Coffin, William Sloane Jr (01326274)

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William Sloane Coffin, Jr
Personal details
Birth name	William Sloane Coffin Jr.
Born	1 June 1924 New York City
Died	12 April 2006 Strafford, Vermont
Nativity	United States
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	01326274
Rank	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 13 (30 October – 23 December 1943)
Section	7B (13); E (13)

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William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Mainline Protestant clergyman and peace activist. He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. In his younger days he was an athlete, a talented pianist, a CIA officer, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of H. Richard Niebuhr's social philosophy led him to become a leader in the civil rights movement and peace movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He also was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones.

Biography

Died at home on his oldest son Edmund's 11th birthday in 1933 from a heart attack he suffered returning from work. Was born into the wealthy elite of New York City.

At the urging of his uncle Henry (who was still contributing to the family's finances), his mother enrolled him in Deerfield Academy in 1938. The Coffins moved to Geneva, Switzerland, when World War II came to France in 1940, and then back to the U.S., where he enrolled in Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Having graduated from high school in 1942, William enrolled at Yale College and studied in the School of Music.

Upon graduating in 1949, Coffin entered the Union Theological Seminary, where he remained for a year, until the outbreak of the Korean War reignited his interest in fighting communism. After leaving the CIA, Coffin enrolled at Yale Divinity School and earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1956, the same year he was ordained a Presbyterian minister. Soon, he accepted the position of Chaplain of Yale University, where he remained from 1958 until 1975.

William attended Yale University (Modern Languages), 1 year. In his younger days he was an athlete, a talented pianist, a CIA officer, and later chaplain of Yale University, where the influence of H. Their three children grew up fluent in French by being taught by their nanny, and attended private schools in New York.

After years spent in the most exclusive private schools in Manhattan, the three Coffin children were educated in Carmel's public schools, where William had his first sense that there was injustice—sometimes very great—in the world. The following year (when Edmund left for Yale University), William moved with his mother to Paris at the age of 15 to receive personal instruction in the piano and was taught by some of the best music teachers of the 20th century, including Nadia Boulanger. He then left school, enlisted in the Army, and was quickly tapped to become an officer.

Also that year he married Eva Rubinstein, pianist Arthur Rubinstein's daughter, and became chaplain at Williams College.

Records indicate he was part of the Ritchie Boys and trained extensively at Camp Ritchie, in Maryland.

(June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Mainline Protestant clergyman and peace activist. Bush since his youth, as they both attended Phillips Academy (1942). He applied to work as a spy with the Office of Strategic Services in 1943, but was turned down for not having sufficiently "Gallic features" to be effective.

He joined the CIA as a case officer in 1950 (his brother-in-law Franklin Lindsay had been head of the Office of Policy Coordination, the CIA's political warfare arm), spending three years in West Germany recruiting anti-Soviet Russian refugees and training them to undermine Stalin's regime. Coffin was dismayed when he learned in 1964 of the history of French and U.S. An inspiring speaker, Coffin was known for optimism and humor: "Remember, young people, even if you win the rat race, you're still a rat." By 1967, Coffin concentrated increasingly on preaching civil disobedience and supported the young men who turned in their draft cards.

Coffin was one of several persons who signed the open letter "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority", which was printed in several newspapers in October 1967. I realized I was licked." On January 5, 1968, Coffin, Benjamin Spock (the pediatrician and baby book author who was also a Phillips Academy alumnus), Marcus Raskin, and Mitchell Goodman (all signers of "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" and members of the anti-war collective RESIST) were indicted by a federal grand jury for "conspiracy to counsel, aid and abet draft resistance". All but Raskin were convicted that June, but in 1970 an appeals court overturned the verdict.

Coffin was given only six months to live in early 2004 due to a weakened heart. He and his wife lived in the small town of Strafford, Vermont, a few houses away from his brother Ned, until his death nearly two years later at age 81.[1] *American Campaign Medal *European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal *World War II Victory Medal *Army of Occupation Medal with "Germany" clasp. William Sloane Coffin Jr.

He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church, and later received ministerial standing in the United Church of Christ. He also was a member of the secret society Skull and Bones. He was also an ardent supporter of gay rights.

His paternal great-grandfather William Sloane was a Scottish immigrant and co-owner of the W. Record producer and civil rights activist John Hammond was a cousin, and singer and musician John P. One of his ancestors was Tristram Coffin, an early English settler in Massachusetts and prominent part of the whaling industry of the 1600s who bought Nantucket Island in 1659 for thirty pounds and two beaver hats.

She met her future husband there, where he was also engaged in charitable activities. William Sr.'s father, Edmund Coffin, was a prominent lawyer, real estate developer, and reformer who owned a property investment and management firm that renovated and rented low-income housing in New York. Sloane stock was not paying dividends.

After this, his wife Catherine decided to move the family to Carmel, California, to make life more affordable, but was able to do this only with financial support from her brother-in-law Henry. A talented musician, he became devoted to the piano and planned a career as a concert pianist. While continuing his pursuit of the piano, he was also excited by the prospect of fighting to stop fascism and became very focused on joining the war effort.

After training, he was assigned to work as liaison to the French and Russian armies in connection with the Army's military intelligence unit. He had been a friend of George H. Gifted with a rich bass-baritone voice, he was an active member of the Yale Russian Chorus during the late 1950s and 1960s.

Should have honored the French agreement to hold a national referendum in Vietnam about unification. He was an early opponent of the Vietnam War and became famous for his antiwar activities and civil rights activism. He used his pulpit as a platform for like-minded crusaders, hosting Martin Luther King Jr., South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela, among others.

He was, however, uncomfortable with draft-card burning, worried that it looked "unnecessarily hostile". That same month, he raised the possibility of declaring Battell Chapel at Yale a sanctuary for resisters, or possibly the site of a large demonstration of civil disobedience. Coffin openly and vocally supported gay rights when many liberals still were uncomfortable with homosexuality.

He cautioned that we are all living in "the shadow of Doomsday", and urged that people turn away from isolationism and become more globally aware. Rubinstein, his first wife and the mother of his children, was a daughter of pianist Arthur Rubinstein.

He went on to serve as senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City and President of SANE/Freeze, the nation's largest peace and social justice group, and prominently opposed United States military interventions in conflicts, from the Vietnam War to the Iraq War. His uncle was Henry Sloane Coffin, president of Union Theological Seminary and one of the most famous ministers in the United States. His father, William Sloane Coffin, Sr., was an executive in the family business and president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

After the war, Coffin returned to Yale, where he became president of the Yale Glee Club. He became president of SANE/FREEZE, the nation's largest peace and justice organization. He retired with the title president emeritus in the early 1990s, then taught and lectured across the U.S.

Research notes

• Famous peace activist
• Capt
• Once to Every Man
• French
• Russian Liaison Off.CIA
• Peace activist; Yale Chaplain

Gallery

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Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	82
Class_ASN	32273419
Class_Name	COFFIN, William S.; Coffin, William S.
match_method	pass2_unique_name
row_source	both

Timeline

• Born 1 June 1924 in New York City.
• 20 May 1943 — Enlisted in Army at NYC as Pvt (ASN: 32273419).
• February 1944 — Transferred to Infantry School, Fort Benning GA as Cpl.
• July 1944 — Graduated as 2nd Lt. (ASN: 01326274).
• Promoted to Captain.

Sources

• Wikipedia: William Sloane Coffin
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of William Sloane Jr Coffin for Camp Ritchie (private research document; 1 source documents reviewed)
• Dan Gross, Timeline of Coffin, William Sloane Jr for Camp Ritchie (private research files; selected non-private narrative findings; 1 source files: WILLIAM SLOAN COFFIN Jr.doc)