Cindy Sheehan: From Grieving Mother to Peace Advocate

Cindy Sheehan’s life was profoundly altered when her son, Casey, was killed in combat on April 4, 2004, in Sadr City, Baghdad. Within a short period of time, she transformed her private grief into a series of public protests against the war policies of President George W. Bush. From an open letter to Bush on the seven-month anniversary of Casey’s death that excoriated his “reckless and wanton foreign policies” to appearing as part of a political advertisement against Bush in the fall of 2004 to her prominent August 2005 vigil in Crawford, Texas, the site of Bush’s vacation ranch, Sheehan became a visible symbol and lightning rod for opposition to the Iraq War. Following her transition from aggrieved mother to antiwar protestor and peace advocate will be the focus of this chapter.