The Camden 28

The Camden 28
Participant in the Opposition to the Vietnam War
FBI surveillance photo of three of the Camden 28 lurking outside the draft board offices in the morning hours of August 22, 1971.
Active	1971
Ideology	Anti-war Catholic leftism
Area of operations	Camden, New Jersey
Strength	28
Opponents	The US Draft board The FBI

The Camden 28 were a group of "Catholic left" anti-Vietnam War activists who in 1971 planned and executed a raid on a Camden, New Jersey draft board. The raid resulted in a high-profile criminal trial of the activists that was seen by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War and as an example of successful use of jury nullification.

The goal of the group was to make a bold statement in opposition to the war in Vietnam by way of sabotaging the portion of the draft process that was administered through the local draft board in Camden. Their plan was to break into the draft board offices at night and search for, collect, and either destroy or remove the records of all Class 1-A status draft registrants. It was to be both a symbolic and real blow to the process through which tens of thousands of young American men were being drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam.

They wrote in a statement before trial:

We are twenty-eight men and women who, together with other resisters across the country, are trying with our lives to say “no” to the madness we see perpetrated by our government in the name of the American people – the madness of our Vietnam policy, of the arms race, of our neglected cities and inhuman prisons. We do not believe that it is criminal to destroy pieces of paper which are used to bind men to involuntary servitude, which train these men to kill, and which send them to possibly die in an unjust, immoral, and illegal war. We stand for life and freedom and the building of communities of true friendship. We will continue to speak out and act for peace and justice, knowing that our spirit of resistance cannot be jailed or broken.

Not all of the group's members were students or "hippies," the stereotypical anti-Vietnam War activists. The mostly Catholic group also included four priests and a Protestant minister, people working in education or legal and social services, veterans, and middle-aged parents. One notable member was Frank Pommersheim. Members of the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI were also involved.