This week on From the Vault we pay tribute to one of the great icons of the peace movement, Father Daniel Berrigan, who died on April 30th, 2015 at the age of 94. Ordained as a Catholic priest in 1952, Berrigan leveraged his position in the Church to become a leading figure in the anti-war movement during the late 1960's; as one of 'Catonsville Nine,' a group of Catholic activists who burned draft cards, Berrigan was found guilty of destruction of government property and ultimately sent to federal prison. In 1980, he founded the Plowshares Movement, an anti-nuclear protest group whose tactics included breaking into production facilities and physically damaging nuclear missile components. In his later years, Berrigan devoted himself to helping AIDS patients in New York City.
From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project, funded in part by an award from the GRAMMY Foundation and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission at the National Archives and Records Administration, and past grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, and the American Archive funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, along with the generous support of Pacifica Radio Listeners. We also thank our partners and collaborators at the Pop-Up Archive, Amara, Other Minds Archives, George Blood Audio, and the California Audio Visual Preservation Project.