Randy Kehler
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Randy Kehler | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 16, 1944 Bronxville, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 21, 2024 (aged 80) |
| Education | Harvard University |
| Spouse | Betsy Corner |
| Children | 1 |
Randy Kehler (July 16, 1944 – July 21, 2024) was an American pacifist, tax resister, and social justice advocate. Kehler objected to America's involvement in the Vietnam War and refused to cooperate with the draft. He is also known for his decision, along with his wife Betsy Corner, to stop paying federal income taxes in protest of war and military spending, a decision that led to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seizing their house in 1989.
Kehler was involved in several anti-war organizations in the 1960s and 1970s, and in the early 1980s was a leader in the movement against nuclear weapons.[1]
Early life and education
Kehler was born on July 16, 1944, in Bronxville, New York, and was raised in Scarsdale.[1] He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1967 with a degree in government.[1] While at Harvard, Kehler became involved with the Harlem chapter of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).[1] Kehler has credited Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 with shaping his interest in radical politics.[1]
Opposition to the Vietnam War
In 1969, during the Vietnam War, Kehler returned his draft card to the Selective Service System. He refused to seek exemption as a conscientious objector, because he felt that doing so would be a form of cooperation with the US government's actions in Vietnam. After being called for induction and refusing to submit, he was charged with a federal crime. Found guilty at trial, Kehler served twenty-two months of a two-year sentence.[1]
Daniel Ellsberg's exposure to Kehler in August 1969 (as Kehler was preparing to submit to his sentence) at the 13th Triennial Meeting of the War Resisters International, held at Haverford College, was a pivotal event in Ellsberg's decision to copy and release the Pentagon Papers.[2]
Nuclear weapons activism
From 1981 through 1984, Kehler served as Executive Director of the National Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.[3]
Resistance of federal income tax
From 1977 onward, Kehler and his wife Betsy Corner refused to pay their federal income taxes in protest of war and military expenditures; they continued to pay their state and local taxes, and donated the money they owed in federal income taxes to charity.[4] This to the seizure of their house in Colrain, Massachusetts by the IRS in 1989. The home was subsequently purchased by the federal government. Kehler and Corner, along with supporters from the local community, struggled for years with the government and with another couple who attempted to purchase and move in to the home. The events were documented in the 1997 documentary film An Act of Conscience.[5][6][7]
Kehler died at his home in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, on July 21, 2024, at the age of 80.[8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Randy Kehler Papers | Biographical Note". Asteria.fivecolleges.edu. Special Collections and University Archives, W. E. B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
- ^ https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/04/21/pentagon-papers-anniversary-new-york-times-nixon-impeachment-240479
- ^ Broncaccio, Diane (July 24, 2024). "'The ultimate person of conscience': Friends remember anti-war activist Randy Kehler". Greenfield Recorder. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
- ^ Deggans, Eric (April 15, 1997). "They defied the IRS". Tampa Bay Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. pp. 3D – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Anderson, John (May 4, 1998). "The IRS Plays Tax and Consequences". Newsday. New York, New York. p. B7. Retrieved February 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Local 'war-tax' protest film documentary to be screened". The Recorder. Greenfield, Massachusetts. September 25, 1997. p. 8A&E. Retrieved February 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ https://newrepublic.com/article/141077/growing-war-tax-resisters
- ^ Broncaccio, Diane (July 24, 2024). "'The ultimate person of conscience': Friends remember anti-war activist Randy Kehler". Greenfield Recorder. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
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