Why Women’s Peace Activism in World War I Matters Now. By Anya Jabour

By Dilip -
A hundred years ago, soon after winning reelection on the campaign slogan “He kept us out of war,” President Woodrow Wilson called on the U.S. Congress to authorize “a war to end all wars.”
The U.S. entry into World War I abruptly ended a different campaign to end war. Between the onset of hostilities in Europe in July 1914 and the U.S. declaration of war in April 1917, a determined group of women activists lobbied the president and Congress to maintain American neutrality and mediate a “negotiated peace.”

Although these women’s efforts proved futile, their persistence and passion still resonate today. By insisting that all citizens – even women, who did not yet have the right to vote – could and should participate in the highest levels of politics, they helped create a civic culture of engaged citizenship that continues to inform American politics today. The idea of arbitrating World War I may seem naive in hindsight. Yet for nearly three years, numerous pacifist groups and individuals in both the United States and Europe advanced proposals for neutral mediation.

Proponents of international mediation hoped diplomatic intervention could bring the war to a swift end and prevent additional loss of life. They also hoped to pave the way for a new type of diplomacy, based on international law and voluntary arbitration, that would ensure lasting peace. Men and women on both sides of the Atlantic participated in the campaign for neutral arbitration. Most memorably, American automobile magnate

Henry Ford collaborated with Hungarian feminist pacifist Rosika Schwimmer to charter a “Peace Ship” to take a private delegation to Europe to broker peace talks. The “Peace Ship” attracted media attention. However, my research on Sophonisba Breckinridge, a founding member of the Woman’s Peace Party, suggests that Breckinridge and other members of this feminist pacifist organization – including future Nobel Laureates Jane Addams and Emily Greene Balch – had a more lasting impact.

The Woman’s Peace Party

While not the first or the only peace organization in the United States, the Woman’s Peace Party, founded in January 1915, was distinctive in its focus on “peace as a women’s issue.” .. read more
https://www.juancole.com/2018/11/womens-activism-matters.html

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