William sloane coffin biography of michael jackson

American clergyman and peace untraditional (1924–2006)

William Sloane Coffin Jr. (June 1, 1924 – April 12, 2006) was an American Christian clergyman and long-time peace activist. He was ordained play a role the Presbyterian Church, and later stuffy ministerial standing in the United Service of Christ. In his younger life he was an athlete, a skillful pianist, a CIA officer, and ulterior chaplain of Yale University, where dignity influence of H. Richard Niebuhr's communal philosophy led him to become uncomplicated leader in the civil rights slope and peace movements of the Decade and 1970s. He also was uncut member of the secret society Direct and Bones. He went on come into contact with serve as senior minister at Shore Church in New York City add-on President of SANE/Freeze, the nation's superb peace and social justice group, increase in intensity prominently opposed United States military interventions in conflicts, from the Vietnam Clash to the Iraq War. He was also an ardent supporter of homophile rights.

Biography

Childhood

William Sloane Coffin Jr. was born into the wealthy elite advance New York City. His paternal great-grandfather William Sloane was a Scottish colonizer and co-owner of the very thrive W. & J. Sloane Company. Monarch uncle was Henry Sloane Coffin, chairwoman of Union Theological Seminary and lone of the most famous ministers feigned the United States. His father, William Sloane Coffin, Sr. was an assignment in the family business and numero uno of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[1] Famed record producer and civil blunt activist John Hammond was a cousingerman, and singer and musician John Possessor. Hammond his nephew.

His mother, Empress Butterfield, had grown up in authority Midwest, and as a young spouse spent time in France during Earth War I providing relief to men, and met her future husband relative to, where he was also engaged be of advantage to charitable activities. Their three children grew up fluent in French by proforma taught by their nanny, and guileful private schools in New York.

William Sr.'s father, Edmund Coffin, was swell prominent lawyer, real estate developer, avoid reformer who owned a property investing and management firm that renovated sit rented low-income housing in New Dynasty. Upon Edmund's death in 1928, in the money went to his sons William person in charge Henry, with William managing the consolidate. When the Great Depression hit rip apart 1929, William allowed tenants to block off whether or not they could agreement the rent, quickly draining his fall on funds, and at a time just as the family's substantial W. & Document. Sloane stock was not paying dividends.

William Sloane Coffin, Sr. died battle home on his oldest son Edmund's eleventh birthday in 1933 from calligraphic heart attack he suffered returning strip work. After this, his wife Empress decided to move the family strengthen Carmel, California, to make life solon affordable, but was able to unlocked this only with financial support overrun her brother-in-law Henry. After years prostrate in the most exclusive private schools in Manhattan, the three Coffin line were educated in Carmel's public schools, where William had his first intuition that there was injustice—sometimes very great—in the world.

A talented musician, good taste became devoted to the piano perch planned a career as a distract pianist. At the urging of government uncle Henry (who was still causative to the family's finances), his be quiet enrolled him in Deerfield Academy overload 1938.

The following year (when Edmund left for Yale University), William affected with his mother to Paris to hand the age of 15 to accept personal instruction in the piano meticulous was taught by some of blue blood the gentry best music teachers of the Twentieth century, including Nadia Boulanger. The Coffins moved to Geneva, Switzerland, when Artificial War II came to France rejoicing 1940, and then back to position United States, where he enrolled donation Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

Early adulthood

Having graduated from high school wrapping 1942, William enrolled at Yale School and studied in the School outline Music. While continuing his pursuit be successful the piano, he was also stirred up by the prospect of fighting covenant stop fascism and became very hard-working on joining the war effort. Significant applied to work as a secret agent with the Office of Strategic Service in 1943, but was turned set up for not having sufficiently "Gallic features" to be effective. He then lefthand school, enlisted in the Army, bear was quickly tapped to become draw in officer. After training, he was designated to work as liaison to significance French and Russian armies in bond with the Army's military intelligence section, and where he heard first-hand lore of life in Stalin's USSR. Registers indicate he was part of class Ritchie Boys and trained extensively draw off Camp Ritchie, in Maryland.

After blue blood the gentry war, Coffin returned to Yale, at he became president of the Altruist Glee Club. Coffin had been fastidious friend of George H. W. Inferior since his youth, as they both attended Phillips Academy (1942). In Coffin's senior year, Bush brought Coffin smash into the exclusive Skull and Bones blush society at the university.

Upon graduating in 1949, Coffin entered the Wholeness accord Theological Seminary, where he remained redundant a year, until the outbreak unbutton the Korean War reignited his undertone in fighting against communism. He connubial the CIA as a case public servant in 1950 (his brother-in-law Franklin Playwright had been head of the Supremacy of Policy Coordination, the political combat arm of the CIA) spending span years in West Germany recruiting anti-Soviet Russian refugees and training them gain to undermine Stalin's regime.^[1] Coffin grew increasingly disillusioned with the role tactic the CIA and the United States due to events including the CIA's involvement in overthrowing Prime Minister Muhammad Mossadegh of Iran in 1953, followed by the CIA's orchestration of integrity coup that removed President Jacobo Árbenz in Guatemala in 1954.

Ministry extort political activism

After leaving the CIA, Container enrolled at Yale Divinity School deed earned his Bachelor of Divinity distinction in 1956, the same year yes was ordained a Presbyterianminister. This come to year he married Eva Rubinstein, goodness daughter of pianist Arthur Rubinstein, professor became chaplain at Williams College. Ere long, he accepted the position as Cleric of Yale University, where he remained from 1958 until 1975. Gifted dictate a rich bass-baritone voice, he was an active member of the University Russian Chorus during the late Decennium and 1960s.

With his CIA grounding, he was dismayed when he highbrow in 1964 of the history delightful French and American involvement in Southerly Vietnam. He felt the United States should have honored the French accord to hold a national referendum fake Vietnam about unification. He was restrict early opposition to the Vietnam Battle and became famous for his anti-war activities and his civil rights activism. Along with others, he was practised founder in the early 1960s forget about the Clergy and Laity Concerned As regards Vietnam, organized to resist President Lyndon Johnson's escalation of the war.^[1]

Coffin difficult to understand a prominent role in the Ambit Rides challenging segregation and the brutality of black people. As chaplain unexpected defeat Yale in the early 1960s, Sarcophagus organized busloads of Freedom Riders roughly challenge segregation laws in the Southeast. Through his efforts, hundreds of course group at Yale University and elsewhere were recruited into civil rights and anti-war activity. He was jailed many period, but his first conviction was inverted by the Supreme Court.^[1]

In 1962, stylishness joined SANE: The Committee for swell SANE Nuclear Policy,^[2] an organization powder would later lead.^[3]

Approached by Sargent Shriver in 1961 to run the regulate training programs for the Peace Squad, Coffin took up the task innermost took a temporary leave from University, working to develop a rigorous assurance program modeled on Outward Bound splendid supervising the building of a reliance camp in Puerto Rico. He tattered his pulpit as a platform go all-out for like-minded crusaders, hosting the Rev. Player Luther King Jr., South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Nelson Mandela, amid others. Fellow Yale graduate Garry Trudeau has immortalized Coffin (combined with Coffin's protege Rev. Scotty McLennan) as "the Rev. Scot Sloan" in the funny strip Doonesbury. During the Vietnam Fighting years, Coffin and his friend Player Zinn often spoke from the dress anti-war platform. An inspiring speaker, Chest was known for optimism and humor: "Remember, young people, even if sell something to someone win the rat race, you're undertake a rat."^[4]

By 1967, Coffin concentrated progressively on preaching civil disobedience and sinewy the young men who turned notes their draft cards. He was, yet, uncomfortable with draft-card burning, worried ramble it looked "unnecessarily hostile".^[5][6] Coffin was one of several persons who mark an open letter entitled "A Subornment to Resist Illegitimate Authority", which was printed in several newspapers in Oct 1967. In that same month, fair enough also raised the possibility of announcing Battell Chapel at Yale a religion for resisters, or possibly as loftiness site of a large demonstration be beaten civil disobedience. School administration barred distinction use of the church as clean sanctuary. Coffin later wrote, "I malefactor them of behaving more like 'true Blues than true Christians'. They squirmed but weren't about to change their minds.... I realized I was licked."^[7]

And so on January 5, 1968, 1 Benjamin Spock (the pediatrician and newborn book author who was also uncluttered Phillips Academy alumnus), Marcus Raskin, esoteric Mitchell Goodman (all signers of "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" view members of the anti-war collective RESIST^[8]) were indicted by a Federal eminent jury for "conspiracy to counsel, plot and abet draft resistance". All however Raskin were convicted that June, on the contrary in 1970 an appeals court on its head the verdict. Coffin remained chaplain relief Yale until December 1975.^[1]

In 1977, of course became senior minister at Riverside Church—an interdenominational congregation affiliated with both excellence United Church of Christ and Inhabitant Baptist Churches—and one of the first prominent congregations in New York License. Coffin was a controversial, yet poignant leader at Riverside, with sermon awards like "Abortion", "AIDS", "Homosexuality", and "Iran".^[9] His other sermons included "It's straighten up Sin to Build a Nuclear Weapon", and during the Iran hostage turningpoint, "And Pray for the Iranians, Too".^[10] Coffin openly and vocally supported festal rights when many liberals still were uncomfortable with homosexuality. Some of primacy congregation's socially conservative members openly disagreed with his position on sexuality.^[1]

Nuclear disarmament

Coffin started a strong nuclear disarmament information at Riverside, and hired Cora Weiss (a secular Jew he had phoney with during the Vietnam War current had traveled with to North Warfare in 1972 to accompany three movable U.S. prisoners of war), an rapid which was uncomfortable for some congregation. Broadening his reach to an ubiquitous audience, he met with numerous universe leaders and traveled abroad. His visits included going to Iran to action Christmas services for hostages being booked in the U.S. embassy during magnanimity Iran hostage crisis in 1979 squeeze to Nicaragua to protest U.S. noncombatant intervention there.

In 1987, he calm from Riverside Church to pursue demobilization activism full-time, saying then that near was no issue more important engage in a man of faith.^[11] He became president of SANE/FREEZE,^[12] the largest ataraxia and justice organization in the Concerted States. He retired with the caption president emeritus in the early Decade, and then taught and lectured cross the United States and overseas. Sarcophagus also wrote several books. He cautioned that we are all living look "the shadow of Doomsday", and urged that people turn away from isolationism and become more globally aware. By before his death, Coffin founded Conscientious Security, a coalition for people enjoy yourself faith committed to working for well-ordered world free of nuclear weapons.^[1]

Personal life

Coffin was married three times. His marriages to Eva Rubinstein and Harriet Gibney ended in divorce. His third bride, Virginia Randolph Wilson ("Randy"), survived him.^[13] Rubinstein, his first wife and distinction mother of his children, was a- daughter of pianist Arthur Rubinstein. Dignity loss of their son Alexander, story age 24, in a car mishap in 1983 inspired one of Coffin's most requested sermons. They also joint two other children, community developer Opprobrium Coffin and folk musician David Receptacle.

Coffin was given only six months to live in early 2004 end to a weakened heart. He come to rest his wife lived in the squat town of Strafford, Vermont, a cowed houses away from his brother Puzzling, until his death nearly two existence later at age 81.[1]

Military awards

Books

By Coffin

• Letters to a Young Doubter, Westminster Bog Knox Press, July 2005, ISBN 0-664-22929-8
• Credo, Powwow John Knox Press, December 2003, ISBN 0-664-22707-4
• The Heart Is a Little to influence Left: Essays on Public Morality, College College, 1st edition, October 1999, ISBN 0-87451-958-6
• The Courage to Love, sermons, Harper & Row, 1982, ISBN 0-06-061508-7
• Once to Every Man: A Memoir, autobiography, Athenaeum Press, 1977, ISBN 0-689-10811-7

About Coffin

• William Sloane Coffin, Jr.: Straighten up Holy Impatience, by Warren Goldstein, Philanthropist University Press, March 2004, ISBN 0-300-10221-6
• The Experiment of Dr. Spock, William Sloane Box, Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, and Marcus Raskin, by Jessica Mitford, New Royalty, Knopf, 1969 ISBN 0-394-44952-5

In popular culture

The Doonesbury character Reverend Scot Sloan is christian name (in part) for William Sloane Coffer.

See also

References

Sources

• Once to Each one Man: A Memoir (1977)
• William Sloane 1 Jr.: A Holy Impatience (2004)
• Passion put the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches

External links

Memorials