This module consists of 14 collections representing 12 different anti-Vietnam War organizations. The organizations represented in this module are Students for a Democratic Society, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, AMEX-Canada; Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars; Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee; Indochina Peace Campaign; National Peace Action Coalition; New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam; Paris American Committee to Stop the War; Student Peace Union; Teachers Committee for Peace in Vietnam; and Vietnam Moratorium Committee. The two largest collections are the records of Students for a Democratic and Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is one of the most well-known radical organizations of the 1960s. Inspired, in part, by the civil rights movement, and especially by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in its early years, SDS emphasized participatory democracy, community building, and creating a political movement of impoverished people. As U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War escalated in the mid-1960s, SDS became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement, before eventually splintering and disbanding by 1970. Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) was founded on June 1, 1967 by six veterans who had met at the Spring Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam in April 1967. In its first two years, VVAW focused on political work and public education. Starting in 1969, VVAW organized major national protests like Operation Rapid American Withdrawal (RAW), the Winter Soldier Investigation, and Operation Dewey Canyon III. Held in April 1971 in Washington, D.C., Operation Dewey Canyon III, brought VVAW leader John F. Kerry to national attention. VVAW's peaceful actions garnered positive press attention, contributing to a substantial increase in membership, to around 20,000 members. Following Dewey Canyon, an ideological split within VVAW between those focused on the single goal of ending the war and those who wished to broaden VVAW's purpose to encompass more radical political change, as well as increased government surveillance led to a slow decline in VVAW membership, however, VVAW was able to survive the end of the Vietnam War by continuing to focus on veterans' benefits and, after 1987, on the Agent Orange health issue. The VVAW records in this module document VVAW programs and activities, primarily in the years from 1967-1975.
Content Types: administrative and organizational records, advertisements and propaganda, books, conference materials, periodicals, press releases, professional correspondence, reports, and more.
Organizations: American Friends Service Committee, Amex-Canada, Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars, Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee, Indochina Peace Campaign, League for Industrial Democracy, National Peace Action Coalition, Paris American Committee to Stop War, Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Student Peace Coalition, Students for a Democratic Society, Teachers Committee for Peace in Vietnam, United Nations, Vietnam Moratorium Committee, Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
Topics: anti-war demonstrations, civil rights, communism, compulsory military service, draft protests, peace movements, political prisoners, public demonstrations, radical politics, student unrest, veterans, Vietnam War, and more.
AMEX/Canada Records, 1968-1977
Records of Amex-Canada, an organization of anti-Vietnam War resisters based in Toronto, Canada, document the publication of its magazine (Amex-Canada) and staff participation in the anti-war and amnesty movements. The collection consists primarily of correspondence between editors of the magazine and leaders of sympathetic groups, especially the National Committee for Universal and Unconditional Amnesty (NCUAA), a coalition of which Amex-Canada was an active member. Comprised of just over 16,000 pages, it is organized as 155 folders. The repository for the collection is the Wisconsin Historical Society, having been presented by Amex-Canada organizer Jack Colhoun in 1980.
Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars, 1968-1981
Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars Records, 1968-1996 consists of extensive correspondence of officers and members, membership lists, financial records, files on individual chapters, subject files, and writings of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars. The writings include an almost complete series of the CCAS Newsletter and published and unpublished articles and papers of the group and its members.
Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee Records, 1965-1971
Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee Records, 1965-1971 chronicles the broad-based coalition that represented the majority of the Vietnam War opposition in New York City. Included are administrative records, internal memoranda, files kept by individual staff members, professional correspondence, press releases and media contact information, lists of supporting individuals and organizations, fact sheets and position papers, and manuals on planning and conducting demonstrations. Many of the files are fragmentary, with the most complete documentation relating to committee activities in 1966 and 1967. Prominent correspondents include A. J. Muste, Norma Becker, Fred Halstead, and Linda Morse Dannenberg. There is also a copy of remarks by Norman Mailer at an August 6, 1966, demonstration.
Fred Halstead Papers, 1956-1978
Fred Halstead (1927-1988) was a leading opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and its military presence in Southeast Asia. A presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party in the 1968 election, he served as staff writer for The Militant, the party's house publication, and was the author of the 1978 book Out Now: A Participant's Account of the American Movement Against the Vietnam War. This collection of some 12,000 pages constitutes the Fred Halstead Papers, 1956-1978, from the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Indochina Peace Campaign Records, 1940-1976
The Indochina Peace Campaign was a national organization formed in 1972, late in the anti-Vietnam War movement, and active through 1975. The organization emphasized public education and legislative lobbying against U.S. military intervention in Vietnam and the larger region of Indochina, particularly Laos and Cambodia. This collection of some 11,520 pages of documents arranged within 128 folders are from the Indochina Peace Campaign Records, 1940-1976 in the archives of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
National Peace Action Coalition Records, 1970-1973
National Peace Action Coalition Records, 1970-1973 consists of correspondence, press releases, news clippings, meeting minutes, leaflets, flyers, and newsletters of the National Peace Action Coalition. The content deals with national and local conferences of the peace movement, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations planned by the coalition, fundraising, relationships with other anti-war organizations, and educational materials about the war in Vietnam. The collection is part of a larger module on the New Left movement.
New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam Records, 1969-1970
New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam Records, 1969-1970 consists of just over 1,000 pages of meeting minutes, correspondence, internal administrative material, and printed material, including form letters, press releases, fact sheets, and pamphlets. The New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, or New Mobe, was formed during an anti-war conference in 1969. Its goal was limited and very specific: to organize and plan anti-war marches in November 1969.
Paris American Committee to Stop War Records, 1961-1975
Paris American Committee to Stop War Records, 1961-1975 consists of correspondence, press releases, pamphlets, reports, news clippings, and newsletters. The content deals with international and local conferences of the peace movement, anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, fundraising, relationships with other anti-war organizations both in France and abroad, and educational materials about the war in Vietnam. Approximately half of the papers are in French, with the remainder mainly in English, with some in Vietnamese, German, and Swedish. Researchers of the Paris American Committee to Stop War may also be interested in Paris American Committee to Stop War: Maria Jolas Papers, 1941-1987.
Paris American Committee to Stop War Records: Maria Jolas Papers, 1941-1987
Paris American Committee to Stop War Records: Maria Jolas Papers, 1941-1987 consists of correspondence, publications, organizational material, research, and political writings of Paris-based American expatriate activist Maria Jolas. Approximately half of the papers are in French, with the remainder mainly in English, with some in Vietnamese, German, and Swedish. Researchers of the Paris American Committee to Stop War (PACS) may also be interested in the general collection of Paris American Committee to Stop War Records, 1961-1975.
Student Peace Union Records, 1958-1964
Student Peace Union Records, 1958-1964 consists of more than 9,000 pages of administrative material, correspondence, and printed material, including bulletins, flyers, brochures, and informational pamphlets. The Student Peace Union (SPU) was a national organization of students and youth who opposed the Cold War and arms race, specifically nuclear weapons, due to the feared result of nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union. The SPU served as a sort of bridge between "Old Left" peace activism and the "New Left," which eventually centered its activities on the war in Vietnam.
Students for a Democratic Society Papers, 1958-1970
Students for a Democratic Society Papers, 1958-1970 is a collection on one of the most well-known radical organizations of the 1960s. Inspired in part by the Civil Rights Movement, especially the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in its early years Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) emphasized participatory democracy, community building, and creating a political movement of impoverished people. As U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War escalated in the mid-1960s, SDS became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement, before eventually splintering and disbanding by 1970. Documents in this collection include correspondence, meeting minutes, periodicals, newsletters, and other administrative material. The collection offers an extremely revealing picture of the activities, management, and progression of SDS.
Teachers Committee for Peace in Vietnam Records, 1963-1980
Teachers Committee for Peace in Vietnam Records, 1963-1980 consists of more than 12,000 pages of correspondence, administrative material, and printed material, including newsletters, bulletins, flyers, brochures, and informational pamphlets. The Teachers Committee for Peace in Vietnam was founded by New York City teachers in 1965 as a response to the Johnson administration's escalation of the war in Vietnam. The committee sought membership from all levels of education, but focused on elementary and secondary teachers as university faculty were already well represented in the anti-war movement. The committee's main goals were to educate teachers about the war, so they in turn could educate their students, and to effect change in local and national teachers' unions regarding the war.
Vietnam Moratorium Committee Records, 1969-1970
Vietnam Moratorium Committee Records, 1969-1970 chronicle a national group of liberal students, faculty, members of Congress, and other concerned citizens that organized local debates, vigils, and other nonviolent activities protesting U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Concerning the October 15, 1969, Moratorium and later events the group supported are correspondence (largely incoming), publications, clippings, forms, and lists. There are also clippings, flyers, and forms received from various regional offices. Visual materials include photographs of group members and posters advocating social action. Comprised of nearly 5,000 pages, it is organized as 57 folders. The repository for the collection is the Wisconsin Historical Society, having been presented by Moratorium organizer David Mixner. A finding aid for the collection was published by the Wisconsin Historical Society; portions of it are included in these scope notes with the full text available (together with folder lists) at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uwwhsmss00202.
Vietnam Veterans Against the War Records, 1967-2006
Vietnam Veterans Against the War Records, 1967-2006 consists of correspondence, press releases, news clippings, meeting minutes, leaflets, flyers, and newsletters of the VVAW, a national organization formed in 1967 by Vietnam veterans who favored military withdrawal from Vietnam. After the war, VVAW worked for improved services and benefits for Vietnam veterans.
