Today in history

December 12

1916
Dr. Ben Reitman was arrested in Cleveland for organizing volunteers to distribute birth control information at an Emma Goldman lecture on birth control. He was sentenced to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, plus court costs.

1958
Reverend Maurice McCrackin sentenced to 6 months for war tax resistance.

1969
The Philippine Civic Action Group, a 1,350-man contingent from the Army of the Philippines, left South Vietnam. The contingent was part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist allies for the United States and South Vietnam, similar to President George Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” in Iraq.

1983
Seventy people were arrested in Boston outside a hotel where a “New Trends in Missiles” trade conference was being held. Inside the hotel, over 1,000 cockroaches are let loose to symbolize the likely survivors of nuclear war.

1986
Plowshares activists disarmed Pershing missile launcher, West Germany. In a statement of intent the four said, “With awareness of our responsibility we understand that we are the ones who make the arms race possible by not trying to stop it.”