Biography
John Dear is an American peace activist, Catholic priest (formerly a Jesuit; he was dismissed from the Society of Jesus in 2014 over his political activism, and has continued his ministry as a diocesan priest), author, and lecturer. He has been arrested approximately 80 times for civil-disobedience actions against war, nuclear weapons, the U.S. School of the Americas, and U.S. drone warfare since the 1980s.
His most significant federal sentence came after the December 7, 1993 Pax Christi-USA Plowshares action at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina. With three other Catholic activists (Bruce Friedrich, Lynn Fredriksson, and Philip Berrigan), he cut through the base perimeter fence and hammered on an F-15E fighter-bomber loaded for deployment to Iraq, in symbolic disarmament. They were convicted of destruction of government property and conspiracy in federal court in Greenville, North Carolina; Dear was sentenced to one year in federal prison and served eight months at the federal jail in Edenton, NC. He was also sentenced to numerous shorter terms over the years for SOA Watch and similar actions.
He served as the executive director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation USA from 1998 to 2003 and as a Red Cross coordinator at New York's Family Assistance Center after September 11, 2001.
The September 23, 2014 report names John Dear among five people arrested after a White House driveway die-in when officials would not accept their letter. It reports transport to a nearby police station, release a couple of hours later and an incommoding charge. A contemporary organizer release separately confirms a $50 citation-release payment, not an imposed prison sentence. Medea Benjamin attended the rally but is not named in this five-person arrest roster. No jail admission, complete served day or later court outcome is inferred. The Nuclear Resister, September 23, 2014. NCNR organizer release, September 25, 2014.
The January 27, 2011 account and reproduced Las Vegas Sun report individually identify this participant among the Creech 14 arrested on April 9, 2009. Judge William Jansen found all fourteen guilty of trespass and imposed time served on January 27, 2011. The statements below the article carry an inconsistent July 27, 2010 heading; the dated report and reproduced contemporary news account establish the January 2011 disposition. Time served is the imposed disposition, without a measured number of days or a claim of continuous custody from arrest to sentencing. Contemporary source.
The discussion reproduces a March 1994 account of John Dear’s ongoing imprisonment after the Spirit of Life action at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. It labels the action December 7, 1993, whereas the existing record uses December 6; that date discrepancy remains unresolved. The ten years mentioned in the reproduced article was possible exposure, not a completed prison term. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
