THEPACIFIS

STDIVISIONMen of the Civilian Public Service didnt fight the enemy.

But their war was still a strugglewith hostile neighbors,

thankless tasks, and high-risk assignments.

by Robert Gabrick and Barbara Markham

ALL IM

AGES THIS STO

RY (UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

):AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE: CIVILIAN PUBLIC SERVICE REC

ORDS, SW

ARTHMORE COLLEG

E PEACE COLLEC

TION, SWARTHMORE, PA

THE PACIFIST DIVISION by Robert Gabrick and Barbara Markham

34 AMERICA IN WWII APRIL 2014

Public reaction was severe. The US Army refused to show hisfilms. So did some local cinemas. Where his films did show, therewere protests. Ayres was a pariah, even though he served in theCivilian Public Service (CPS) program and as an army medic onbattlefields in the Pacific, donating his military pay to theAmerican Red Cross.While many men of what newsman Tom Brokaw called the

Greatest Generation fought World War II in Europe, in thePacific, and elsewhere, Ayres and his fellow conscientious objec-tors fought a different war, a war on the battleground of con-science. Theirs was a battle against the Good War.

A Tough Time to Say NoAMERICAS FIRST PEACETIME DRAFT began in October 1940. Of the34,506,923 men who registered between then and theend of the war, 72,354one-fifth of onepercentapplied for conscien-tious objector (CO) status.About 27,000 of those COs failedthe physical and were classifiedIV-F (also written 4-F, physically,mentally, or morally unfit for serv-ice). About 25,000 requested non-combatant military service and wereclassified I-A-O (1-A-O, conscien-tious objectors eligible for militaryservice in noncombatant role). Otherswere rated IV-E (4-E, conscientiousobjectors available only for civilianwork of national importance) or IV-E-LS(4-E-LS, conscientious objectors avail-able for limited civilian work of nationalimportance). Some 6,000 men went to prison for refusing allforms of service.Conscientious objection to combat service wasnt anything

new. The US Constitution enshrined freedom of belief and speechas fundamental rights, weaving tolerance of dissent into the veryfabric of the American system of government. US AttorneyGeneral Francis A. Biddle was no pacifist, but he spoke out touphold the Constitutions guarantees:Freedom of conscience is a foundation stone of our democ-

racy. Consequently, we must respect the attitude of those per-sons who honestly and sincerely, on conscientious grounds basedon religious training and belief, object to participation in war.The fact that such persons form but a small minority of our cit-izenry and that we disagree with their position does not affectour obligation to recognize and respect their convictions.None of this changed the fact that saying no in a time of nation-

al emergency was unpopular. It rankled Americans who were goingto war themselves or sending loved ones off to fight. MajorGeneral Lewis F. Hershey, national director of the US SelectiveService System, which managed the draft, acknowledged this.Few question the patriotism of the honest conscientious objec-

tor, he said. [But] because his patriotismis different from that of the majority ofhis fellows, it is not always understood.

Hersheys remarks were an under-statement. Many Americans openlyscorned conscientious objectors, call-ing them conchies. Others wereharsher, using the terms yellowbel-lies or skunks, and even threat-ening them with violence.

Conscientious objector CharlesJehnzen described the contempt aspathetic. His wife couldnt findwork after somebody found outshe was a wife of a Conchie, hesaid. Once, when he entered a

restaurant, everybody got up and left.Just as the last man went out the door, [the waitress] threw

hot coffee right in my face.

Finding Other Ways to ServeJUST BECAUSE A MAN WAS a conscientious objector didnt necessar-ily mean he wouldnt serve at all. The Selective Training andService Act of 1940 provided for objectors to be assigned towork of national importance under civilian direction:Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to require

any person to be subject to combatant training and service in theland or naval forces of the United States who, by reason of reli-gious training and belief, is conscientiously opposed to participa-

Previous spread: Young faces and a dog grin at Civilian Public Service (CPS) Camp No. 23, Coshocton, Ohio. CPS gave conscientious objectors(COs) civilian work of national importance in lieu of combat, non-combat military duty, or war work. Most Americans disdained COs.Above: Pacifism blunted actor Lew Ayress career. The star of 1938s Young Dr. Kildare served as a medic but was branded a draft dodger.

L EW AYRES WAS A SILVER SCREEN IDOLFOR THE MOMENT. Cast as Dr. James Jimmy Kildare in MGMs 1938 boxoffice hit Young Dr. Kildare, the handsome 30-year-old turned the role into a franchise. By 1942, he had starredin nine Dr. Kildare movies. But that year, as America mobilized for war after Japans December 1941 attack onPearl Harbor, Ayres plummeted from grace. The reason? He was a pacifist. To bear arms, he said, would be to live ina nightmare of hypocrisy.

tion in war in any form. Any such personclaiming such exemption from combatanttraining and service because of such consci-entious objections whose claim is sustainedby the local board shall, if he is inducted,be assigned to noncombatant service asdefined by the President or shall, if he isfound to be conscientiously opposed to par-ticipation in such noncombatant service,be assigned to work of national importanceunder civilian direction.

A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WAS REQUIRED to register for thedraft, complete a questionnaire, and have his request for IV-E status ruled on by his local draft board. (There were morethan 6,700 draft boards across the United States.) Records kept bythe Southern Baptist Church, many of whose members were con-scientious objectors, indicate that about 10,000 American menreceived IV-E status, to be assigned civilian work, and an estimat-ed 75,000 others were classified as I-A-O, to be assigned non-combatant duty in the military. Some pacifists refused even to reg-ister for the draft. They served time in prison, as did men whorefused military service after being denied IV-E classification.Responding to the Selective Training and Service Acts provi-

APRIL 2014 AMERICA IN WWII 35

sion that IV-E objectors be assigned workof national importance under civilian direc-tion, 35 religious groups created a jointagency to develop opportunities for suchassignments. Headquartered in Washington,DC, the National Service Board for Reli-gious Objectors established and financedthe Civilian Public Service program. Nearly12,000 conscientious objectors worked inmore than 150 CPS camps.

Camps of Conscience and CultureTHE FIRST CPS CAMP, Camp Patapsco, near Baltimore, Maryland,opened on May 15, 1941. Like many of the camps that followed,it was a former facility of the Civilian Conservation Corps, thefederal public works program that focused on conserving naturalresources. Each camp was administered by one of the CPSs spon-soring religious organizations: the American Friends Service Com-mittee, the Brethren Service Committee, the Association of CatholicConscientious Objectors, the Commission on World Peace of theMethodist Church, or the Mennonite Central Committee.The government provided virtually no funding or material

assistance for the CPS programonly the abandoned CCC facili-ties, some equipment, and transportation of assignees to their

Top: Contrary to public perception, CPS wasnt always safer than war. These men of Unit No. 149 are battling an August 1940 fire at GooseCreek in Idaho. Above, center: CPS wasnt free, either. COs paid high fees, and camps were run by churches, which struggled to raise funds.

This American Friends Service Committee certificate documents a $10 gift to CPS. For pacifists, such certificates were an alternative to war bonds.

camps. The CPS conscientious objectors received no pay and pro-vided their own clothing and personal supplies. To help them, thethree historic peace churchesBrethren, Friends, and Menno-nitesagreed to support all conscientious objectors, regardlessof religious affiliation. Their pledge was generous, consideringthat 167 distinct church or religious communities had members inthe CPS.Other religious organizations raised funds to

cover the monthly $35 fee (more than $560in 2014 dollars) that each CPS assignee hadto pay, plus monthly allowances of up to $15per man (more than $240 in 2014 dollars) forfood, medical care, and other expenses.During the programs six years, religiousorganizations raised more than $7 million(more than $112 million in 2014 dollars).

INSIDE THE REMOTE CPS CAMPS lived across-section of American pacifism, in-cluding a disproportionate number of lit-erary and cultural luminaries. These menshined bright in their camp newsletters.Mimeographed pages full of camp news,opinions of camp life, and ruminations on thelarger issues of the battleground of consciencewere the typical fare for these publications.But the best featured sophisticated artisticand literary content.This was especially true at Brethren-admin-

istered Camp Angel at Waldport, Oregon,where a CO-run school of the arts drew aconcentration of writers, musicians, and visu-al artists, some of whom transferred in fromother camps. Camp Angel included among itsinmates the poet William Everson; WilliamStafford, a future poet laureate of Oregon; andbook designer Adrian Wilson, a futureMacArthur Foundation genius grant recipi-ent. They and others wrote, designed, andcrafted the literary magazine The Illiterati andprinted poetry chapbooks under their ownUntide Press imprint. In 1944, Everson pub-lished War Elegies, a booklet of poetry featur-ing modernistic linoleum block print illustrations. The WaldportPoems, also published by Everson that year, featured a series ofpoems as a testament to the integrity of which the history ofpacifism is full.After the war, Everson and other Camp Angel alumni would

settle in and around San Francisco, helping spawn the avant-gardecultural explosion known as the San Francisco Renaissance. That

movement would influence the poetry and literature of the BeatGeneration and have a far-reaching impact on American arts andculture in the 1960s and beyond.

Work Important to the NationIN CPS CAMPS, INCLUDING CAMP ANGEL, IV-E objectors fulfilled

their service requirement by doing tasks for governmentagencies. They fought fires, planted trees, built roads, andconducted experimental forestry for the US Forest Service.Others worked with the Soil Conservation Service, stop-ping erosion, planting trees, and packing and shippingtrees for replanting. The National Park Service put objec-tors to work painting signs and improving the appear-ance and facilities of its parks. COs also worked on thePennsylvania Turnpike and for the US Fish andWildlife Service.

After 90 days of service, CPS assignees became eli-gible for special projects. These could includework on dairy farms, or with state dairy herdimprovement associations, testing milk and cat-tle. Other special projects focused on creatingmedical and recreational facilities, communitycenters, and libraries in the Virgin Islands andPuerto Rico, or helping control hookworm (anintestinal parasite that targets humans andother mammals) in Florida. There were oppor-tunities with the US Coast and Geodetic Surveyand the US Department of Commerce. Hun-dreds of CPS men became smokejumpersfire-fighters who parachuted into forest locationsaccessible only from above. The smokejumperswere popular subjects for media coverage, per-haps because the risk of their work resembled

the risk of military service.

Other Extremes of ServiceNOT ALL THE WORK IV-E OBJECTORS were given wasfree from dangerthe smokejumpers proved that. Butsome COs work was downright grim, even controver-sial. An assignment to work in a mental hospital couldbe especially harrowing. Nothing prepared assigneesfor the horrors they witnessed there. Asa Watkins, serv-ing in a Virginia mental hospital, reported tending to aseverely bleeding man lying on the floor: His skin just

stuck to the floor and when I tried to lift him up it just peeled hisskin off.Conscientious objector Merlin Taber was assigned to the

Philadelphia State Hospital at Byberry in Northeast Philadelphia.More than 6,000 patients, male and female, black and white, werehoused in the approximately 50 buildings of this psychiatric facili-

36 AMERICA IN WWII APRIL 2014

THE PACIFIST DIVISION by Robert Gabrick and Barbara Markham

Above: The CPS had a high concentration of writers, poets, and artists, and nowhere higher than at Camp Angel in Waldport, Oregon. Inaddition to fighting fires or doing other forest work, inmates published literature, produced plays, and more. One artist was poet William Everson,who published War Elegies and The Waldport Poems through the camps Untide Press, which also published The Illiterati, a literary magazine.

Opposite, top: A CPS smokejumper stitches a chute harness. Opposite, center: CPS men work on a forest service project in May 1942.

in November 1944, conscientious objec-tors moved onto the Minneapolis cam-pus of the University of Minnesota. Inthe south tower of the football stadium,Dr. Ancel Keys started an experiment thatwould, as the university publication

Research and Relief described it, starve andstudy thirty-six human guinea pigs. While

being fed just two meals a day totaling 1,700 calo-ries, the men in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment

exercised enough to burn twice that. It was grueling. In gen-eral we felt like pretty old men, CO Bill Anderson recalled. Hedescribed his legs as wasting awayburnt up. In 1950 Keysreleased a report that detailed his conclusions about starvation andits physiological, mental, and functional effects.

The Continuing Battle for IntegrityFROM THE CIVILIAN PUBLIC SERVICE programs outset, some con-scientious objectors wrestled with the reality of the programs con-nections with the military. Sometimes what concerned them mostwas failing to further the pacifist cause. In 1943, two CPS menwent on a nearly two-month hunger strike to protest conscriptionand war and, as fellow CPS assignee Paton Price put it, drama-tize the need for workworthy of the social and moral needs ofman, and to stir the pacifist movement out of its lethargy.After the war ended, CPS assignees grew increasingly restless as

they remained obligated to public service. By 1946, some COs

ty. As many as 250 male patients wereconfined in the CPS unit where Taberworked, a unit he described as violent. It was an unpleasant job, Taber

recalled. It was difficult to manage theseguys. They were very unpredictable.Some of them managed to hang on to a pieceof metal and then attack us or other patients.Good did come out of the difficult work and

conditions. In Virginia and elsewhere, CPS workersphotographed and documented abuses, then notified thepress and testified at hearings. The result was significantimprovements at state mental hospitals. For Taber, CPS serviceled to a postwar career developing better mental health servic-es as a professor in the School of Social Work at the Universityof Illinois at Urbana, Champaign.

Human Guinea PigsTHE BEST KNOWN CPS PROGRAMSand the ones most covered by thenews mediawere those in which COs volunteered as guinea pigs.Some men wore lice-infested clothes to help find ways to controltyphus. Others fasted and drank seawater to provide clues to help-ing those lost at sea. Some spent hours in pressure tanks to docu-ment the physical effects of high altitude. Others were subjects instudies on malaria, pneumonia, influenza, hepatitis, and jaundice.The challenge of feeding the malnourished in war-devastated

areas led to one of the most highly publicized experiments. Starting

APRIL 2014 AMERICA IN WWII 37

For a CPS man to become a US Forest Service smokejumper, he had totrain as both a firefighter and a parachutist. Smokejumpers dropped down

into forest fires to attack blazes from the insidea task that had somerisks in common with military combat.

were decrying the rules, regulations, and lack of pay, and theirprotests became more political. At camps in Glendora, California,and Big Flats, New York, officials arrested men who refused towork, charging those at Big Flats with refusing to obey ordersand causing a breakdown in discipline and morale in camp.The Workers Defense League, a national labor advocacy group,

opposed the arrests in a pamphlet that labeled CPS facilitiesAmericas Concentration Camps and the work done in themslave labor. But that wasnt the prevailing viewpoint of theAmerican public. The men at Glendora are where they are by anact of grace of the peoples congress, which could have as well

declared them outside the law and subject to long imprisonment,read a letter to the editor printed in one newspaper, a letter thatreflected popular opinion. That is why the peoples favor shouldnot be returned in the manner it is being returned.It all finally ended in early 1947, when the CPS camps closed.

Life and Reflection after the WarALLIED WAR AIMS IN WORLD WAR II had focused on halting theAxis powers and stopping their violations of human rights. Latein the war, as horrific details of Adolf Hitlers Final Solutionreached America, the news tested conscientious objectors ideal-ism. Merlin Taber grappled with the relevance of pacifism whenhis brother, a photographer traveling with American forces inEurope, showed him photos of a camp GIs had liberated. Thatwas my first exposure to what the death camps were, he said.When I looked at these pictures, I thought, Shouldnt I havehelped to fight the Nazis who did this? My World War II experi-

ence affected the rest of my life. [It] was making me ask myself,Am I really a conscientious objector? Am I, am I really a pacifist?My reflection and reading led me to believe that I am a pacifist,partly on religious grounds and partly on the grounds that humanlife is sacred [and] that war is self-defeating.

POSTWAR TESTIMONIES FROM conscientious objectors suggestthat most took their stand against military service neither tobe glorified nor vilified. For some of them, wartime experi-ences led to postwar religious advocacy or service professions.Others participated in later crusades for civil rights and pacifism.

And Lew Ayres, whose beliefs on non-violence had led him toserve as a combat medic? He had risked his Hollywood career forhis beliefs. Now, with war behind him, he went on to make morefilms, work in television and radio, and produce religious docu-mentaries. His celebrity never regained its prewar luster, but hewon acclaim for playing kindly Dr. Robert Richardson in 1948sJohnny Belinda (for which he earned an Academy Award nomina-tion) and the incorruptible vice president in 1962s Advise andConsent. It was a case of art imitating life. The characters, likeAyres himself, were men of conviction who fought on the battle-ground of conscience.A

ROBERT GABRICK, a contributing editor of America in WWII,divides his time among Wisconsin, Delaware, and California. Heand BARBARA MARKHAM of Wilmington, Delaware, co-authoredan article in our August 2006 issue on letters that families of fallenservicemen sent to the president.

THE PACIFIST DIVISION by Robert Gabrick and Barbara Markham

APRIL 2014 AMERICA IN WWII 39

Above, left: A member of Unit No. 49one of some 1,400 CPS mental health workersbathes a Philadelphia State Hospital patient in 1943.After the war, CPS men exposed inhumane conditions in mental institutions. Above, right: CPS menlike these chatting at a campwere ordi-nary young men. Conscience kept them from joining their peers on battlefields overseas, but subjected them to battles of another kind at home.