Interesting, thorough and nicely documented with primary sources. Was WWI the start of the CO status in the US, or did it appear on the homefront during earlier wars?
You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
Interesting, thorough and nicely documented with primary sources. Was WWI the start of the CO status in the US, or did it appear on the homefront during earlier wars?
There were informal exemptions as far back as the Civil War. My understanding is that it was the cruelty shown to COs in WWI that got the historic peace churches and other pacifist groups to organize alternative service organizations by the time of WWII.