Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 20. Oktober 2005 / Time Line October 20, 2005
Version 3.519. Oktober 2005, 21. Oktober 2005
10/20/2005
An Interview with Rev. William Sloane Coffin
"None of Us Have the Right to Avert Our Gaze"
By RALPH NADER
http://www.counterpunch.org/nader10192005.html
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 -- Rev. William Sloane Coffin has been
a leader against the war in Vietnam, an advocate for civil rights
and an opponent of nuclear weapons. Coffin was an Army officer in
World War II, acting as liaison to the French and Russian armies.
Upon graduating from Yale University in 1949, Coffin entered the
Union Theological Seminary until the outbreak of the Korean War
when, in 1950, he joined the CIA and spent three years in Germany
fighting Stalin's regime. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree
from Yale in 1956, and was ordained a Presbyterian minister.
Rev. Coffin became Chaplain of Yale University in 1958. Early on,
he opposed the Vietnam War and became famous for his anti-war
activities and his civil rights activism. He had a prominent role
challenging segregation in the "freedom rides." Coffin used his
pulpit as a platform for like-minded crusaders, hosting the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr., South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and
Nelson Mandela, among others. Fellow Yale graduate Garry Trudeau
has immortalize Coffin as "the Rev. Sloan" in the Doonesbury comic
strip.
By 1967, Coffin increasingly concentrated on preaching civil
disobedience, and supported the young men who turned in their draft
cards. In 1968, Coffin, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Marcus Raskin and
others were indicted by a Federal grand jury for conspiracy to
counsel, aid and abet draft resistance. All but Raskin were
convicted, but in 1970 an appeals court overturned the verdict.
Coffin remained chaplain of Yale until December 1975. In 1977, he
became senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City and
became a leading activist, meeting with world leaders and traveling
abroad to protest U.S. policies. He currently resides in
Vermont.
10/20/2005
CONTRACTS from the United States Department of Defense
Bechtel Bettis Inc., Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, West Mifflin,
Pa., is being awarded a $480,700,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee
modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-98-C-4064) for
Naval Nuclear Propulsion work at the Bettis Atomic Power
Laboratory. Work will be performed in West Mifflin, Pa. Contract
funding in the amount of $108,575,000, will expire at the end of
the current fiscal year. No work completion date or other
additional information is provided on Naval Nuclear Propulsion
Program contracts. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C.,
is the contracting activity.
KAPL Inc. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, Schenectady, N.Y., is
being awarded a $138,600,000 cost-plus-fixed fee modification to
previously awarded contract (N00024-00-C-4011) for Naval nuclear
propulsion work at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be
performed in Schenectady, New York. Contract funding in the amount
of $30,843,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
No work completion date or other additional information is provided
on Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts. The Naval Sea
Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
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