The Rev. William Sloane Coffin ’42 slowly made his way toward the podium in Cochran Chapel on Nov. 19, a walking stick in his right hand and the Rev. Michael Ebner ’70, the school’s Protestant chaplain, holding his left to steady him. As he approached the podium, Coffin was greeted by a standing ovation from a capacity crowd of students—many of whom were learning about the activist preacher for the first time—as well as faculty, faculty emeriti and staff who came of age in his heyday.

Coffin came to Andover from his home in Strafford, Vt., to receive the 23rd Fuess Award. Established to honor alumni for distinguished contribution to public service, the award is named in honor of Claude Moore Fuess, Phillips Academy headmaster from 1933–1948. It is the school’s highest honor.

Coffin had been on the stage of Cochran Chapel in two other incarnations: first when he served the school as chaplain for a short time in the mid-’50s and again in 1967 when the very first Fuess Award was conferred, a joint award to Andover alumni who had served in the Peace Corps. At the time, Coffin was on the board of directors of the president’s advisory council to the Peace Corps. His classmate, former U.S. President George W. Bush ’42, received the award in 1981.

Although Coffin’s gait may be considerably slowed—he has had a stroke and heart problems—he addressed the assembly in November in a firm, robust preacher’s cadence about subjects that are his passions: nonconformity, criticism, convictions and patriotism. “To me the robust, nonconformist patriots are those who love their country too much not to address its flaws,” he said.

Speaking out about what he sees as his country’s flaws has driven Coffin for more than 40 years as he lectured, protested and debated the most politically powerful issues of the late 20th century in the United States, among them the war in Vietnam, racism and nuclear arms.

Coffin first gained national prominence in the 1960s, when, as chaplain of Yale University, he led student anti-war activists to protest the Vietnam War by resisting the draft, and he also carried out acts of civil disobedience to protest racial inequality.

As a “freedom rider,” one of a group of activists who rode interstate buses in the South to protest segregation in interstate bus travel, he was arrested, tried and convicted, but the U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the conviction. His activities in protest of the Vietnam War catapulted him into the headlines and into America’s conscience after his arrest in 1968 (along with Dr. Benjamin Spock ’21) on charges of conspiracy to aid military draft resisters. The charges were later dropped on appeal. As a senior minister at Riverside Church in New York City in the mid-’70s, he preached against the nuclear arms race and was president of SANE FREEZE, an advocacy group for nuclear disarmament and the largest peace and justice organization in the nation.

A scion of wealth and privilege, Coffin pursued music at Andover and Yale and planned a career as a concert pianist. He studied as a young man with Nadia Boulanger—Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copeland’s teacher—in Paris. And, in a bit of musical serendipity, his first wife, Eva, with whom he had three children, was the daughter of virtuoso Artur Rubenstein.

Coffin interrupted his musical studies at Yale to enter World War II, a conflict he considered just and one he has said he was “lucky to be in and lucky to have survived.” After attending a Russian language school in Germany, he was, for two years, a liaison officer to the Soviet military in Czechoslovakia and Germany and Gen. George Patton’s Russian interpreter. In Germany, his assignment was to help with the forced repatriation of anti-Stalinist Soviet soldiers who had switched to Hitler’s armies before they surrendered to U.S. forces; many committed suicide in front of him rather than return to the Soviets. These experiences seared the horrors of war into his mind and left him, he has said, with a lifelong burden of guilt. He returned to Yale in 1947, changed his course of study and graduated with a B.A. degree in government in 1949. When the Cold War intensified, he worked for the CIA for three years to establish an anti-Soviet underground movement in the Soviet Union, but the effort ended in failure. After receiving a bachelor of divinity degree from Yale in 1956, he served as chaplain of Yale for 18 years.

Many awards have been bestowed on Coffin over the years, including 25 honorary degrees, and he is the author of numerous books. His titles include Once to Every Man: A Memoir; The Heart Is a Little to the Left: Essays on Public Morality; and A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches. His most recent book, Credo, was published in November.

Coffin, although in fragile health, is not planning to sit on the sidelines watching the large issues of the 21st century pass him by. He travels, writes and lectures against the war in Iraq and the assault on the environment. A champion of gay and lesbian rights, he was arrested in 2000 for protesting the Catholic Church’s policy on homosexuality when the National Conference of Catholic Bishops held its meeting in Washington, D.C.
He also continues to minister to friends. PA’s late Dean of Admission Emeritus Josh Miner told a colleague that Coffin called him every morning when Miner was facing death in 2002, giving him “tremendous comfort” as he struggled with the cancer that claimed his life.

Social justice is always on Coffin’s front burner, and he likes to quote the Bible to make his point. In a recent speech in New Haven he said, “There are two major biblical imperatives: pursue justice and seek peace. Social justice is at the heart of the Gospel.”

The text of William Sloane Coffin’s Fuess Award address appears on the next page.