{{short description|American teacher}} {{Infobox person | name = Andy Stapp | birth_date = {{Birth date|1944|3|25}} | birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|9|3|1944|3|25}} | death_place = New York City, US | occupation = Activist, teacher | known_for = American Servicemen's Union }} '''Andrew Dean Stapp''' (March 25, 1944 – September 3, 2014) was an American activist known for forming the American Servicemen's Union, an unofficial union for the U.S. military, in opposition to the Vietnam War.
Stapp began as a student activist until he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966. There he rallied anti-war sentiment, leading to two highly publicized courts-martial. After establishing the American Servicemen's Union, Stapp was discharged for subversive activity. He was married to Deirdre Griswold; both were members of the Workers World Party.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last=Yardley |first=William |date=September 14, 2014 |title=Andy Stapp, Who Tried to Unionize the Military, Dies at 70 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/us/andy-stapp-soldier-who-tried-to-unionize-the-military-dies-at-70.html |work=The New York Times |page=B17 |access-date=September 28, 2014 }}</ref>
==Early life== Stapp was born March 25, 1944, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a military nurse. He was adopted from an orphanage by William and Martha Stapp. He grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia with his older brother William.<ref name = "NYT"/><ref>Stapp 1970, p. 11.</ref>
Stapp enrolled at Pennsylvania State University to study history. He began questioning the Vietnam War during an archaeology expedition in Egypt, where he learned about the country's colonial history under British rule. Stapp participated in a sit-in on Hiroshima Day in 1965, where he was arrested for disorderly conduct and accused police of throwing tear gas into locked vans of arrestees.<ref>Stapp 1970, p. 11–14.</ref> He became involved with the anti-Vietnam War movement on campus and served as president of SENSE, Students for Peace.<ref>Heineman 1994, p. 150.</ref> He and three other students burned their draft cards and were kicked out of school.<ref name="MatterOf">{{cite book|last1=Seidenberg |first1=Willa |last2=Short |first2=William |date=1992-10-01|title=A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War |url=http://accessaddison.andover.edu/objects-1/info/12193.htm |page=32 |location=Andover, MA |publisher=Addison Gallery of American Art |isbn=1879886324}}</ref> Frustrated by difficulties building draft resistance among other students, Stapp decided to build resistance within the military.<ref>Stapp 1970, p. 16.</ref>
==Military career and activism== Stapp was drafted into the Army in May 1966. He had trouble enlisting because of his arrest record and destroyed draft card but convinced his local draft board that he had had a change of heart. He was stationed in Oklahoma at Fort Sill. He formed an informal group with whom he collected leftist literature and engaged in minor annoyance actions.<ref name="esquire-christgau">{{cite magazine |last=Christgau |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Christgau |date=August 1968 |title=Military Personnel Will Not Participate in Any Activity Having to Do with Creating a Union for Enlisted Men |magazine=Esquire |pages=41–44, 116 }}</ref> Once the Army realized he was "a left-wing radical" they wanted to isolate him in his own room, but only officers had private rooms. Instead, they surrounded him with soldiers they thought were the "most Army type." According to Stapp, "Well, they were just the first two guys won over."<ref name="MatterOf"/>
After their library was surrendered for inspection and not returned, Stapp locked his footlocker and refused to open it. He was charged with disobeying an order and requested a court-martial for what was a minor offense so that he could use the opportunity to broadcast his beliefs.<ref name="esquire-christgau"/><ref name="Ostertag 2006, p. 124">Ostertag 2006, p. 124.</ref> The Emergency Civil Liberties Committee had attorney Victor Rabinowitz work on the case and sent attorney David Rein to defend Stapp.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 31, 1967 |title=Order Violates Free Speech, Soldier Says |work=Los Angeles Times |page=18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=June 2, 1967 |title=Army Convicts G.I. in Refusal to Show 'Radical' Literature |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/02/archives/army-convicts-gi-in-refusal-to-show-radical-literature.html |url-access=subscription |work=The New York Times |page=6 |access-date=October 2, 2018 }}</ref> In what was one of the earliest anti-war protests on a military base, soldiers and civilians appeared at the trial and chanted anti-war slogans.<ref name="Ostertag 2006, p. 124"/> Nevertheless, Stapp was convicted and served 45 days of hard labor.<ref>Ostertag 2006, p. 136.</ref> Private Paul Ilg, who attended the trial, accused a lieutenant of perjury for claiming to have initiated the original order. Ilg was charged with and convicted showing disrespect to a superior officer.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 16, 1967 |title=Private Convicted of Accusing Officer of Lying at G.I.'s Trial |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/16/archives/private-convicted-of-accusing-officer-of-lying-at-gis-trial.html |url-access=subscription |work=The New York Times |page=25 |access-date=October 2, 2018 }}</ref><ref>Stapp 1970, p. 51–54.</ref>
The second court-martial was for allegedly leaving his barracks without authorization. Youth Against War and Fascism sent several sympathizers to the trial, and Stapp began spending time with one of the activists, Deirdre Griswold.<ref name = "NYT"/><ref name="esquire-christgau"/> He was widely popular at the base and his acquittal was cheered by fellow soldiers. When Stapp took a leave in late 1967, he married Griswold and they began forming the American Servicemen's Union. He also took over publication of ''The Bond'', an early GI underground press publication that amassed a readership of over 20,000 over the course of its publication. Stapp advocated for a right to refuse orders, racial equality, freedom of association, a right to trial by jury, election of officers, and a federal minimum wage.<ref name="esquire-christgau"/><ref>Ostertag 2006, pp. 124–125.</ref>
The Army dishonorably discharged Stapp in 1968 for subversive activity. After his appeals through military channels were unsuccessful, he filed suit against the secretary of the Army. A judge ruled in Stapp's favor, stating that "there is not a scintilla of evidence connecting these allegedly guilty associations with Private Stapp's performance of his military duties," and the discharge was amended to an honorable discharge.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 17, 1970 |title=U.S. Judge Reverses Army on Discharge |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/17/archives/us-judge-reverses-army-on-discharge.html |work=The New York Times |page=61 |access-date=October 2, 2018 }}</ref> When ''Esquire'' magazine published a profile in August 1968 on Stapp and his organizing activity, the article was banned from the base exchange.<ref name = "NYT"/>
==Later activity== After his discharge, Stapp continued expanding the American Servicemen's Union. He was arrested and released at Fort Lewis in 1969 for holding an unauthorized meeting. With the support of the American Civil Liberties Union's Seattle office, Stapp filed a lawsuit in response.<ref>Parsons 2017, pp. 63–64.</ref> Stapp began organizing with the Workers World Party and the affiliated Youth Against War and Fascism.<ref name = "NYT"/><ref>{{cite news |date=January 18, 1976 |title=1,000 Here March Against a U.S. Role in War in Angola |work=The New York Times |page=18 }}</ref> He published the autobiography ''Up Against the Brass'' in 1970.<ref>{{cite news |last=Leonard |first=John |author-link=John Leonard (critic) |date=September 11, 1970 |title=Books of the Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/11/archives/books-of-the-times-the-army-congress-and-other-imponderables.html |work=The New York Times |page=39 |access-date=October 1, 2018 }}</ref> Stapp worked at the Hudson School in Hoboken, New Jersey, teaching history from 1982 until his death in 2014.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thehudsonschool.org/a-sad-goodbye-to-mr-stapp/ |title=A Sad Goodbye to Mr. Stapp |date=November 12, 2014 |publisher=The Hudson School |access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref>
==See also==
* Concerned Officers Movement * Donald W. Duncan * Fort Hood Three * Free The Army tour * GI's Against Fascism * GI Coffeehouses * Movement for a Democratic Military * Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War * Presidio mutiny * ''Sir! No Sir!'', a documentary about the anti-war movement within the ranks of the United States Armed Forces * Stop Our Ship (SOS) anti-Vietnam War movement in and around the U.S. Navy * Vietnam Veterans Against the War * Waging Peace in Vietnam * Winter Soldier Investigation
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |last=Heineman |first=Kenneth |year=1994 |title=Campus Wars: The Peace Movement at American State Universities in the Vietnam Era |publisher=New York University Press |isbn=978-0-8147-3512-1 }} * {{cite book |last=Ostertag |first=Bob |year=2006 |title=People's Movements, People's Press: The Journalism of Social Justice Movements |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-6164-0 }} * {{cite book |last=Parsons |first=David |year=2017 |title=Dangerous Grounds: Antiwar Coffeehouses and Military Dissent in the Vietnam Era |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-4696-3201-8 }} * {{cite book |last=Stapp |first=Andy |year=1970 |title=Up Against the Brass |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-20572-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/upagainstbrass00stap }} {{refend}}
==External links== *[https://amatterofconscience.com/A-Matter-of-Conscience/40 Andy Stapp oral history from ''A Matter of Conscience - GI Resistance During the Vietnam War'']
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stapp, Andy}} Category:1944 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Military personnel from Philadelphia Category:Writers from Philadelphia Category:Workers World Party politicians Category:American anti–Vietnam War activists Category:Schoolteachers from New Jersey Category:Pennsylvania State University alumni