The Conference On Peace Research in History: a Memoir

Abstract

The CPRH had its inception on a cold winter night in Philadelphia during the gloomy month of December, 1963 following the assassination of President Kennedy. The occasion was the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, and there was little that could be called on the program, aside from a more interesting than usual joint session with the American Military Institute on concepts of national defense and a session on the as yet dimly seen Vietnam problem. Since early in 1962, Arthur I. Waskow, then with the Research Institute in Washington, D.C., and Paul Lauter of the American Friends Service Committee, had been seeking stimulate interest in peace research among historians. These early explorations had produced a session on disarmament during the A.H.A. convention in Chicago in 1962, but by 1963 it was felt that a broader effort might be undertaken. Thus in December, 1963, a call an ad hoc meeting of historians interested in peace was posted by Merle Curti of the University of Wisconsin and Edwin Bronner of Haverford College. Appropriately enough, the meeting was convene at the Quaker Meeting House at 1515 Cherry Street, about ten minutes' brisk walk from Convention headquarters at the Sheraton. Most of those who came had miss dinner, but everyone's surprise there was a sizeable gathering of about seventy persons. Several impromptu speeches were made, urging the need for historical research aimed at finding avenues peace, and on the desirability of organizing pursue the matter. Out of this meeting a committee was chosen, with an injunction explore the possibility of organizing a formal conference like those on Modern European, Latin American, Asian and other areas of historical research.1 In June 1964, the on Research in History issued a call other historians, through the pages of the A.H.A. Newsletter, join in its efforts to encourage the kind of research on the history of war, peace, violence and conflict that can clarify the causes of international peace and difficulties in creating it. About 100 historians responded this call with information and suggestions. Meanwhile, a preliminary bibliography on peace research in history was compiled for the Committee by Trudie Engel, and distributed those who had expressed interest in the Committee's work. A session on Peace Research and the Historian was arranged for the annual meetings of the A.H.A. in Washington D.C. in December of that year. This meeting of December, 1964, provided the opportunity for more formal organization. Charles Barker of the Johns Hopkins University and Arthur I. Waskow of the Institute for Policy Studies were elected chairman and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of a Conference-to-be, and a Consultative Council of nine members was established. During the following year the secretary-treasurer began send out periodic memoranda on research-in-progress and other activities, and a session on Disarmament: Historic Successes and Failures, was presented on the A.H.A. program in San Francisco in December, 1965. On this occasion a luncheon meeting was also held, addressed by Walter Millis