David Harris (1946–2023), Vietnam War draft resistance activist
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2 min readDavid Harris was an activist and journalist who led the movement against the Vietnam War draft.
- Died: February 6, 2023 (Who else died on February 6?)
- Details of death:Died at his home in Mill Valley, California of lung cancer at the age of 76.
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Activist and journalist
Harris became involved in the civil rights movement as a student at Stanford University after excelling in high school to the point that he was named “Boy of the Year” when he graduated. He took part in the Freedom Summer in Mississippi in 1964. Harris became a prominent advocate for resisting the draft, urging young men to return their draft cards to the government. He toured around the country, speaking at rallies alongside singer Joan Baez, whom he later married. In 1968, when Harris was drafted, he refused to show up for his induction and he was indicted, spending 20 months in federal prison. While he was imprisoned, Baez wrote her “A Song for David” about their story. The two separated after three years of marriage, then divorced.
After his release from prison in 1971, Harris continued in the anti-war and anti-draft movements until the war’s end. In 1973, he began writing for Rolling Stone, beginning with the article “Ask a Marine.” The piece profiled Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, who later told his story at greater length in the autobiography “Born on the Fourth of July,” which was made into an Oscar-winning film. Harris wrote for Rolling Stone and the New York Times Magazine for several years before beginning to write books, including “Our War: What We Did in Vietnam and What It Did to Us.” He was featured in the 2020 documentary “The Boys Who Said NO!”
Notable quote
“You know, part of when I was doing this back then, I used to tell myself, I want to get to be 75 years old and look back on it and feel good about what I did. And I look back on it at 75 years old, and I feel very good about what we did. I think it was special. I think we saved the country from itself, at least momentarily.” —from a 2021 interview for Scheer Intelligence
Tributes to David Harris
Full obituary: The New York Times
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