Document Group: DG 135

Provenance: Received 1979, 1986

Size: 4.55 linear feet

Restrictions: No

Microfilm: No

Finding Aid: Checklist prepared by Martha Shane, 1983; updated by Wendy E. Chmielewski, Curator, June 2006.

These records were processed under NEH Grant No. 20111-81-1655

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

Historical background

            Following the Vietnam conflict, at its 1974 conference, the War Resisters Leauge established a task force to create a major project on disarmament and militarism.  Joined by other organizations, the task force developed the idea of a Continental Walk which would leave San Franciso in January 1976 and reach Washington, D.C., in October 1976.  Sponsoring organizations of the Walk, in addition to WRL, included the Fellowship of Reconciliation, American Friends Service Committee, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Catholic Peace Fellowship, Clergy and Laity Concerned, SANE, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

            Walk headquarters were established at 339 Lafayette Street in New York at the WRL offices.  The Steering committee (or Coordinating Committee) was composed of representatives from sponsoring organizations and Walk staff people including Ed Hedemann, Larry Erickson, and Vickie Leonard.  Acting as coordinators, the Walk staff contacted regional peace organizations or individuals who made local arrangements for the walkers or organized their own feeder walks and fund-raising support events.   In August 1975, before the Walk began, a call was sent out to well-known peace leaders throughout the country, asking for their support and endorsement of the Walk.  The prupose of the Walk, as described in the call, was "to raise the issue of disarmament through unilateral action . . . to educate about non-violent resistance as a means superior to armament . . . and to demonstrate how global and domestic and economic problems are inerconnected with militarism and the causes of war . . . ." Among those who signed the call were Daniel and Philip Berrigan, Dave Dellinger, Benjamin Spock, Joan Baez, David McReynolds, and Dorothy Day.

            The first walkers left Ukiah, California, on January 23, 1976.  They joined with others in San Francisco, and 800 strong, left on January 31 to begin the main cross-country route.  The large number proved problematic, and a week's halt was called in Indio, California, while Joanne Sheehan and David McReynolds of the Walk Coordination Committee evaluated the situation. This resulted in a more careful screening of walkers and establishing clearer lines of authority.  As the walkers progressed across the country, they were joined by others from feeder routes.  Japanese peace groups sent 16 monks and nuns, some of whom accompanied the Americans from coast to coast.  Walkers were sometimes arrested, often on charges of "walking in the roadway" or "failure to obey lawful commands of police officials".

            Including feeder walks, the Walk covered a total of 8000 miles and passed through 34 states.  Press coverage was sporadic, but the Walk issued its own newspaper, The Continental Walk News and received excellent coverage in the publications of sponsoring peace organizations, such as WIN Magazine.  On October 18, the final days of the Walk, 700 made their way to the Pentagon where 53 where arrested for failing to disperse.  A contingent went on to the White House where they met with Presidnet Gerald Ford's national security advisor.  The President refused to meet with the walkers, and in a speech the next day, denounced those who urged cutting military expenditures.

            David McReynolds wrote in the book The Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice (Edited by Vicki Leonard and Tom MacLean, 1977):  "We never believed that by walking from Ukiah to Washington we could end the arms race.  We did believed that by the process of walking we would learn something of the patience we need . . . . The Walk was the beginning of confronting the issue of the arms race - and of the massive social injustice in our world." (p. 7)

Scope and contents

            The records of the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice, hereafter called the Walk, were part of the War Resisters League records, accessioned by the Swarthmore College Peace Collection in 1979.  Included in the Walk records are minutes (May 1975-October 1976) of the Steering committee (later called the Coordinating Committee) and correspondence (1975-1978).  There are leaflets and publicity issued by the Walk both From its main office in Hew York and by regional peace groups supporting the Walk.  Questionnaires completed by walkers as well as their letters and narrative accounts provide description of the Walk.  Its periodical The Continental Walk News (October 1975-October 1976) and a regional file of newspaper clippings are part of the Walk records.  The folders in the Series III organizing file are titled by region and contain minutes, memos, reports, correspondence, publicity, and newsletters from that region.  There are also several sound reels.

            Correspondents include Larry Ericson, Larry Gara, ED Hedemann, Steve Ladd, Vickie Leonard, Brad Lyttle, David McReynolds, India Owen, and Joanne Sheehan.

Arrangement

            The records of the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice were found together within the War Resisters League's records, Accession 79A-8.  The decision to make the Walk a separate document group of SCPC, (DG 135), was made in May 1983.  Little rearrangement was necessary.  Folder contents are those of the Walk staff, except for some loose material that was either added to an appropriate folder or placed together in a separate folder.  The Continental Walk News, this group's periodical, was left with its records.  Sound reels were removed for storage with SCPC audio-visual materials.

Checklist

Series I. Administration

Box 1
Minutes of Steering (Coordinating) Committee (May 1975-October 1976)/ Memos
Miscellaneous Finance

Series II. The Call to the Walk and Signers

Series III. Organizing the Walk

Walk Organizers Manual
Leaflet Drafts/Designs/Logos
Lists of Partipants
Routes and Timetables

Box 2
Organizing Files (by region)

Box 3
Coordination and Speakers - Washington, D.C.
March 1976 Evaluation by Joanne Sheehan and David McReynolds
Follow-up

Series IV Correspondence (Feb. 1975-July 1978)

Box 4
December 1975-March 1976

Box 5
April 1976-July 1978

Box 6
Correspondence - Buddhist Monks"Internal Org." Correspondence (Sept. 1975-Oct. 1976)

Series V. Walkers' Accounts

Long-distance Walkers' Accounts
Descrpitive Letters from India Owen
Other Accounts of Walk

Box 6a
Questionnaires for Long Distance Walkers

Box 7
Continental Walk Questionnaire

Series VI. Publicity

Series VII. The Continental Walk News

Box 9
(Periodical Removed to SCPC Retired Periodicals)

Series VIII. Press Clippings

Series IX. Sound Reels (Stored  in SCPC Audio-Visual Collection)

Peace Songs

Book: The Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice,   Edited by Vickie Leonard and Tom MacLean.  1977.  (With pictures)   SCPC:  HM278 .C66

Scrapbook (Acc. 86A-43) donated by Ed Hedemann (filed with SCPC Scrapbooks). The scrapbook contains mostly autograph comments by marchers as well as some photographs and memorabilia. (1976)