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Benjamin Joseph Salmon (1889–1932) was an American Christian pacifist, Roman Catholic, conscientious objector and outspoken critic of just war theory, as he believed all war to be unjust. ==Biography== Salmon was born and raised in a working-class Catholic family, and became an office clerk with the Colorado and Southern Railroad. Outraged by the Ludlow Massacre, he became more active in populist causes such as unionism and the single tax. When President Woodrow Wilson ordered a draft, Salmon was one of a number of Americans to refuse to cooperate. On June 5, 1917, Salmon wrote in a letter to President Wilson: Salmon was arrested in January 1918 for refusing to complete a Selective Service questionnaire. While out on bail, he was re-arrested for refusing to report for induction. He was locked in the guardhouse for refusing to wear uniform and forced to work in the yard. Despite not having been inducted, he was court-martialed at Camp Dodge, Iowa on July 24, 1918, charged with desertion and spreading propaganda. He was sentenced to death, but later re-sentenced to 25 years hard labor. He arrived at Fort Leavenworth on October 9, 1918 to start his sentence, just one month before World War I ended on November 11, 1918. He began a hunger strike "for liberty or death" on July 13, 1920. The government claimed that his fast was a symptom of mental illness and sent him to a ward reserved for the "criminally insane" at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. on July 31, 1920. The fledgling American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) eventually took up his case, and the tide of post-war public opinion favored the release of conscientious objectors. Salmon was pardoned and released on November 26, 1920, and given a dishonorable discharge from the military service he had never joined. Upon his release, Salmon led a quiet life with his family, but his prison ordeal, which included beatings and force-feedings, had permanently damaged his health. He died of pneumonia in 1932. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ben Salmon」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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