"We have to face the essential question... public law and private conscious, when they are in conflict, which shall a man obey?"
- Robert Lehman, 1941

While US intervention in WWI was less popular, WWII was largely accepted as “the good war,” a justifiable stand against evil, causing harsh criticism of WWII Conscientious Objection.​ Though COs were objecting to war, they still felt a duty to support the war effort. A growing pacifist movement during the interwar period, and accusations of limiting religious freedoms led the US ​Government to create alternative service for COs.

"Public Service in Lieu of Military Service," Swarthmore College, 2012.

​CO’s duty to uphold their personal nonviolent conviction conflicted with their duty to serve their country. The government provided no meaningful way to support the war effort without going against CO’s morals, creating a conflict of ethics.

“Our friends and colleagues in other places were putting their lives on the line, and you know, we wanted to do the same.” 
- Marshall Sutton, Starvation Experiment Participant, 2005

Sign in window near CPS Camp, American Friends Service Committee, 1942.

​​When the draft began in 1941, this alternative service allowed COs to register for non-combatant service. After registration, COs were placed in the 152 Civilian Public Service (CPS) camps where they were expected to do "work of national importance” as promised by the US Government. However, upon arrival many COs found the basic park and trail work to be far from that promise.

"We want to prepare ourselves to meet the needs of a barren post-war world. Instead, we are experimenting with grasses and trees."
- Max Kampleman Starvation Experiment Participant, 1943

COs working in the CPS Camps, The Civilian Public Service Story, 1943.

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Through the Participants' Eyes
(Hover to read quotes)

"We are [in CPS camps] because we refused to submit to a system which demanded that we help destroy the world... War cannot bring peace. Instead, like a weed, it firmly takes root and spreads the seeds for future wars."

"So we in the CPS camps had been griping about not having what we called significant work, and very often wasn't. We were full of idealism... Everyone else around us was pulling down the world; we wanted to build it up"

              Max Kampleman                           Samuel Legg

Conflicting Ethics

"[Some] thought conscientious objection was almost like being a traitor, but I was not objecting to my country as much as I was objecting to what my country was doing. In other words, my definition of patriotism included my refusal to kill."
-Carlyle Frederick, Starvation Experiment Participant, 2005

"How much of an obligation do you think the citizens of the country have to a man who refuses to fight for his country when his country is in jeopardy and everything is at stake?"​
- Styles Bridges, New Hampshire Senator, 1940

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