Blood on the Draft Files

After planning for about a week, four men opposed to the Vietnam War drew blood from themselves and from animals. They then walked into draft board offices inside a federal building. Three of them poured the blood over Selective Service files while the fourth handed out Bibles in the reception area. They had alerted the press beforehand and waited quietly to be arrested. They were charged with damaging federal property, mutilating public records and hindering the administration of the draft. The defence argued they acted in good faith on moral and legal beliefs that the war was illegal, that their act was protected symbolic speech under the First Amendment, and that the damage and evidence were insufficient.