angry Americans today who are not "Political-plum eaters," nor parallel and heathenized by fear of certain powers in the Administration or "Communism". 

In regard to J. Edgar Hoover's "blast-off" in yesterday's papers against Civil Disobedience--I doubt if he has read "On The Duty of Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau, nor of such Biblical characters of civil disobedience as Christ, St. Paul and other disciples and followers all down through history. If you have read "Thoreau," you have noted the vital difference in Civil and Criminal Disobedience is in the Civil Disobedient's willingness to accept the punishment for disobeying a law which he believes is contrary to God's law of Love. There comes to every man and nation a time to choose whether to obey man's fallible law or God's perfect law of Love.

As for Hoover's fearful threat of anarchy--I question whether it could be much worse than tyranny and internal decay which seems to have slowly buy surely crept into our government in recent years. The Baker and Billy Sol Estes cases, the Haneyville trials, the mock HUAC Klan investigations which are giving the Klan the "GO" signal for increased terrorism, murder, and slander in our nation; the 20 or more murders of Civil Rights workers, as well as the hundreds of burnings, tortures, beatings, etc., of Negroes which have never been reported are indisputable evidence of corruption in the administration of Justice.
 
Mr dear sir, I must admit I lost my respect for Mr. Hoover when he labeled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a lier. The associations of the FBI with the Southern leaders of HUAC, the bulwark of segregation, does not further engender my respect for the organization. It does bring to mind, however, Hitler's Gestapo and SS troops German not too many years past.

Before me is a letter concerning Dave Mitchell's recent draft trial in Connecticut. It states that he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and $5000 fine. The judge refused to allow him to have a lawyer, refused to accept his brief and railroaded him through court. The ACLU protested that he did not get "Due process of law" and the judge ignored them. He needs $10,000 for appeal. For anyone except a rich man that sum is prohibitive. (Even spys are treated better than that.) Now, if this is a classic example of protection and equality before the law, then either the Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper, or our judicial system is rotten from the top to the bottom. Thomas Jefferson once said that to silence dissent would destroy Democracy. I might add that we should also be suspicious of name-callers because crooked politicians are usually hiding behind their tongues. 

If we all became dedicated and involved in doing good in the world--feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, the fatherless, and those in prison, as the Master commanded, and as Steven has done, we would be living in a better world already. Instead we make wars for profit and economical stablization, and sacrifice our sons on the alter of the heathen god, Mars.

Sincerely your for more Christian-like Justice,

Mrs. Robert F. Acheson

Saving...

-2- Certainly we need more angry Americans today who are not "Political-plum eaters," nor parallel and heathenized by fear of certain powers in the Administration or "Communism". In regard to J. Edgar Hoover's "blast-off" in yesterday's papers against Civil Disobedience--I doubt if he has read "On The Duty of Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau, nor of such Biblical characters of civil disobedience as Christ, St. Paul and other disciples and followers all down through history. If you have read "Thoreau," you have noted the vital difference in Civil and Criminal Disobedience is in the Civil Disobedient's willingness to accept the punishment for disobeying a law which he believes is contrary to God's law of Love. There comes to every man and nation a time to choose whether to obey man's fallible law or God's perfect law of Love. As for Hoover's fearful threat of anarchy--I question whether it could be much worse than tyranny and internal decay which seems to have slowly buy surely crept into our government in recent years. The Baker and Billy Sol Estes cases, the Haneyville trials, the mock HUAC Klan investigations which are giving the Klan the "GO" signal for increased terrorism, murder, and slander in our nation; the 20 or more murders of Civil Rights workers, as well as the hundreds of burnings, tortures, beatings, etc., of Negroes which have never been reported are indisputable evidence of corruption in the administration of Justice. Mr dear sir, I must admit I lost my respect for Mr. Hoover when he labeled Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a lier. The associations of the FBI with the Southern leaders of HUAC, the bulwark of segregation, does not further engender my respect for the organization. It does bring to mind, however, Hitler's Gestapo and SS troops German not too many years past. Before me is a letter concerning Dave Mitchell's recent draft trial in Connecticut. It states that he was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and $5000 fine. The judge refused to allow him to have a lawyer, refused to accept his brief and railroaded him through court. The ACLU protested that he did not get "Due process of law" and the judge ignored them. He needs $10,000 for appeal. For anyone except a rich man that sum is prohibitive. (Even spys are treated better than that.) Now, if this is a classic example of protection and equality before the law, then either the Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper, or our judicial system is rotten from the top to the bottom. Thomas Jefferson once said that to silence dissent would destroy Democracy. I might add that we should also be suspicious of name-callers because crooked politicians are usually hiding behind their tongues. If we all became dedicated and involved in doing good in the world--feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, the fatherless, and those in prison, as the Master commanded, and as Steven has done, we would be living in a better world already. Instead we make wars for profit and economical stablization, and sacrifice our sons on the alter of the heathen god, Mars. Sincerely your for more Christian-like Justice, Mrs. Robert F. Acheson