American Peace Crusade (APC) was an American peace advocacy organization. Established during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

identified the organization as a

Communist front A communist front is a political organization identified as a front organization under the effective control of a communist party, the Communist International or other communist organizations. They attracted politicized individuals who were not p ...

Pitirim Sorokin Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin (; russian: Питири́м Алекса́ндрович Соро́кин; – 10 February 1968) was a Russian American sociologist and political activist, who contributed to the social cycle theory. Background ...

, a

Russian American Russian Americans ( rus, русские американцы, r=russkiye amerikantsy, p= ˈruskʲɪje ɐmʲɪrʲɪˈkant͡sɨ) are Americans of full or partial Russian ancestry. The term can apply to recent Russian immigrants to the United Stat ...

sociologist and professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, was a sponsor of this organization. The '' Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications'' published by the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

(HUAC) characterized APC as a group formed by the Communists to function "as a new instrument for their 'peace' offensive in the United States." American Peace Crusade is characterized as "Communist-led peace group", and a "pro-Soviet peace initiative". Historian Marian Mollin notes that the APC believed the United States to be the "greatest threat to

world peace World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...

". According to historian Lawrence S. Wittner, the APC was the last

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

-headed peace organization in the United States.

History

The APC was established in 1951 following the dissolution of the Peace Information Center. The founding committee included

W.E.B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up i ...

, chemist

Linus Pauling Linus Carl Pauling (; February 28, 1901August 19, 1994) was an American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author, and educator. He published more than 1,200 papers and books, of which about 850 dealt with scientific top ...

, and physicist

Philip Morrison Philip Morrison (November 7, 1915 – April 22, 2005) was a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is known for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, and for his later work in quantum physi ...

.Lieberman (2010)

000 Triple zero, Triple Zero, Zero Zero Zero, Triple 0, Triple-0, 000, or 0-0-0 may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * "Triple Zero", a song by AFI (band), AFI from ''Shut Your Mouth and Open Your ...

br>p. 101
Especially because of the provocative comments made by General of the Army

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

, American Peace Crusade feared that the

would culminate in

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...

. The organization supported the withdrawal of US troops from the Korean Peninsula, talks with the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(PRC), and the removal of Douglas MacArthur, which the group believed would help ending the war. APC published a pamphlet titled "Let the People Speak for Peace" and asked for what is described by James Smallwood in his book ''Reform, Red Scare, and Ruin'' as a "peace pilgrimage". The purpose of this "peace pilgrimage" was advocacy for putting a stop to the Korean War. Civil rights activist and lobbyist

Virginia Foster Durr Virginia Foster Durr (August 6, 1903 – February 24, 1999) was an American civil rights activist and lobbyist. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1903 to Dr. Sterling Foster, an Alabama Presbyterian minister, and Ann Patterson Foster. At ...

was mentioned by the APC as a founding co-sponsor of "Let the People Speak for Peace" booklet and the "peace pilgrimage". The activities of the APC received widespread coverage in newspapers across the United States. On February 21, 1951, the ''

Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'' in a headline entitled "Wife of General Counsel of Farmers' Union Insurance Corporation Signs Red Petition" claimed the APC was controlled by Communists. The

Subversive Activities Control Board The Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB) was a United States government committee to investigate Communist infiltration of American society during the 1950s Red Scare. It was the subject of a landmark United States Supreme Court decision of th ...

(SACB) attempted to disband the American Peace Crusade. The

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

(FBI) placed its agent inside APC and kept the organization under watch. The APC received an order from the SACB in August 1955 to officially register the organization as a front organization of the Communists. American Peace Crusade was disestablished in 1956, but local affiliates such as the Southern California Peace Crusade continued to operate for some time thereafter.Lieberman (2010)

br>p. 106

References

External links

Investigation of Communist propaganda among prisoners of war in Korea, (Save Our Sons Committee) Hearings before the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eighty-fourth Congress, second session, June 18 and 19, 1956
{{Authority control Communist Party USA mass organizations Communism in the United States Peace organizations based in the United States 1951 establishments in the United States 1956 disestablishments in the United States

History

See also

References

External links