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Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam records
92119
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Title: Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam records
Date (inclusive): 1967-1975
Collection Number: 92119
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
27 manuscript boxes, 2 card file boxes, 1 oversize box, 2 phonotape reels
(15.5 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, statements, press releases, pamphlets, lists, financial records, and printed matter relating to the Vietnam
War.
Creator:
Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1992.
[Identification of item], Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover
Institution Library & Archives.
The Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam was formed in October 1967. By this time the war in Vietnam had
become highly controversial within the United States. A vigorous antiwar movement had come into existence. While some called
for the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam, others advocated escalation of the war. A small number of figures, mainly
former government officials, felt the need for an organization independent of government to make the case for support of what
they deemed to be a middle position of "staying the course" in Vietnam in accordance with the policy of the administration
of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Former Democratic Senator Paul H. Douglas of Illinois took the role of spokesman for the
new Citizens Committee. Endorsements were secured from an impressive array of public figures, including former Presidents
Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower and retired General Omar N. Bradley. An office was established for the Committee
in Washington, D.C., and Charles Tyroler II, a former Department of Defense official, managed its operations as director of
the organization.
The Citizens Committee made its positions known through a series of pamphlets, press statements and press conferences. It
also undertook to supply speakers and literature in response to the requests of media, schools and other organizations. Pamphlets
addressed the proposal for a bombing pause in North Vietnam in early 1968, and of the prospects for negotiations in Paris.
The Committee expressed feelings of skepticism regarding both. It supplied testimony on Vietnam to the platform committees
of both the Democratic and the Republican parties in advance of the 1968 presidential election. It maintained close ties
with the new administration of President Richard M. Nixon as it had done with the outgoing Johnson administration.
The Committee undertook two fact-finding missions to South Vietnam, the first in August 1969 and the second in April 1970.
Committee delegation rosters for the two trips varied, but three individuals were on both. These were Charles Tyroler II,
former Ambassador Edmund A. Gullion, and Abbott Washburn, a former deputy director of the United States Information Agency.
The delegations visited U.S. military headquarters in Vietnam, the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, and South Vietnamese officials,
and also made a stop in Paris, where peace negotiations were underway. The Committee publicized its fact-finding reports,
which expressed tempered optimism regarding progress in the war. A third trip was discussed but never made.
Its 1970 trip was the last major project of the Committee. By that time it had become apparent that "Vietnamization" of the
war was the watchword for the future. By early 1971 the Committee had become inactive. There was no formal dissolution and
Tyroler responded to later requests for some time.
Scope and Content of Collection
The records of the Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam are divided into sixteen series of varying importance.
The Founding Documents series contains documentation of the formation of the Committee in a single folder.
Correspondence, arranged alphabetically, is an important series. So too is Issuances. This series contains not only the
final texts of pamphlets and other issuances of the Committee, but also of draft versions, correspondence directly related
to their preparation, and press coverage of the issuances. Speaking Engagements and Literature Requests consists largely
of correspondence documenting Committee outreach to specific audiences.
Vietnam Trips is an important series. It documents the two fact-finding missions undertaken by Committee delegations in 1969
and 1970. The series includes correspondence related to the trips, notes and memoranda made while they were underway, briefings
received from officials in the field, and other material collected. There is a lengthy report of her personal observations
by Mary Lord, a member of the first delegation. The delegations' formal reports are to be found in the Issuances series.
A Publicity series consists mainly of clippings referring to the Committee in newspapers and other printed sources. Financial
Records, Fundraising Records and Housekeeping Records document relatively mundane aspects of the organization's life.
There is a Subject File and an associated Printed Matter series containing material collected by the Committee from outside
sources. The Subject File is arranged by topic. Although consisting primarily of printed material, it includes some letters,
memoranda and notes closely tied to particular topics.
There are also five small series constituted on the basis of the physical format of their contents: Photographs; Card File;
Memorabilia; Oversize; and Phonotapes.
There is a small quantity of material dating after the time the Committee became inactive, particularly in Correspondence
and in the Subject File. These are items that Charles Tyroler II, director of the Committee, added to the Committee records,
which remained in his possession.
The Hoover Institution Library & Archives acquired the records of the Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Vietnam
together with those of the Committee on the Present Danger in 1992. Tyroler was also director of the latter organization,
which was formed in 1976. It is of special interest that the Citizens Committee served as a model for the creation and operations
of the more ambitious and successful Committee on the Present Danger. This is to be seen even in such details as design of
the pamphlet covers issued by the two organizations.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Sound recordings
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
United States -- Foreign relations -- 1963-1969
United States -- Foreign relations -- 1969-1974