Friday, May 19, 1972
Spock, Coffin, 148 Go To Jail For Antiwar Sit-In At Capitol
Antiwar activist Dr. Benjamin Spock and Yale Chaplain William Sloan Coffin were among 150 persons arrested in Washington Tuesday when they refused to end a sit-in at the Capitol Rotunda.The demonstrators from Clergy and Laymen Concerned said they were protesting in part the Senate's passage of a measure amendment.A police captain told the group they were violating the law by refusing to leave after the 4:30 p.m. closing time. They stayed and sang hymns and were then arrested peacefully.At the Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Mass., more than 100 persons were arrested, bringing to 1,200 the number seized during 17 demonstrations at the base in about four weeks.Tuesday's demonstrators primarily came from the five colleges in the area -University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and Hampshire.Amherst President John William Ward, who was himself arrested during a protest at the base last week, called on the demonstrators to set up a fund to help the city pay for arresting them.In New York City, about 15 students from Union Theological Seminary held a sit-in at the offices of the Episcopal Military Bishop, urging that armed forces chaplains be put under civilian instead of military control."Spock, Coffin, 148 Go to Jail For Antiwar Sit-In at Capitol", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes Friday, May 19, 1972 and reprinted from European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.