David Dellinger: Prophet-Teacher and Friend

It is difficult to describe the contribution of Dave Dellinger to the historical period in which he lived. He was a Christian Pacifist and a Democratic Socialist who was basically influenced by Jesus of Nazareth, Saint Francis of Assisi, Kagawa of Japan, and Mahatma Ghandi of India. During his lifetime he made his special contribution along with Martin Luther King, Bill Coffin, Dorothy Day, Caesar Chavez and a host of others who have given themselves to the cause of Peace and Justice.

Dave was not an organizer or developer. He was, in many ways, a lone prophet. By word and action he moved against every injustice that he encountered. Often it was this selfless abandon that moved others to alter their behavior. At Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, where he was serving time for draft refusal, he threw himself in front of an inmate who was about to rape a fellow convict. This direct action averted a rape that might well have resulted in a prison riot.

I first met Dave as a first year student on the fourth floor at Union Seminary in New York City. As we talked together it became obvious to us that there was a disconnect between our training for the ministry and our location with Colombia University just a block or two from Harlem. At the time we experienced every evening dozens of homeless men and women camping in the doorways of the Seminary building. Seminary rules forbade us from offering shelter to any of the homeless. In discussions with Dave and others, six of us decided to rent an apartment in Harlem just a few blocks from the Seminary. Dave provided considerable impetus for this move. In fact he negotiated the rental of the apartment for us. We were then able to take in homeless people off the streets, and learned rather first hand a piece of the urban world with which we were not very well acquainted.

A year later a group of us were living in a slum area of Newark when Dave was notified that his brother had been killed in Brooklyn. Dave asked me to go with him to ferret out the circumstances around the murder. It appeared that a bar room brawl had moved out on to the street and that one of the patrons had killed Dave's brother with a stone in a vacant lot. Dave went to see his brother's murderer and eventually was able through the courts to get the murderer paroled. In later years this parolee and Dave became friends.

While still in our first year at Seminary, Dave asked if I would accompany him to a youth rally against the Lend Lease Program. This was prior to our entrance into the Second World War. It was to be held at the Capitol in Washington. This was an attempt to get Mrs. Roosevelt to influence her husband to refuse to support the war. Dave had been active in the movement and was asked to stay and have lunch with Mrs. Roosevelt.

We had planned to hitchhike back to New York after the event. We met near the Capitol and headed for the rail yards feeling that our best chances of getting back to New York might be to hop a freight car. After dodging the train detectives and finding no freight cars unlocked we decided to try one of the coal cars. As you may know, coal car floors are always at a steep angle toward the middle of the cars. Consequently we found ourselves having to stand all night on an angled floor holding on to the front end of the car to keep away from the middle of the car. After going through four tunnels in Baltimore with the smoke nearly choking us to death we got off in Philadelphia and resorted to seeking motor transportation.

Ann and I visited Dave and Elizabeth last summer in the nursing home in Montpelier. Dave hardly recognized who we were, but the minute I mentioned the smoke in the Baltimore tunnels he came on with that wonderful smile of his and he burst into laughter.

Here is a man who gave his life for World Peace and Racial Justice, who fought against the Police Riot in Chicago, who opposed the War in Vietnam, who supported the Farm Workers and who most recently opposed the most unjustified war in Iraq.

Whatever you think of David Dellinger, he was a man of integrity who lived out his life in the struggle for Peace and Justice. May God grant that we may do the same.