Sketch of little Amish girls by

Beulah Hostetler (widow of John A. Hostetler), used with her permission

  ’72: Yoder in Wisconsin, page 3

groups. I was gratified, consequently, when the University of Chicago Press published the proceedings under my editorship. More recently,however, with time to connect dots, I realize that far more good resulted from deep concern and interpersonal contacts generated at the Chicago conference itself.

It was at the conference (March 28 and 29, 1967) that I first met several people who became key figures in the Yoder case two years later (April 2, 1969). I believe they first met each other at the conference as well--John Hostetler, then the world’s leading expert on the Amish; William Bentley Ball, a constitutional attorney representing Catholic schools at the conference; Franklin H. Littell, President of Iowa Wesleyan College; and William C. Lindholm, a pastor representing a Lutheran school group.

Dan Borntreger, chairman of the Amish School Committee at Hazleton, Iowa, agreed to come to the Chicago conference but later backed out, in keeping with the pacifism of the Amish faith. With rare exceptions the Amish refuse to defend themselves, except by explaining that they act out of religious conviction. If outsiders defend them in a manner involving no active Amish cooperation, that is acceptable, but participating in conference designed to counteract mistreatment of the Amish could arouse much contention in Amish circles. LeRoy Garber was criticized by many Amish for hiring an attorney to defend him in court, and Amish defendants in the Yoder case were denounced for cooperating in the defense described below.

As if to substitute for Borntreger, Governor Harold E. Hughes of Iowa and I discussed what happened to the Amish in his state. A presentation by Littell demonstrated, more than a little passionately, the connection between Amish religious freedom and plain decency. Two renowned law professors (Norman Dorsen and Leo W. Pfeffer) discussed constitutional ramifications.

People aroused over brutality toward the Amish convened over lunch at the Chicago conference, where they formed the National Committee on Amish Religious Freedom and persuaded Pastor Lindholm to lead it. Lindholm and others urged Ball to consider taking up the Amish cause. Ball talked with Hostetler about Amish society.

Soon other important events unfolded: The National Committee for Amish Religious Freedom raised critical but limited funds.  Ball tried vainly to appeal the Kansas case (regarding LeRoy Garber and his daughter Sharon) to the U. S. Supreme Court. Three Amish parents near new Glarus, WI, were charged in what became the Yoder case. Lindholm, in extremely ticklish negotiations, persuaded the three parents to let Ball defend them. Ball asked three people whom he met at the Chicago conference (Hostetler, Littell, and me) to

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