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- Collection: Jane Addams General
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Addams presides over the second annual meeting of the Woman's Peace Party
The party meets to discuss a wide variety of subjects including actions neutral nations can take to shorten the war, military training, and foreign investments. The business sessions discuss the creation of a joint committee to study relations…
Wilson sends Addams flowers, they exchange letters
After reading of Addams' illness and her treatments in a newspaper, President Wilson sends her flowers and wishes her a speedy recovery in a personal letter. The one dozen American Beauty Roses from the White House Conservatory are sent to the home…
Wilson makes his "Peace Without Victory" Speech
Wilson calls for a negotiated end to the war and speaks of the creation of an international institution to keep the peace. Germany accepts Wilson's terms, but Wilson says Kaiser Wilhelm's endorsement is "empty and insincere." (Quoted in Lynn, Jane…
The Emergency Peace Federation demonstrates against the war, call on delegates to visit Congress
The Emergency Peace Federation holds a mass meeting at the Raliegh Hotel. From there, members plan to visit Congress in protest against the declaration of war. The American Union Against Militarism also conducts a referendum nation-wide. At the same…
Emergency Peace Federation meets with Wilson
Addams calls on peace activists to telegram President Wilson to express their support for a national referendum on the war. Addams and others - the Committee of Five - are sent by the Emergency Peace Federation to meet with Wilson at the White House…
Public mood toward The Great War changes
News of German subs sinking three American ships as well as German secret negotiation with Mexio come up before Wilson declares war. Addams and Mary ? spend the month in a large estate in Flordia.
Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany
Ending his policy of neutrality, President Wilson goes before Congress and asks for a formal war declaration against Germany. Congress passes a war declaration on April 6. The Senate passes the resolution 82-6. The House also does so, 373-50.
Addams opposes laws on conscription and limiting civil liberties
Congress adopts the Conscription Act and the Espionage Act. During hearings for both the conscription legislation, Addams and others ask, without success, for Congress to add an exemption for draft-age men who have ethical or broadly religious…
Addams pronounces her opposition to the war, suffers public condemnation and self-doubt
Addams delivers a speech, “Pacifism and Patriotism in Time of War," in May, in Chicago, before the Chicago City Club, and again in Evanston (on June 10), at the First Congregational Church (1445 Hinman Avenue). She receives fierce criticism in the…
Addams' anti-war speech is published
The speech is later published under the title "Patriotism and Pacifists in War Time” in The City Club Bulletin 10 (16 June 1917): 184-190. The negative response to Addams opposition to the war - and especially the United States blockading the…
Creation of National Civil Liberty Bureau
The American Union Against Militarism and the Fellowship of Reconciliation – Addams sits on both boards – agree to create a new National Civil Liberties Bureau to fight for free speech and the rights of conscientious objectors. Addams agrees to…
Addams signs on as spokesperson and fund-raiser for the United States Food Administration
The United States Food Administration is established in August of 1917 for the purpose of relieving starvation in war-torn Europe. President Wilson appoints Herbert Hoover, the former head of the Belgian Relief Organization, to run the effort. (In…
Addams is criticized for withdrawing from leading the war opposition following the armistice
In the weeks that follow, Addams is criticized by some women peace activists in Europe for her having withdrawn, in 1915, from her leadership role in opposing the war. She also comes under attack from opponents of the peace movement. Among them is…
Addams' reaction to peace negotiations opening in Paris
Since the outbreak of the war in Europe, Addams has been at the forefront of the peace movement. From international conferences to meetings and essays, Addams has fine-tuned her ideas on internationalism. She promotes international leagues for…
The New York State Senate includes Addams on a list of "Radicals and Pacifists"
A foreboding of the Red Scare, Archibald Stevenson, a staffer of a New York State Senate sub-committee investigating German propaganda during the First World War, produces a list of "Radicals and Pacifists," which includes Addams and her long-time…
The Women's International League meets, in Zurich, concurrent with the closing of the Paris Peace Conference
The announcement of the final terms of the war settlement stun Addams and the other delegates, who pass resolutions rejecting the treaty and calling for major revisions of it. The delegates also rename their organization the Women's International…
Addams visits war-torn Germany
Addams, Alice Hamilton, and a group of Quakers from the United States and England visit Germany and survey the efforts of the Society of Friends to relieve hunger. In Leipzig, they observed hungry and malnourished school children and speak with…
Addams speaks out against the Palmer Raids
At Recital Hall, on Michigan Avenue, in Chicago, Addams gives an address in which she is critical of the government's having rounded up and arrested, for the purpose of deportation, suspected radicals affiliated with socialist, anarchist, and other…
Woodrow Wilson is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Addams shares with her friend Emily Balch her disappointment at not having won the Nobel Peace Prize herself.
Addams publishes "Peace on Earth"
In the essay "Peace on Earth," published in the Christmas edition of The Ladies' Home Journal, Addams writes about international arbitration and a world court as well as the monetary costs for the up-keep of armaments. Addams also addresses social…
Addams speaks at the Central YMCA
Addams speaks at a mass meeting at the Central YMCA regarding peace between the United States and Mexico. Resolutions attempting to bring peace between the two countries are passed. The resolutions ask for the suspension of military and naval…
Addams elected president of the Chicago Emergency Federation (CEF).
The platform of the Chicago Emergency Federation (CEF) includes various peace proposals, including a league of nations, international arbitration treaties, arms control, international courts, democratic control of foreign policies, an end to secret…
Addams speaks at peace conference
Addams speaks at a peace conference at the Hotel La Salle in Chicago. The international conference is free and open to the public. The purpose of the meeting is to adopt a plan for an early end of the war and find ways to promote it.
Addams speaks at international law conference
At St. Paul's Chapel at Columbia University, Addams addresses the importance of a strong association labor organizations to the creation of a new international order. In the speech, one in a series she will make against militarism, Addams tells…
Addams writes Wilson a letter opposing military preparedness
President Wilson asks Congress to finance a number of new naval ships and aircraft carriers. The country begins a heated debate about American military preparedness. Addams and other peace activities mobilize against an increase in military spending…
Addams undertakes a national speaking tour on behalf of the United States Food Administration.
Though Wilson and Addams found themselves on opposite sides of the war, and Addams had been vilified and was under government surveillance, Wilson expresses "peculiar gratification" for her continued political support. (Quoted in Linn, Jane Addams,…
Addams tours the United States on behalf of famine relief efforts in Europe
Upon her return to the United States Addams travels across the country to raise funds for famine relief in Germany. Her reception is not without controversy, however, as some accuse her of "Germanism" for her pacifist beliefs and activities on…