Scope and Content Note

Little is known about the provenance of the bulk of the records of the National Peace Action Coalition. Fred Halstead wrote in correspondence with the Society's Field Services Division, only that his donations here were materials to which he “had access.” Examination of these papers provided only a few clues about the history of the collection. Because of the incomplete nature of the documentation and the presence of much photocopied material it is likely that the original accessions represented only a portion of the historical record of NPAC activities. In 1980 national coordinator Jerry Gordon added six feet of records to the collection. These papers complemented the existing collection, and hence did little to change its overall character. Later Abe Bloom added material on the Washington Area Peace Action Coalition.

The researcher may also be assisted by knowing that much of the collection was received as loose material and that its present order is entirely imposed. This arrangement consists of records in three groups: general records, activity files, and a small affiliate file.

GENERAL RECORDS, 1970-1973, contain material generated by NPAC's internal governing structure, together with correspondence, financial records, clippings, and publications. The section begins with an information file, consisting of a few brief organizational histories and fact sheets. The structural material includes minutes, agendas, and announcements of the national steering committee, lists of committees at various stages in its history, lists of regional and local affiliates, and biographical information about the national coordinators.

Because of their importance a complete listing of the records of the national steering committee follows:

• 1970 July 18: calls, minutes
• 1970 August 22: calls, agenda, minutes
• 1970 September 19: call, agenda, minutes (2 versions), recordings
• 1970 October 11: calls, agenda, minutes, and transcription
• 1970 November 21: call, agenda
• 1970 December 4-6: calls
• 1970 undated: agenda
• 1971 January 16: calls, agenda, minutes
• 1971 February 13: calls, minutes
• 1971 February 21 (?): minutes
• 1971 March 12 and 13: calls, agendas, minutes (2 versions), transcription of labor panel with Sam Pollock, Abe Feinglass and Moe Foner
• 1971 March 27: minutes
• 1971 April 10: call, agenda
• 1971 May 8: call, agenda, minutes
• 1971 June 12: call, agenda, minutes
• 1971 September 18: calls, agenda
• 1971 October 23: call, agenda
• 1971 November 21: calls
• 1971 December 3: agenda
• 1972 January 8: calls
• 1972 February 6: call, agenda, minutes (2 versions)
• 1972 March 11: call
• 1972 April 8: call
• 1972 Spring: agenda
• 1972 May 7: call, agenda
• 1972 June 3: calls
• 1972 July 7 (8): calls, agenda
• 1972 July 21: agenda
• 1972 August 27: call, agenda
• 1972 October 8: call, agenda
• 1972 November 4: call
• 1972 December 2: call, agenda
• 1973 January 31: call, agenda
• 1973 February 23 and 24: call, agenda, memorandum, recordings
• 1973 August 6: call
• 1973 September 5: call
• 1973 September 15: minutes
• undated January 17: agenda
• undated: agenda

The general correspondence is incomplete, yet it is revealing both with regard to NPAC's activities and to its relations with the People's Coalition for Peace and Justice. The early letters, most often written to and from Coordinator Jerry Gordon, reveal a conciliatory attempt to work with PCPJ, labor unions, and various other peace organizations. Throughout are letters and reports from local groups pertaining to the organization and mobilization of the coalition. This later correspondence is sometimes written by Stephanie Coontz and Katherine Sojourner or by Ron Wolin and other members of the staff. Unfortunately only a few items provide information on relations between the coordinators. Among the prominent correspondents are:

• Abzug, Bella S., 1971 June 23
• Alda, Alan, 1972 February 14
• Feinglass, Abe, 1971 April 5
• Fernandez, Richard R., 1970 September 9, October 2, November 20
• Gorman, Patrick, 1972 April 5
• Lowenstein, Allard, 1971 May 17
• Meachem, Stewart, 1970 October 7
• Muskie, Edmund S., 1971 June 9 in a letter of June 25
• Pollock, Sam, 1970 June 29
• Seeger, Pete, undated

Correspondence circulated as form letters also includes some items of special note. Particularly interesting are several letters pertaining to relations with the PCPJ and a copy of greetings cabled by the Vietnamese Provisional Revolutionary Government in 1971. The correspondence and related papers about the House Internal Security Committee hearings include statements of support, press releases, clippings, and copies of legal briefs relating to a suit filed by NPAC and PCPJ to prevent subpoena of their financial records. Other legal correspondence contains briefs for a related suit in which NPAC joined with the American Civil Liberties Union. International correspondence best represents relations with opponents of the war in Japan and Vietnam and contains material collected by NPAC representatives at the Paris World Assembly for the Peace and Independence of Indochinese Peoples.

Financial records consist of fund-raising form letters, budgets, lists of expenditures, and material relating to two special events sponsored by the New York coalition.

The ACTIVITY FILES contain the following types of material: correspondence, form letters, flyers, endorsements, logistical material and convention papers, clippings, and miscellany. For the anti-war conventions, the logistics category includes proposed agenda, resolutions submitted for debates, and, occasionally, minutes. Best represented are the April 24, 1971 and April 22, 1972 Marches on Washington, D.C., the November 6, 1971 strike, and other actions of the offensive of that fall. Prominent correspondents in this section include:

• Abzug, Bella S., 1971 March 10, September 30
• Bayh, Birch, 1972 circa July 21
• Chomsky, Noam, 1970 December 3
• Cranston, Alan, 1972 June 28
• Davis, Leon J., 1971 October 8
• Fernandez, Richard, 1970 October 9
• Gravel, Mike, 1971 March 19, October 4
• Hart, Philip A., 1971 October 7
• Hartke, Vance, 1971 March 10, October 9
• Hester, Hugh B., 1971 October 8
• King, Coretta, 1971 March 26
• Koch, Edward, 1971 March 26
• McGovern, George, 1971 June 30, 1972, circa July 21
• Mazey, Emil, 1970 October 5
• Meachem, Stewart, 1970 November 16
• Morgenthau, Hans, 1971 September 28
• Peck, Sid, 1970 pre June 20 memo
• Rangel, Charles B., 1971 August 24
• Stokes, Louis, 1971 February 26
• Tunney, John, 1972 July 20
• Wilkins, Roy, 1971 February in 1971, February 11
• Woodcock, Leonard, 1971 February 19

The AFFILIATE FILE consists of flyers, press releases, and other published material which did not pertain to the activity file or the general records.

The VISUAL MATERIALS consist of photographs, photocopies, contact sheets, a videorecording, and drawings relating to the National Peace Action Coalition and the anti-war movement, 1965-1971. Most of the images show death, injury and destruction in Vietnam. Other images depict anti-war protests by students in the United States and abroad, an anti-war event at the Biltmore Hotel in New York City, and designs for buttons and posters for a protest in Washington, D.C. The video is identified as an edited peace promo.