Letter from Raymond Dellinger to His Son, David Dellinger

Raymond Dellinger wrote his son, David, who was incarcerated in Lewisburg Federal Prison for draft violations. Even a father’s plea could not dissuade his son. David had protested the prison’s censorship policy by engaging in a 64-day hunger strike. A life-long radical pacifist, David was arrested twice during World War II for draft violations, stating that “I am unable to cooperate in any attempt to defend America or democracy through military means,” arguing that such attempts are “productive of greater evils than they seek to overcome.”