Thomas Waring
Description: Thomas Waring
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Once Thomas went to a small California town by where he was working. Three men were sitting on a bench and talking to each other while looking at him. One turned to him and spit tobacco juice on him, and it landed on his feet. Thomas left feeling their gazes on his back. When he saw a clothing store he tried to go in. The owner started yelling and he quickly left. As he was walking he saw a diner and wondered if they would serve him. Before he even stepped on the sidewalk, the owner of it came into the doorway. He told Thomas he wouldn’t serve him and to leave he town.
After the war, Thomas took part in anti-war activities. He walked from Waltham to Boston to protest atomic weapons being built. The walk started with 15 people in Waltham. People yelled “Communists” at them as they walked by. By the time they reached Boston 175 people had joined. There were about 1000 people on Common. In 1986 there was a much larger walk from Cambridge Common to Boston Common during the Vietnam War. On June 12, 1982 Thomas had a powerful experience in a rally in New York City against Nuclear War, nearly 1 million people joined from every state and some foreign countries.
I think Thomas Waring was a First Amendment Hero for Religion, Speech, and Assembly. He did an unpopular thing during this time. People did not like conscientious objectors during this time. Thomas ignored how people treated him and continued to protest violence. Eventually more people started to protest with him. It reached 1 million, that’s a lot of people. I think that Thomas began to change after he stood up for his commandment rights. He started to protest even when they only started with 15 people. The more he waited the larger the number grew.
