Within months, the Berrigans’ “target” would be disclosed to the American public: Henry Kissinger. Then serving as President Nixon’s national security advisor, Kissinger—who died on November 29, 2023—had risen in just two years from an obscure, albeit respected foreign-policy academic advising Nelson Rockefeller’s floundering 1968 presidential campaign to one of the most powerful men in the country. And while the world wouldn’t learn the full scope of Kissinger’s unilateral authority for decades (we probably still don’t have a complete picture of it), it was well known that he exercised considerable autonomy in directing American violence in southeast Asia.
Hoover’s announcement marked the start of an important—and now largely forgotten—episode that shaped the trajectory of both antiwar politics and twentieth-century Catholic politics for years to come. The Harrisburg Seven trial revealed the depth of the federal government’s commitment to suppressing the antiwar effort. But it also gave the Berrigans and their movement of nonviolent civil disobedience their most visible platform, introducing millions of Americans to their unique mode of political struggle. As American foreign-policy institutions progressively absorbed the ethos of permanent military adventurism, as symbolized by Kissinger, the Berrigans’ lessons never faded from relevance. Indeed, they’re arguably more important today than ever before.
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