Randy Kehler

Summary

Randy Kehler (born July 16, 1944) is an American pacifist, tax resister, and social justice advocate. Kehler objected to America's involvement in the Vietnam War and refused to cooperate with the draft. He is also known for he and his wife Betsy Corner's refusal to pay federal income taxes in protest of war and military spending, a decision that led to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seizing their house in 1989.

Randy Kehler
Born (1944-07-16) July 16, 1944 (age 79)
EducationHarvard University
SpouseBetsy Corner
Children1

Kehler was involved in several anti-war organizations in the 1960s and 1970s.[1] In the 1980s, Kehler served as Executive Director of the National Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.[citation needed]

Early life and education edit

Kehler was born on July 16, 1944, in Bronxville, New York, and was raised in Scarsdale.[1] He attended Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated from Harvard University in 1967 with a degree in government.[1] While at Harvard, Kehler became involved with the Harlem chapter of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).[1] Kehler has credited Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 with shaping his interest in radical politics.[1]

Opposition to the Vietnam War edit

In 1969, during the Vietnam War, Kehler returned his draft card to the Selective Service System. He refused to seek exemption as a conscientious objector, because he felt that doing so would be a form of cooperation with the US government's actions in Vietnam. After being called for induction and refusing to submit, he was charged with a federal crime. Found guilty at trial, Kehler served twenty-two months of a two-year sentence.[1]

Daniel Ellsberg's exposure to Kehler in August 1969 (as Kehler was preparing to submit to his sentence) at the 13th Triennial Meeting of the War Resisters International, held at Haverford College, was a pivotal event in Ellsberg's decision to copy and release the Pentagon Papers.[2]

Resistance of federal income tax edit

From 1977 onward, Kehler and his wife Betsy Corner refused to pay their federal income taxes in protest of war and military expenditures; they continued to pay their state and local taxes, and donated the money they owed in federal income taxes to charity.[3] This led to the seizure of their house in Colrain, Massachusetts, in 1989, by the IRS, which was then purchased by the federal government, leading to a years-long struggle between Kehler and Corner—who were joined by supporters from the surrounding community—the government, and another couple who attempted to purchase and move in to the home. The events were documented in the 1997 documentary film An Act of Conscience.[4][5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Randy Kehler Papers | Biographical Note". Asteria.fivecolleges.edu. Special Collections and University Archives, W. E. B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Archived from the original on April 10, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
  2. ^ The Most Dangerous Man in America (documentary film, 2009)
  3. ^ Deggans, Eric (April 15, 1997). "They defied the IRS". Tampa Bay Times. St. Petersburg, Florida. pp. 3D – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Anderson, John (May 4, 1998). "The IRS Plays Tax and Consequences". Newsday. New York, New York. p. B7. Retrieved February 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Local 'war-tax' protest film documentary to be screened". The Recorder. Greenfield, Massachusetts. September 25, 1997. p. 8A&E. Retrieved February 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.