Korean War and Federal Prison

James Lawson’s refusal to report for service in the Korean War led to his imprisonment for 14 months between 1951 and 1952. During this time, he corresponded with many people including Wally Nelson, a Christian pacifist and civil rights activist, and fellow Methodist and civil rights activist Carol Hamilton Scott. These and other correspondents helped the young Lawson to begin to form his ideas and strategies of nonviolent action and civil disobedience and to examine critically how these beliefs could be worked out in a global context and according to Christian pacifist principles.

[Prison Diary]
James M. Lawson, Jr.
Mill Point, West Virginia, May 11, 1951
James M. Lawson, Jr. Papers
Vanderbilt University Special Collections

[Selective Service Notice of Classification]
U.S. Government, May 1954
James M. Lawson, Jr. Papers
Vanderbilt University Special Collections

“Vice-president goes to prison, Christian witness against war”
In Concern, May 4, 1951, Volume VI, Number 18
James M. Lawson, Jr. Papers
Vanderbilt University Special Collections

Concern a newspaper for Methodist youth published this article about Jim Lawson being sentenced to federal prison in the spring of 1951 when he was a senior at Baldwin Wallace College. The Methodist community  offered support for Lawson and his family during this time and later offered him missionary work in India in lieu of imprisonment.

[Letter to James Lawson]
Wally Nelson
May 3, 1951
James M. Lawson, Jr. Papers
Vanderbilt University Special Collections

Wally Nelson was an important correspondent with James Lawson during the 14 months that he was in Federal Prison. Nelson himself served 33 months in prison as a Conscientious Objector and Christian Pacifist during World War II and in his letters shared insights about his experience.