Ralph was a man of strong convictions and he lived a life consistent with those beliefs. He spent much of his college life protesting the Vietnam war and attained Conscientious Objector status, in which he performed community service after graduating from college as a fundraiser for Project Place, a nonprofit in the Boston area for at risk youth.

He saw himself as a pacifist and as a result declined to work on architectural projects that involved the military. This, of course, created some concern during the economic downturn when architects were hungry for work.   He felt he did not have the choice. He became a vegetarian because he felt it was most consistent with his nonviolent views. He never pushed these views onto his kids, though Lucy followed in his footsteps and was a vegetarian for many years.

Though many people are cynical about "draft dodgers" of the 60s, not too many people who knew Ralph felt he was taking the easy way out. A good friend who held conservative political views and was in the navy provided one of Ralph's CO application support letters. Though they didn't share politics, he knew that Ralph was  sincere about his beliefs. Ralph was prepared to go to jail if necessary to support these views; fortunately he didn't have to.

Here's a picture of Ralph getting his hair cut in the dorm courtyard at Yale, trying hard to make himself presentable to the draft board so he could obtain his C.O. status. Though he still looked a bit scruffy according to today's standards, I guess it worked.