Title: Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee Records
Inclusive Dates: 1965-1971

Creator:

• Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee

Call Number: Mss 205

Quantity: 1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

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

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

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

Abstract:

Records of the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee, a broad-based coalition which represented the majority of the Vietnam War opposition in New York City. Included are steering committee minutes, correspondence, press releases, leaflets, and logistical material on various national and local demonstrations that the committee organized and supported. Many of the files are quite fragmentary, with the most complete documentation relating to committee activities in 1966 and 1967. Prominent correspondents include Kipp Dawson, Frank Emspak, Fred Halstead, Linda Morse, and Ron Wolin. There is also a copy of remarks by Norman Mailer at an August 6, 1966, demonstration.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00205

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

 ↑ Bookmark this ↑

The Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee was formed in New York City in September 1965 in response to a call issued by David Dellinger, editor of Liberation magazine, and Norma Becker, a school teacher, in order to plan local events for the October 15-16 First International Days of Protest. Composed of over 80 groups and numerous individuals prominent in the anti-war movement, the committee was what Fred Halstead, a historian of the movement, has termed “the most broadly representative united front-type coalition on the left to develop in New York in decades.” The committee's first effort--a march down Fifth Avenue and a mass rally--attracted a crowd of over 25,000 which was then considered a successful showing for an anti-war demonstration, and as a result the group was encouraged to organize on a more permanent basis. By the end of 1966 the coalition included over 150 organizations and was generally acknowledged to be the largest and most important local anti-war group in the country. As a result of its policy of organizing around specific events rather than policies or programs and the conciliatory leadership of its first chairman, A. J. Muste, the committee was able to successfully coordinate its diverse membership for several years.

In addition to participation in local protests, the committee also organized the New York contingent of various national activities such as the March to End the War in Vietnam on April 15, 1967, and the March on Washington, on November 15, 1969. To plan these activities it worked closely with national organizations including the November 8 Mobilization Committee and the Spring and National Mobilization Committees to End the War in Vietnam.

The records include minutes, correspondence, press releases, leaflets, and files concerning participation in various local and national demonstrations. The most complete documentation of the committee's activities may be found among the press releases and flyers, which form part of a publications file, and in a segregated group of form letters filed with the correspondence. Except for material dating from 1966 and 1967, the remainder of the collection provides only fragmentary coverage of committee activities.

The minutes, 1966-1971, also including calls and meeting agendas, pertain not only to meetings of the central administrative committee, but also to several important full committee meetings.

Chronologically-arranged correspondence, 1965-1971, is rather routine (the sole outside correspondent of note is Norman Thomas, March 22, 1966), although the outgoing mail is of somewhat higher quality than the incoming. Most of this mail was written by A. J. Muste or by staff members Fred Halstead or Linda Morse. Several letters from Ron Wolin concern the committee's constitutional right to distribute leaflets. Very little of the correspondence bears on the works of the two committee coordinators, Norma Becker and David Dellinger, or on the administrative committee. There are also few exchanges with the leaders of any of the national anti-war coalitions with which the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade Committee cooperated at various stages of its existence; exceptions to this are an important letter from Frank Emspak (May 15, 1966) of the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam regarding that group's attitude toward the 1966 Hiroshima Day protest and a May 13, 1966, note from Kipp Dawson concerning the San Francisco Vietnam Day Committee's support of that same event.

Demonstration Files, 1965-1968, include material on parade logistics and marshalling, a few speeches (one by Norman Mailer is dated August 6, 1966), clippings, and advertisements. While there are only a few clippings relating to the demonstration for which the committee was formed in 1965, there are files of greater interest on the demonstrations of March 26 and August 6-9, 1966, and April 15, 1967.

The remainder of the collection consists of fragmentary financial records, staff files containing working notes and memoranda, a copy of a suit against the New York Port Authority in defense of the committee's right to leaflet there, and Miscellany. Of the staff files, those of Fred Halstead contain some correspondence relating to the committee's interest in organizing the anti-war sentiment among servicemen.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Committee, New York, New York, 1967-1968. Accession Number: M67-308, M68-121

Processing Information

Processed by Lindsay Nauen, August 1972, and Carolyn J. Mattern, November 1979.

Box   1 Folder   1	Minutes, 1966-1971
Box   1 Folder   2	Member Lists, 1965-1967
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   3-6	1965-1971
Box   1 Folder   7	Form letters, 1965-1971
	Publications and Printed Matter
Box   1 Folder   8	Flyers, 1965-1971
Box   2 Folder   1	Press releases and public statements, 1965-1971
Box   2 Folder   2	Advertising copy, undated
	Demonstration Files
Box   2 Folder   3	1965, October 16
Box   2 Folder   4	1966, February 1
Box   2 Folder   5	1966, February 23
Box   2 Folder   6	1966, March 26
Box   2 Folder   7	1966, August 6-9
Box   2 Folder   8	Conference registration forms
Box   2 Folder   9	1966, November 5
Box   2 Folder   10	1967, April 15
Box   2 Folder   11	Literature from related organizations
Box   2 Folder   12	1967, June 3
Box   2 Folder   13	1967, October 21
Box   2 Folder   14	1967, December 21
Box   2 Folder   15	1968, April 27
Box   3 Folder   1	Financial Records, 1966-1967
	Staff Files
Box   3 Folder   2	Gould, Donna, undated
Box   3 Folder   3	Halstead, Fred, undated
Box   3 Folder   4	John Morgan case, undated
Box   3 Folder   5	Uhrie, Al, undated
Box   3 Folder   6	Legal Materials, 1966
Box   3 Folder   7	Miscellany