BENSKY WITH DAVID HARRIS

ON THIS VETERANS DAY, IT’S ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER — AND HONOR — A DIFFERENT GROUP OF HEROES HERE ON PACIFICA RADIO. INDEED, PACIFICA RADIO WAS FOUNDED IN THE 1940’S BY PEOPLE WHO OPPOSED WAR SO VEHEMENTLY THAT THEY REFUSED TO BE PART OF ANY MILITARY ACTIVITY...EVEN SO-CALLED "JUST WARS" LIKE THE SECOND WORLD WAR. TWO DECADES LATER, WITH THE EXAMPLE OF WORLD WAR TWO’S CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS AS PART OF THEIR INSPIRATION, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YOUNG AMERICANS REFUSED TO SERVE IN THE VIETNAM CONFLICT. ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN DRAFT RESISTORS OF THAT ERA WAS DAVID HARRIS...A CALIFORNIA NATIVE WHO HAD BEEN NAMED "BOY OF THE YEAR" IN HIS FRESNO HIGH SCHOOL, AND WAS THEN ELECTED STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT AT STANFORD. MOST VIETNAM ERA DRAFT RESISTORS AVOIDED PROSECUTION, BUT THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TRIED TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF DAVID HARRIS, TO DISCOURAGE OTHERS FROM FOLLOWING HIS LEAD. HARRIS WAS CONVICTED OF VIOLATING DRAFT LAWS, AND SPENT NEARLY TWO YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON. SINCE THEN, HE’S BECOME A WIDELY PUBLISHED WRITER. HIS LATEST BOOK IS CALLED "OUR WAR: WHAT WE DID IN VIETNAM...AND WHAT IT DID TO US." HE SPOKE RECENTLY WITH PACIFICA NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT LARRY BENSKY.