Swarthmore College Peace Collection, 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081 U.S.A.

Committee for Amnesty for All
Objectors to War and Conscription
Records, 1945-1948
The SCPC is not the official repository for these records

Document Group: CDGA

Size: 10 linear inches

Provenance: Donated by War Resisters League

Restrictions: None

Microfilm: None

Finding Aid: Checklist created by Anne Yoder, Oct. 2002

This checklist is the property of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection.


Introduction

On Dec. 1, 1945, representatives from numerous groups (including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the War Resisters League, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom) met in New York City to discuss setting up a committee that could work proactively on the question of amnesty for conscientious objectors. It was agreed to form the Committee for Amnesty for War Objectors and Selective Service Violators, with A.J. Muste as Chair; at its next meeting, on Jan. 12, 1946, the name of the group was changed to Committee for Amnesty for All Objectors to War and Conscription. The Committee's purpose was to seek an amnesty for "all objectors to war and conscription," which included men under army court-martial for their stance against war. Its main office was at 5 Beekman Street in NYC, but a Washington office (dissolved by June 1946) and a Chicago office were in existence as well. Stanley Murphy was Organizing Secretary until March 1946, whereupon Albon Man took over the position. Vivien Roodenko was employed as secretary in the Washington office, and later in the NYC office. Among the Committee's proponents were Emily Greene Balch, Pearl Buck, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Harold Ickes, A.J. Muste, Robin Myers and Igal Roodenko. Its most widely publicized work was the sponsorship of picketing demonstrations at the White House in May and December 1946 calling for amnesty, but it also promoted its objectives through lobbying of Congressional and other government leaders, creating press releases and published literature, garnering support with signatures to petitions from around the country, and working as a liaison to other groups interested in the amnesty question.

It is unknown exactly when the Committee disbanded, but the last meeting minutes are dated June 30, 1948.

It is unlikely that this collection contains everything put out by the Committee during its existence. The War Resisters League gave the files in this collection to the Swarthmore College Peace Collection at the instigation of Albon Man.

Photographs were removed to the Photograph Collection.


Contents of Collection

Box 1
Checklists
History
Meeting minutes, 1945 (Dec.) - 1948 (June)
Sponsors
Finances: taxes filed, 1946-1948
Correspondence (general), 1946-1948
Correspondence with:
Executive Committee members
U.S. President, Congress & other government officials
Ibid. re: COs imprisoned at Sandstone Prison [includes letters from CO prisoners], 1946
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 1945-1948
Balch, Emily Greene, 1946-1948
Buck, Pearl and John Burke (Co-Chairs), 1948
Congregational Christian Churches, 1946
Federal Council of Churches, 1946
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield (Honorary Chair), 1946-1948
Freedom Defense Committee, 1947
Ickes, Harold, 1947
Methodist Church, 1945-1948
Muste, A.J., 1946-1948
O'Neil, James, 1947 [includes inquiries about him]
Presbyterian Church, 1946-1948
Roberts, Owen, 1946-1947 [includes inquiries about him]
Correspondence about Willis Smith, 1946-1947

Box 2
Program work
General
Compiling of statistics re: COs in prison
Pursuit of tax exempt status for Committee
Gathering of names signed to petitions re: amnesty
Development of statement/s before President's Amnesty Board
Sponsorship of amnesty demonstration, Washington (DC), May 11, 1946
Outreach
Form letters
Articles, releases, calls to action
Publicity: press releases
Literature
Chicago office/committee/branch
Washington (DC) office/committee/branch
Media coverage
Reference
Amnesty: general
Amnesty: Presidential statements, 1930s-1940s
Number of COs in prison, 1945-1948
Copies of letters by Igal Roodenko, 1946-1947


 
 
 
 

Swarthmore College Peace Collection

For more information, contact Wendy Chmielewski, Curator, at
wchmiel1@ swarthmore.edu
or call 610-328-8557.

For other resources, see the college's online library catalog (Tripod).
 

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