Blog Post 2:

Women Strike for Peace

The women of WSP we’re able to mobilize a movement and gain such a great momentum that they were able to go before the HUAC, a name that was feared by many Americans in the 1950’s and 60’s. The WSP set out with a message of disarmament as well as transparency and inclusiveness from the US government.  On Page 127 of the book, it states that “in 1964 WSP focused its protest –lobbying, demonstrating, and letter writing –on a fallout shelter bill the Kennedy administration was pushing and later deferred.” However, as the political climate began to change in the states the concerns of the women changed. One of the most interesting things that I found in chapter 6 was how the women in WSP perceived the threat of Vietnam and how the threat of war changed the course of their movement.

In regard to the possibility of war, most of the women did not know and felt that there were not capable of understanding what was going on in Vietnam. This type of attitude would have been destructive for the movement because of all the lobbying and protesting they had done previously.It seemed to be a setback to think that these activities in Vietnam where out of their reach. But, yet again, the WSP connected with the cause by thinking about motherhood internationally and realizing that the safety of women and children around the world was just as important as that in America. As we know now, a nuclear war has lasting affects which women like Swerdlow and Herz could not foresee but they put themselves on the line to protect a future they didn’t know. Soon, the women began educating themselves on “the history of the political regimes in the North and South, the French role in Vietnam, and the Geneva Accords of 1954.” The WSP new that in order for the men to listen to them, they would have to know there stuff.

With the war still waging on, several branch groups started out from WSP such as the JRB (Jeanette Rankin Brigade). Still, women of the WSP and Vivian Hallinan wanted to focus more on attaining the attention of the government and enacting law changes. The WSP got some of the attention they needed by writing letters to President Nixon. Each letter had a basic template of addressing the President and asking that their voices be heard and their sons be spared, including a picture of the men in their lives that they were trying to save. What also struck me during my readings was how the WSP became a household name and how they were even feared by political figures who had come to realize the strength of mothers in numbers. Using their “natural duty as women” they were able to have a mass influence over the government and war policies. While some modern feminist might argue that coming from the issue of war from such a narrowed stand point is detrimental to the fight for equality, it was the only means by which these women could be effective. They may not have been educated in Political Science or theory but they knew very well the detriment of war. Instead of fighting from a place that they didn't fully know, the WSP armed itself with educated and spirited mothers, wives, and daughters who could speak intimately from their positions as women and then work on the bigger details later.