<P> In August 1965, Life carried a photograph of a man demonstrating in front of the Armed Forces Induction Center on Whitehall Street in Manhattan, July 30, 1965 . Like David J. Miller a few months later, he was a member of the Catholic Worker Movement . He was not arrested . </P> <P> Antiwar activist Abbie Hoffman burned his draft card privately in the Spring of 1967 . Hoffman's card classified him as 4F--unfit for service--because of bronchial asthma . His act was purely symbolic; he would never be drafted . However, Hoffman supported those registrants who were burning their cards . </P> <P> On April 15, 1967, at Sheep Meadow, Central Park, New York City, some 60 young men including a few students from Cornell University came together to burn their draft cards in a Maxwell House coffee can . Surrounded by their friends who linked arms to protect them, the men began burning their cards . Others rushed in to join them, holding their burning cards up in the air . Watching this were police, FBI men, newsreel cameramen, reporters, photographers and passers - by . Uniformed Green Beret Army reservist Gary Rader walked to the center and burned his draft card . The 23 - year - old was arrested by FBI agents several days later at his home in Evanston, Illinois . Time magazine estimated 75 total cards; participant Martin Jezer wrote that there were about 158 cards burnt in all . Future Youth International Party leader Hoffman was in attendance . </P> <P> The reports of this large protest were discussed by the leaders of the Spring Mobilization Conference, a march of 150,000 people led by Martin Luther King Jr and Dr. Benjamin Spock starting from Sheep Meadow . The May conference developed into the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, known as The Mobe . In January 1968, Spock was indicted on charges of encouraging draft evasion, with the Boston 5 . He was convicted on July 10, 1968 . The charges were overturned on appeal in July 1969 . </P>

Burning of draft cards in the vietnam war