The Labor Leadership Assembly for Peace (LLAP) was the first labor organization on a national scale to oppose U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. The organization was formed in Chicago in November 1967 at a national convention of the same name sponsored by the Trade Union Division of the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). This convention, which brought together over five hundred union leaders from 50 different unions, marked the most notable break from the pro-war position of George F. Meany and the AFL-CIO leadership.
In addition to anti-war speeches by union leaders such as Emil Mazey and Victor Reuther of the UAW and Frank Rosenblum of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, the group heard addresses by John Kenneth Galbraith, Martin Luther King, Jr., Eugene McCarthy, and Norman Thomas. The meeting concluded by adopting a resolution denouncing the war as immoral and contrary to the interests of the United States and the labor movement.
Despite its auspicious beginning, LLAP never developed any real following, nor did it have any permanent funding, staff, or headquarters. This was due in part to the fact that the leaders who participated were able to speak only for themselves and not for the rank and file membership of their respective unions. In addition, several leaders consciously downplayed LLAP in deference to the interests of the Democratic ticket in the 1968 elections. After 1968 LLAP became dormant, although it reemerged occasionally in response to events in the anti-war movement.
