Walter Capps

Walter Holden Capps (May 5, 1934 – October 28, 1997) was an American politician. He was a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives. Capps lost an election to Andrea Seastrand for the 22nd district in California in 1994, which was a landslide year for the Republicans. While driving home from a campaign event during the summer of 1996, Capps' vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. Capps was seriously injured and was unable to actively campaign until the final few weeks of the race. During his absence from the campaign, his opponent, graciously, didn't make his failing health an issue. Ultimately, despite his absence from the campaign trail, Capps won, even as Bob Dole edged Bill Clinton in the district.

Capps died of a heart attack at Dulles Airport only nine months into his term. The Reverend Jesse Jackson attended his funeral. Capps was succeeded by his widow, Lois Capps, who won in a special election in the spring of 1998. Subsequent legislation by Congresswoman Capps has mandated the presence of AEDs in public places.

Before entering politics, Capps taught for more than thirty years at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As a Professor in the Religious Studies department he helped define the field, and cataloged the growth and changes in his 1995 book Religious Studies: The Making of a Discipline. An anti-war activist during the 1960s, he later initiated a nationally renowned course titled "Religion and the Impact of Vietnam" in 1979.

Walter Capps' pivotal class on the Vietnam War was offered at UCSB through the mid-1990s. It was a popular class, and attracted thousands of students, not all of them majors in Religious Studies. Every quarter, Capps would offer students an opportunity to invite members of their family to come to class, specifically family members who had participated directly or indirectly in this infamous war. Many students brought uncles, fathers, grandfathers, or cousins to the auditorium. Most were vets who had served in direct combat, but others had held roles such as political aides, draft-protesters, and the like. All were given a chance to speak before the class of hundreds, and all were warmly welcomed. Capps had advised his students beforehand to welcome every one of the veterans home. Because, he explained, so many of these vets never had a proper homecoming. Protesters against the war took out their frustrations on returning soldiers, many of whom had been drafted. It was an unfortunate period in American History, and many veterans suffered for it, not only because of the trauma of the war itself, but also because of the attitude towards them upon their return home.

So when a Vietnam veteran stood before a packed auditorium of upwards of 300 students, he was greeted warmly with the resounding chorus of, "Welcome home." For many of these veterans, that was the first time they had ever heard those words. And to hear the sentiment echoing from such a vast audience rendered most of these men speechless. Many succumbed to tears; the students cried, too. A healing was taking place, and everyone in the room felt it. The Vietnam War was an unhealed wound, and all who participated in welcoming a veteran home, no matter their own perceptions of right and wrong when it came to the war itself, felt as though they were helping to heal this devastating wound and to bring some light to the darkness.

Professor Capps also offered his students the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. Not every student could attend, but before every trip, names were collected from students who couldn't participate...names of family members and friends who had been killed in the war. The promise was made that a rubbing of each name would be taken from the wall by the other students, to bring back to their fellows as a keepsake, and that promise was kept...religiously.

Walter Capps was a man of great influence during his time, who brought healing to some, and enlightenment to many. He is missed.

His name lives on in the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life at the University of California, Santa Barbara.