Paul Michael Mayer was born February 24, 1931 in Frankfurt, Germany to Ernst and Bertha Mayer, ethnic Jews of German nationality. His father was a concert pianist who made ends meet working as his salesman, while his mother worked as a nurse
Mayer is best remembered as a leading radical pacifist of the 1960s and early 1970s, taking part in acts of civil disobedience in an effort to speed an end to the Vietnam War. Early years
Following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party, repression rapidly engulfed Germany"s Jewish population. Political activism
On February 8, 1971, Mayer was indicted as a co-conspirator along with radical priests Philip Berrigan, Daniel Berrigan, and 10 others in an alleged plot to bomb the United States. Capitol and kidnap Henry Kissinger, a top policy advisor to President Richard M. Nixon.
Mayer acted as the head of the defense committee to support the defendants, who were known in the popular press of the day as the Harrisburg Seven.
The defendants charged that the alleged plot was a fabrication constructed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "People always ask what the meaning of the indictment is.
I see it as a further attempt to stifle dissent. lieutenant also shows that the government is now ready to move from mere "extreme" groups such as the Panthers and Weatherpeople to more moderate and nonviolent peace people.
Dissent is no longer to be tolerated in any form, especially by people who by their involvement are determined to keep this war on the front, rather than the back pages of the newspaper.
"That"s what the Administration is trying to do, to deceive the people into thinking the war is being wound down, whereas in reality it is being increasingly wound up. "I think the indictments are an attempt to scare people off, or to frighten us off, and from there to scare off people in general. People are a lot more nervous these days.
There"s no question about that."
The trial of the 13 ended in a hung jury in 1972 and charges against Mayer were dismissed.
Later years
Death and legacy
Mayer died November 22, 2013 at his home in East Orange, New Jersey. He was 82 years old at the time of his death.
In a February 1971 interview with the Los Angeles Free Press Mayer said:
During his last years Mayer became involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement, expressing an affinity for its radical political ideology and anti-poverty efforts.
