Tom Cornell

Thomas C. Cornell (April 11, 1934 – August 1, 2022) was an American journalist and a peace activist against the Vietnam War and the Iraq War. He was an associate editor of the Catholic Worker and a deacon in the Catholic Church.

Early life and education Cornell was born on April 11, 1934, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He went to Fairfield University, then Fairfield College. While at Fairfield, he read The Long Loneliness, the autobiography of Dorothy Day, which inspired him to join the Catholic Worker movement.

Activism The Vietnam War Cornell led the first protest against the Vietnam War, which started with only two people from the Catholic Worker, himself and Chris Kearns, on July 16, 1963, in Union Square in New York City. In ten days their protest grew to 250 and was the first nationally televised Vietnam War protest.

As US military engagement was intensifying in Vietnam, Cornell founded the Catholic Peace Fellowship with Jim Forest in which they worked counseling Catholic conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War, before going on to counsel anyone with draft issues with the aid of Center on Conscience & War, an organization dedicated to defending and extending the rights of conscientious objectors, claiming a "very high" success rate. He also called the first corporate act of resistance to the Vietnam draft, when he and five others, including David McReynolds, burned their draft cards, November 6, 1965, in Union Square, New York City.

In 1967, Cornell signed a public statement declaring his intention to refuse to pay income taxes in protest against the U.S. war against Vietnam. Later, he became a sponsor of the War Tax Resistance project, which practiced and advocated tax refusal as a form of protest against the war.

In 1972, Cornell took part in a meeting which led to the establishment of Pax Christi.

The Iraq War He continued in his opposition to the Iraq War, having visited that country before the invasion in December–January 2003 and again after in 2004. His reports were published in The Catholic Worker. He urged that military chaplains be trained in the law regarding conscientious objection and give positive support to claimants. He died at the age of 88 on August 1, 2022, at a nearby hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Works

Cornell,Tom "In Defence of Catholic Worker Anarchism", the May 2010 issue of The Catholic Worker. Revised from an earlier version in the December 2017 issue of The Catholic Worker