Title: United States Servicemen's Fund Records
Inclusive Dates: 1967-1973

Creator:

• United States Servicemen's Fund

Call Number: Mss 568; Micro 867

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (5 archives boxes) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Records generated and collected by the United States Servicemen's Fund (USSF), an anti-Vietnam War organization created to raise funds to benefit Vietnam War servicemen. In late 1971, USSF supported 51 underground GI newspapers and 32 coffeehouses, bookstores and counseling centers; and sponsored performances of the FTA (Free Theater Associates) Show in the United States and abroad. Administration records consist of correspondence and internal memoranda that describe USSF's projects and administrative workings. Records of Support Our Soldiers (SOS), a San Francisco group closely allied with USSF are also included. Project records describe the work of some organizations that received USSF support. The work of other antiwar groups and causes are described in USSF reference materials. General newspaper clippings and foreign press accounts of four antiwar activists' trip to North Vietnam to escort home three U.S. prisoners of war are also included. The activists were members of the Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in Vietnam.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00568

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The United States Servicemen's Fund (USSF) was organized in March 1969 as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization to provide financial support to anti-Vietnam War GI projects. By late 1971, USSF supported 51 underground GI newspapers and 32 coffeehouses, bookstores and counseling centers; and sponsored performances of the FTA (Free Theater Associates) Show in the United States and abroad.

The USSF was organized at a time when the GI movement was gaining momentum. Many of the group's original supporters had been active in other similar causes. For example, two of USSF's initial members, Fred Gardner and Donna Mickleson, had organized the UFO, a GI coffeehouse near Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. in 1968. The UFO is thought to be the first of its kind. Coffeehouses were designed to give servicemen a place to relax off base. The houses also became settings for discussions regarding the Vietnam War and social issues. By 1969, many more coffeehouses had been organized throughout the country and 12 USSF members, calling themselves the New York Unlabelled, organized the Attorney General's Favorite Defense Committee. This committee was created to finance coffeehouse defenses against military efforts to declare the coffeehouses off-limits or to close them.

Among the New York Unlabelled were Dr. Howard Levy, the Fort Jackson Army doctor who was court-martialed for refusing to train medics for Vietnam duty; Robert Zevin, a Resist member who became a USSF board member; and Barbara Dane, a folk singer who performed in coffeehouses in the United States and the Far East. USSF's initial sponsors included Noam Chomsky, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., David Dellinger, Dr. Benjamin Spock, and Paul Lauter, who later became USSF executive director.

In addition to coffeehouses and counseling projects, USSF also helped support GI underground newspapers. In late 1967, the first such papers appeared, expressing antiwar sentiment from within the ranks. An unknown number of these newspapers were published between 1967 and 1973. David Cortright, in his Soldiers in Revolt (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1975), estimates as many as 300 GI newspapers were published and lists 259 titles. The USSF provided funding to 51 papers in late 1971.

Between early 1971 and March 1972, USSF operated two offices, one in Cambridge, Mass. and a second in New York City. The Cambridge office was responsible for funds dispersal and the New York office handled fund raising activities. The two offices were consolidated in 1972, when the Cambridge office closed. The USSF also maintained a close liaison with San Francisco's Support Our Soldiers (SOS) and Chicago's CAMP (Chicago Area Military Project).

USSF's principal mission was that of raising funds and the organization met that goal with varying success. By December 1971, USSF had distributed approximately $290,000 to various GI projects and had raised approximately $430,000. In 1970, the Internal Revenue Service began proceedings to revoke USSF's tax-exempt status and acted finally in 1973. The IRS' decision seriously hindered USSF's fund raising efforts.

In some ways, 1971 was a landmark year for USSF because its work attracted national attention. The FTA Show that featured Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland toured United States military towns under USSF sponsorship. The show capped its U.S. tour with a “Salute to the GI Movement” in Lincoln Center's Philharmonic Hall on November 21, 1971 and then toured East Asian military installations. The FTA Show (FTA was variously defined as Free Theater Associates, Fun Travel Adventure, Fox Trot Tango Alpha, Free the Army, or F--- the Army) satirized the military and expressed antiwar sentiments.

Also in 1971, USSF was perceived to be the “leader” of the GI antiwar movement in at least one national incident. In May, GIs stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, began boycotting Tyrrell's jewelry stores, objecting to the store's purported exploitive practices. Other GI groups followed suit, boycotting Tyrrell's stores in other parts of the country. The boycott proved to be successful and in September and October, Tyrrell representatives and attorneys approached USSF to negotiate an end to the boycott.

In 1972, USSF began to experience financial and administrative problems. By July, the organization was $15,000 in debt. Later that year, staff members began to resign leaving only two staff people in April 1973. The USSF dissolved shortly thereafter.

The collection consists of records, correspondence, and reference materials generated and collected by the United States Servicemen's Fund. It is organized in four series: Administration, Projects, Reference, and Newspaper Clippings.

The ADMINISTRATION series includes correspondence and internal memoranda that describe some of USSF's projects, concerns and administrative workings. The correspondence also includes material from a closely affiliated west coast group, Support Our Soldiers. Letters by Donna Mickleson, who helped organize the first GI coffeehouses and was a USSF executive director, are included with the west coast material. The correspondence also includes letters to and by USSF associate Josh Gould, who tried to organize a meeting between the Vietnamese and U.S. antiwar groups' representatives in Montreal. Financial statements and USSF's fund raising records detail the organization's major activity -- that of raising money to support GI movement projects. USSF's fund raising efforts were crippled when the Internal Revenue Service revoked the group's tax-exempt status in 1973. Minutes and agendas of USSF board meetings are incomplete. Many of the reports and position papers are anonymous. The USSF office apparently collected accounts of movement opposition and periodically mailed copies of those accounts in “Repression Packets.”

Included in the PROJECTS series are material from some of the GI organizations that received USSF funds. Major projects were coffeehouses situated near various military bases, GI newspapers, legal and mental health counseling services, and performances of the FTA Show in the United States and in the Far East.

Copies of GI newspapers USSF supported are not included in the collection. The researcher can find many of these papers on microfilm in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin's library. However, lists of the newspapers which USSF supported can be found in this collection. The researcher should consult “GI newspapers” (Box 4, folder 20) and the program titled “The New Army” that is with programs for the FTA Show's Lincoln Center performance (Box 4, folder 11). The latter publication also lists coffeehouses and other projects that received USSF support as of November 1971. Additionally, the researcher may also wish to consult David Cortright's Soldiers in Revolt (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press, 1975) for an annotated bibliography of GI newspapers.

The REFERENCE series includes general material regarding GI movement groups and causes. Because these groups' exact relationship with USSF is not readily apparent, this material is included in the REFERENCE series.

General newspaper clippings regarding the GI movement are included in the NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS series. In addition, accounts of the 1972 trip of four antiwar activists -- Cora Weiss, the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Professor Richard Falk, and David Dellinger (one of the Chicago Seven) -- to North Vietnam are preserved on microfilm. The four went to Vietnam to escort home three U.S. prisoners of war. Weiss was a member of USSF's board of directors and Coffin and Dellinger were USSF supporters. Their trip to North Vietnam, however, was under the auspices of another organization, Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in Vietnam (COLIFAM). Most domestic newspaper clippings were weeded from these files, leaving accounts of the trip from European, Canadian, Australian, Mexican, and some Asian newspapers. Three North Vietnamese newspapers (one in English) are also included.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the United States Servicemen's Fund via Nancy Stearns of the Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, New York, 1980, 1981. Accession Number: M80-392, M81-309

Processing Information

Processed by Susan Steinwall and Joanne Hohler, May, 1981.

Mss 568	Series: Administration
Box   1 Folder   1	Correspondence, 1970 January-1972 September, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	About Face, 1972 June
Box   1 Folder   3	Bernard Carver, 1970 April-1971 June
Box   1 Folder   4	Daniel Ellsberg, 1971 October
Box   1 Folder   5	Gabriel Kolko, 1971 February-November
Box   1 Folder   6	Memoranda, 1968 October-1973 April, undated
Box   1 Folder   7	Proposed meeting of Vietnamese and GI movement groups, 1970 November-1971 March
Box   1 Folder   8	Malvina Reynolds (includes music), 1971 June
Box   1 Folder   9	Pete Seeger, 1969 July 8, 1971 August 13
Box   1 Folder   10	Support Our Soldiers, 1970 January-1972, undated
Box   1 Folder   11	Donna Mickleson, 1968 October-1970 May, undated
Box   1 Folder   12	Financial statements and miscellany, 1969-1972, undated
Box   1 Folder   13	Cambridge office, 1971, undated
	Fund Raising
	Art Collection
Box   1 Folder   14	Correspondence, 1970 October-1972 April, undated
Box   1 Folder   15	Sales Catalog and miscellany, 1971-1972
Box   1 Folder   16	Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace (membership list), 1967
Box   1 Folder   17	Contributors (lists), circa 1970
Box   1 Folder   18	Potential Contributors (lists), 1970-1972, undated
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   19-20	1969 February-1970 March
Box   2 Folder   1-3	1970 April-1972, undated
Box   2 Folder   4	Foundations, 1971 August-1972 September Note: See also Box 3, folder 6, Stern Fund.
Box   2 Folder   5	Loans, 1972 August-September, undated
Box   2 Folder   6	Summer Festival for Peace, 1970 August
Box   2 Folder   7	IRS Suit - Legal papers and correspondence, 1972
Box   2 Folder   8	Minutes and agendas, 1971 September-1973 May, undated
Box   2 Folder   9	Newsletters, 1969-1970, undated
Box   2 Folder   10	Reports and position papers, 1971, undated
Box   2 Folder   11	“Repression Packet” (accounts of GI movement opposition), 1969-1972, undated
	Series: Projects	⇧
Box   2 Folder   12	Anniston (Alabama) House, 1971
Box   2 Folder   13	CCAS, 1972
Box   2 Folder   14	CCCO (Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors), 1971-1972
Box   2 Folder   15	Citizens' Commission of Inquiry, 1969-1970
Box   2 Folder   16	Code 7 Collective, 1970
Box   2 Folder   17	Coffee Houses, circa 1969
	Attorney General's Favorite Defense Committee
Box   2 Folder   18	Correspondence, 1969 November-1970 April
Box   2 Folder   19	Contributors, 1970 February-March
Box   3 Folder   1	Financial Records, 1970
Box   3 Folder   2	GI News and Discussion Bulletin, 1971 January-1973
Box   3 Folder   3	Committee to Defend the Right to Boycott, circa 1971
Box   3 Folder   4	Counseling, circa 1971
Box   3 Folder   5	Case histories, 1970-1971
Box   3 Folder   6	Correspondence (Stern Fund), 1971 April-1972 November
Box   3 Folder   7	Programs, 1971
Box   3 Folder   8	“The Crisis in the Army” (newspaper series), 1971 July
Box   3 Folder   9	Barbara Dane Asian concert tour, 1970-1971
Box   3 Folder   10	Earth Onion (women's theater group), circa 1971
Box   3 Folder   11	Jane Fonda speaking tour, 1971
	FTA Show
Box   3 Folder   12	Correspondence, 1971
Box   3 Folder   13	Performers, 1971-1972, undated
Box   3 Folder   14	Financial, 1971
Box   3 Folder   15	Legal (USSF v. Laird), 1971
Box   3 Folder   16	Memoranda, 1971, undated
Box   3 Folder   17	Motion picture, 1971
Box   3 Folder   18	News releases, 1971 March-December, undated
Box   4 Folder   1-2	Newspaper clippings, 1971 February-1972 April
	Performances
Box   4 Folder   3	Ft. Bragg (Fayetteville, NC), 1971 March
Box   4 Folder   4	USS Constellation (San Diego, CA), 1971 April
Box   4 Folder   5	Ft. Lewis (Tacoma, WA), 1971 August
Box   4 Folder   6	Travis Air Force Base (Fairfield, CA), 1971 September
Box   4 Folder   7	Ft. Dix (Wrightstown, NJ), 1971 November 18
	Salute to the GI Movement (Lincoln Center, NYC)
Box   4 Folder   8	Advertisements, 1971 November 21
Box   4 Folder   9	Correspondence, 1971 July-November
Box   4 Folder   10	Financial, 1971 November
Box   4 Folder   11	Programs, 1971 November
Box   4 Folder   12	Sponsors' agreements (Abuzug-Weiss), 1971 October-November
	Asia Tour
Box   4 Folder   13	Correspondence, 1971 June-November
Box   4 Folder   14	Financial, 1971 October-November
Box   4 Folder   15	Itinerary and miscellany, 1971
Box   4 Folder   16	Recordings, 1971 March-November
Box   4 Folder   17	Nina Simone, 1971
Box   4 Folder   18	Scripts, circa 1971
Box   4 Folder   19	FTUCMJ - The GI's Guide to Military Injustice, 1971 December
Box   4 Folder   20	GI newspapers, 1971, undated
Box   5 Folder   1	Legal programs, 1970-1972, undated
Box   5 Folder   2	Military Research Group, 1971
Box   5 Folder   3	San Francisco Mime Troupe, 1971
Box   5 Folder   4	Venceremos Brigade (in Cuba), circa 1971
Box   5 Folder   5	Women's Newsletter, 1970 April
	Series: Reference	⇧
Box   5 Folder   6	Ad Hoc Military Buildup Committee, 1972 April
Box   5 Folder   7	Background on the GI Movement, circa 1971, undated
Box   5 Folder   8	Camp McCoy Defense Committee, 1970 July
Box   5 Folder   9	Richard Chase, 1969 December
Box   5 Folder   10	Committee for the Presido 27, 1968 October
Box   5 Folder   11	Fort Ord MDM (Movement for a Democratic Military), undated
Box   5 Folder   12	Free Tom Michaud Committee, 1972
Box   5 Folder   13	GI Movement miscellany, 1970, undated
Box   5 Folder   14	Harbor Project, circa 1972
Box   5 Folder   15	Letters by sailors and soldiers, 1972 January-July, undated
Box   5 Folder   16	National Peace Literature Service of the American Friends Service Committee, circa 1971
Box   5 Folder   17	New England Military News, 1971 December
Box   5 Folder   18	People's Blockade, circa 1972 July
Box   5 Folder   19	Stop Our Ship, 1971 September-1973 July, undated
	Series: Newspaper Clippings	⇧
Box   5 Folder   20	GI Movement, 1968 August-1972 April, undated
Box   5 Folder   21	Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in Vietnam (COLIFAM) - miscellany from clipping file, 1972 August-October
Micro 867 Reel   1	COLIFAM clipping file, 1972 September-October