The GI Civil Liberties Defense Committee was a fund-raising and public information organization formed to defend the constitutional liberties of members of the military who opposed U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam. Much of the history of the GICLDC is quite sketchy, but it is known that it was organized by the fall of 1968, as its first press release was issued in September of that year. First national secretary was Matilde Zimmermann; she was succeeded by Stacey Seigle in November 1969. A host of notables including James Baldwin, Carl and Anne Braden, Noam Chomsky, Ruth Gage-Colby, Carleton B. Goodlett, Dick Gregory, Staughton Lynd, Floyd B. McKissick, and Norman Mailer lent their names to the group as sponsors, and until his death Bertrand Russell served as honorary chairman.
GICLDC headquarters were located in New York City, from which point it was able to cooperate closely with the Student Mobilization Committee Against the War in Vietnam and its GI Press Service. It also developed close working relationships with the Civil Liberties Legal Defense Fund, GIs United Against the War, and a number of GICLDC local chapters. In conjunction with these organizations and through its own activities GICLDC was instrumental in bringing many members of the military to the anti-war movement and in securing justice in individual cases. At the same time, publicizing the abridgements of soldiers' civil liberties helped to broaden the civilian support of the peace movement.
GICLDC's first success was the 1969 acquittal of Allen Myers, editor of the Fort Dix underground newspaper. The committee subsequently aided in other litigation, the most notable of which was the defense of the members of GIs United known as the “Fort Jackson 8.” Thanks to the publicity brought to bear on the case by GICLDC, charges against the group were dropped and all were given dishonorable discharges.
