Good's father among the 'Camden 28' in Vietnam War era
In the early morning hours of Aug. 22, 1971, under the cover of darkness, several activists broke into a federal building in Camden, N.J.
The group — a collection of clergy, blue-collar and white-collar workers, and students, all of whom opposed the Vietnam War — was part of a national movement known as the "Catholic Left," and once inside, they began destroying draft documents.
But an informant was in their midst, and FBI agents stormed the building. Twenty-eight people were arrested, including a 22-year-old named Bob Good.
Forty years later, Good, a Rochester resident and father of activist Emily Good, still has vivid memories of the raid.
"There were eight of us that went inside," he said. "Others were on the outside with walkie-talkies. I was inside."
But it was the legal proceeding that followed, which became known as the "Camden 28" trial, that captured national media attention and was seen by many as a referendum on the Vietnam War.
A family torn apart
For Good, joining with the activists was an easy decision. Several years earlier, his brother had lost his life in Vietnam. "He wasn't anti-war, and he wasn't pro-war," said Good, 62. "He was an average kid that worked his way through high school and graduated and wanted to get a car and wanted to get a girlfriend."
The draft notice arrived in 1966, and Paul Good shipped off to war. At that early point in the conflict, there were seemingly no options for those who didn't want to fight. No one thought to flee to Canada, and conscientious objection had yet to enter the mainstream, said Good.
"He was drafted, he was trained, he was sent overseas, and six weeks later he was killed," said Good. "Came back just like that."
The death tore the family apart, said Good. Some, including his mother Elizabeth, felt that Paul had died as a patriot, protecting the country from a communist evil.
Good didn't feel the same way. So when the opportunity arose to join the Catholic Left, he jumped at the chance.
"They weren't going to be out there throwing rocks and bombs, but they weren't just going to stand around with the protest signs," said Good. "They were finding a way to do something that would actually be effective on some level."
Hoping to disrupt the draft process in Camden, the group planned a draft office raid for several months in 1971. But one member of the group was feeling uneasy about breaking the law and contacted the FBI.
The trial
The 1973 trial, chronicled in the 2007 documentary The Camden 28, saw most of the activists defend themselves. Though they were potentially facing more than 40 years in jail, the group collectively rejected a last-minute plea offer from the prosecution that would have greatly reduced their sentence.
The defendants testified one after another, saying that most of the equipment for the raid came from the FBI through the informant, suggesting they may not have been able to accomplish the raid without federal resources.
But the most pivotal point of the trial was the testimony of historian Howard Zinn, said Marty Stolar, a defense lawyer for the Camden 28.
Zinn gave a history of civil disobedience and its importance in the American way of life, and then launched into an analysis of the Pentagon Papers, portions of which had been leaked two years earlier.
As he detailed what he saw as the government's true motives behind the Vietnam War — which repeatedly came back to the acquisition of tin, rubber and oil — a cry began emanating from the courtroom audience.
Elizabeth Good was breaking down.
"It was quite dramatic," said Stolar, 68, who now practices in New York City. "She was shrieking. Now, she understood that her son was lost for nothing — for somebody's greed, not for upholding the American way of life."
Elizabeth Good was the next to take the stand.
"I think if our country is attacked, I don't think there is a boy in the country that wouldn't fight for the defense of it ... All of my boys surely would," she said, according to transcripts of her testimony. "But I don't believe in sending them to these places for tin, rubber and oil."
The jury ultimately dismissed the charges against all 28 activists, citing "outrageous government conduct." The trial became a famous example of jury nullification, and according to the documentary, it was the only time in the country's history that a jury dismissed charges on these grounds. The late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan called it one of the great trials of the 20th century.
"It became a forum about the war, and the jury recognized that," said Bob Good. "In the shorthand version, it was: If you feel that all this was right, and the war was right, and all these lives being lost in vain was right, then convict us.
"But even though we were caught red-handed at 4 in the morning — inside the draft board with files all around us — in the end, the jury came back and found us not guilty on all charges."
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