Biography
Jim Douglass was arrested on March 8, 1972.
Theologian and author ("JFK and the Unspeakable"). Co-founded the Pacific Life Community in January 1975 with his wife Shelley to confront construction of the Trident submarine base at Bangor, WA, after whistleblower Robert Aldridge exposed the system. In November 1977 they purchased 3.8 acres next to the base and named it Ground Zero. Led the White Train tracking campaign and dozens of Bangor line-crossing arrests through the 1980s.
In 1972, while teaching religion at the University of Hawaii, Douglass participated in catholic Action of Hawaii’s Lenten campaign against the air war in Southeast Asia. At Hickam Air Force Base on March 2 he poured blood on military files. The ensuing Hickam Three prosecution ended in misdemeanor convictions, probation and a fine. He later described the action as an attempt to expose the human consequences of electronic warfare. Sources: https://thestreetspirit.org/2015/06/08/street-spirit-interview-with-james-douglass/ ; https://www.ilind.net/2019/07/01/nuremberg-prosecutor-featured-on-60-minutes-defended-hawaii-peace-activists-in-1972-case/ ; https://kyouyou.agu.ac.jp/achievements/file/Journal_204.pdf#page=48
In a 2015 Street Spirit interview, Douglass recalled being convicted after a 1968 Honolulu protest against the deployment of Hawaii National Guard troops. He said the judge imposed a two-week jail sentence and described his confinement in Halawa County Jail. Separately, he recalled that federal marshals arrested him at his Birmingham home years after his arrest at a 2003 White House antiwar vigil, because he had declined to attend the Washington trial. After Sister Lynn McKenzie intervened, the judge imposed a one-day sentence; Douglass said he actually spent a weekend in the local jail. The interview does not establish exact custody endpoints for either episode, and the weekend stay is not converted to a numeric duration.
Distinct anti-nuclear custody episodes
In his June 8, 2015 Street Spirit interview, Part 2, Douglass describes his August 12, 1982 boat-blockade arrest and detention in a temporary camp near the Trident base. Matt Dundas’s history of the Peace Blockade reports that those arrested were taken to the Seattle courthouse later that day and released on their own recognizance. The recorded custody dates for this episode are therefore August 12, 1982; the reports do not give exact hours. Douglass recalls charges being dropped within a few days, while Dundas says eight days later. Those legal proceedings are separate from the physical release. The ten-day impoundment mentioned in the history concerned the boat Pacific Peacemaker, not a person’s imprisonment. Collected history and Douglass interview. The previous generic February 15, 1983 arrest/admission claim was not corroborated and is retained here only as a withdrawn claim, not an exact custody fact.
The same interview separately describes a six-month Boron prison term following the October 28, 1979 mass action. Interviewer Terry Messman's July 1981 release is his own, not a documented release date for Douglass. No endpoint is transferred between the two men or between these separate episodes. Original interview.
Separate 1981 Boron imprisonment
The March 1981 newsletter, page 1, reports that Jim Douglass began a second six-month term in January and was transferred to Boron. The June 20, 1981 follow-up, page 3, confirms his actual release on May 15 after approximately four and a half months. It identifies contempt of court after refusal to pay a fine from a Bangor Trident-base fence-crossing case. This stay is separate from his later 1982 boat blockade and 1984 White Train cases. Only the January admission month is known: January 1 is a month-precision storage anchor, not an asserted admission day. No exact day total is calculated.
Jim Douglass, Street Spirit interview, compilation PDF pages 13–14 and 39–40. Retrospective accounts remain attributed; existing case dates and duration counters are preserved.
The January 1981 report dates his revocation sentence to December 17 and McNeil Island admission to January 2. The earlier completed Lompoc term is separate.
In his 2015 firsthand interview, Douglass recalled being jailed at Halawa County Jail in Honolulu after a Vietnam War protest blocking troop transports. He described a two-week sentence, without giving exact admission or discharge days. For the separate Hickam Three prosecution, he identified Mary Kaufman and Benjamin Ferencz as defense counsel and described Judge Martin Pence withdrawing before Judge Samuel King heard the case. Douglass also recalled a 2003 White House antiwar arrest, followed years later by a warrant arrest at his Birmingham home and a weekend in the local jail. He said Lynn McKenzie informally explained civil disobedience to the judge; she was not acting as his lawyer. The Nuclear Resister, contemporary source report 455.
