The Draft: Doctor's Dilemma

Dandling a copy of his bestselling baby book on one knee, Dr. Benjamin Spock, 64, attempted to define himself before the television cameras in his Manhattan apartment. "I'm not a pacifist," declared the man who was once more concerned with diaper rash than diatribes. "I was very much for the war against Hitler and I supported the intervention in Korea. But in this war, we went in to steal Viet Nam." Spock's efforts to foil that imagined attempt at grand larceny led last week to his indictment by a federal Grand Jury on charges that could lead to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Named with the baby doctor for "conspiring to counsel, aid and abet" young men to evade service in the armed forces were four other antiwarriors: Yale University Chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr., 43, long an activist in civil rights and antiwar causes; Brooklyn-born Novelist-Polemicist Mitchell Goodman, 44, who broke up last year's National Book Awards ceremony by shouting "We are burning children in Viet Nam"; former White House Disarmament Aide Marcus Raskin, 33, who now serves as co-director of a Washington research organization; and Michael Ferber, 23, a Harvard graduate student and peace preacher. Of young Ferber's inclusion in the indictment with the better-known older men, one Boston "resistance" member exulted: "This amounts to diplomatic recognition."

"A Time to Say No." The indictment was handed down in Boston, where Justice Department officials say the antidraft "conspiracy" began as part of the October march on the Pentagon.* During a rally at the Arlington Street Church, Coffin collected draft cards, which he later turned over to the Justice Department; Ferber, who helped in the collection, also spoke on "A Time to Say No," urging draft evasion; Goodman, Raskin and Spock lent their names and efforts to sponsoring a nationwide draft-resistance movement, and were among the 2,000 signatories of a manifesto entitled "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority."

The accused "conspirators" appeared delighted with the opportunity to challenge the legitimacy of the war in the courts. "I suppose that the only way it can be tested is if people of some repute are arrested and tried," said Goodman. Coffin, the day before the Pentagon march, urged outright violation of the draft law: "If they are now arrested for failing to comply with the law that violates their consciences, we too must be arrested, for in the sight of that law we are now as guilty as they." When he was not immediately arrested, he called the Government "derelict in its duty." As for Spock, he told the reporters swarming through his East Side apartment that he hoped "100,000, 200,000 or even 500,000 young Americans either refuse to be drafted or to obey orders if in military service."