The History and Memory of 'Women Strike for Peace', 1961-1990
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Northumbria Research Link Citation: Coburn, Jon (2015) Making a Difference: The History and Memory of ‘Women Strike for Peace’, 1961-1990. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/30339/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. Single copies of full items can be reproduced, displayed or performed, and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided the authors, title and full bibliographic details are given, as well as a hyperlink and/or URL to the original metadata page. The content must not be changed in any way. Full items must not be sold commercially in any format or medium without formal permission of the copyright holder. The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html Making a Difference: The History and Memory of ‘Women Strike for Peace’, 1961-1990 Jon Coburn PhD 2015 Making a Difference: The History and Memory of ‘Women Strike for Peace’, 1961-1990 Jon Coburn A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Research undertaken in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences December 2015 Abstract The women’s antinuclear protest group Women Strike for Peace (WSP) formed a visible part of the US peace movement during the Cold War, recording several successes and receiving a positive historical assessment for its maternal, respectable image. This study provides a revised history of WSP, querying the identity of the group in order to produce a more comprehensive and problematic historical narrative. It is the first study to examine WSP from its founding in 1961 through to the closure of its National Office in 1990. The thesis examines key events in the group’s history and challenges established historical understandings of the group, positing that existing perceptions offer an image of uniformity that overlooks the differing experiences of WSP activists and the complexity of their memories. This study draws on aspects of memory theory to inform its examination of WSP’s historical record. It contends that social influences and personal identity had a significant impact on the way in which former members recalled their experiences, while assessing the relationship between collective and individual identity within WSP. By placing the group into the changing cultural and societal environment of Cold War America, this thesis is the first to demonstrate the importance of contextual background to understanding the development of WSP activists’ memory and identity. Whereas existing examinations of Women Strike for Peace apply its maternal image to the entirety of its history, this study finds such interpretations of identity and historical understanding to be static and argues that the transformation in activist identities informed changing perceptions of the group’s past successes. The thesis makes extensive use of branch records and the recollections of individuals recorded through oral interviews and memoirs to query established understandings of WSP. It finds that the desire of leading figures to project a moderate, maternal image resulted in the establishment of a framework within which WSP activists understood their identity and activism. This framework resulted in an historical narrative that overlooks the diversity within the group, the tensions between members that emerged over issues such as hierarchical structure, civil disobedience, and feminist activism, and the regional disparity of the national organisation. The perspectives of leading figures have often been consulted to the detriment of grassroots voices that can offer a more complex, contentious depiction of WSP’s history. Accounting for the construction of WSP’s history, memory, and identity, this thesis challenges our view of the experience of peace activism in the 20th century United States. i ii Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... v Introduction: History, Memory, and Women Strike for Peace ..................................... 1 The Historiography of Women Strike for Peace ................................................... 4 The Identity of Women Strike for Peace............................................................. 10 Methodology and Memory .................................................................................. 20 1. “The Women Seemed to Have Emerged From Nowhere”: Origin Myths and the Roots of Women Strike for Peace ............................................................................... 35 Women’s Antinuclear Protests Pre-1961 ............................................................ 37 The First Meeting ................................................................................................ 43 Regional Founding Stories .................................................................................. 50 Crafting an Image ................................................................................................ 54 The First Strike .................................................................................................... 60 WSP’s Founding Myth and the Memory of Activists ......................................... 66 2. “Make Way, They're Coming!”: Nonorganization and the First Successes, 1961- 1963 ............................................................................................................................. 73 “Organizing a ‘Nonorganization’” ...................................................................... 74 The First National Conference ............................................................................ 84 Anticommunism and the HUAC Hearings ......................................................... 90 The Partial Test Ban Treaty .............................................................................. 101 Claiming Success .............................................................................................. 107 3. “A Not So Funny Thing”: Alice Herz, the Jakarta Meeting, and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement, 1963-1967 ...................................................................................... 113 “Early” Concern ................................................................................................ 114 The Immolation of Alice Herz .......................................................................... 117 The Jakarta Meeting .......................................................................................... 129 Successes, Civil Disobedience, and Varied Experiences .................................. 136 4. “A Falling Off of Interest”: The Silence of WSP’s Decline, 1965-1973. ............. 149 “The Decline of the Demonstration”................................................................. 150 Fatigue and the “Retirement” of Dagmar Wilson ............................................. 156 Fractured Unity and Regional Representation .................................................. 164 The Leadership of Key Women ........................................................................ 175 The Tenure of Trudi Young .............................................................................. 180 5. “Basically Feminist”: A Seventies Revival and Changing Historical Perceptions, 1970-1980 ................................................................................................................. 189 Ethel Taylor and WSP’s Antinuclear Revival .................................................. 190 Women Strike for Peace and Radical Feminism............................................... 199 iii The National Women’s Conference .................................................................. 208 A Feminist History? .......................................................................................... 216 6. “We Made a Difference”: The Return of the Peace Movement and WSP’s Historical Legacy, 1980-1990 ................................................................................... 231 The Election of Reagan and Evaluating the Past .............................................. 232 The Return of the Peace Movement .................................................................. 242 The Relevance of Women Strike for Peace ...................................................... 249 The End of Women Strike for Peace ................................................................ 255 “Unfinished Business” and Defining Success .................................................. 262 Conclusion: “Who Are These Women?” .................................................................. 273 Memory and Identity ......................................................................................... 274 Diversity and Representation ............................................................................ 277 Making a Difference ......................................................................................... 281 Bibliography.............................................................................................................