Biography
Donald E. Baker, known as Don Baker, received conscientious-objector status during World War II and was assigned to Cascade Locks CPS Camp 21 on January 21, 1942. He helped publish its newsletter and The Illiterati. In 1944 he left camp in protest, was arrested by federal authorities and imprisoned at McNeil Island. Letters from James Townsend document his imprisonment during 1944-1945. After the war he worked as a printer in San Francisco. The Lewis & Clark College archive records his death on September 30, 2015.
Verified detail sources (October 9, 2026, further review): Lewis & Clark College’s Don Baker Papers finding aid explicitly records birth in 1918, uses he/him, and describes his 1944 walkout, ensuing federal arrest, McNeil Island imprisonment, and prison correspondence dating from 1944. Birth and case start dates are stored only to the year. January 21, 1942 was his CPS assignment, not criminal incarceration; the correspondence span is not treated as a measured prison term. Source 1.
