"Healing the Bitterness of War and Destruction": CPS and Foreign Service

Abstract

Mitchell Robinson received his Ph.D. in history form Cornell University in 1990. He wrote his dissertation, "Civilian Public Service during World War II: The Dilemmas of Conscience and Conscription in a Free Society," under the supervision of Richard Polenberg. He is employed by the U.S. Navy as a contract negotiator at the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Detachment in Philadelphia, PA.
1. Albert M. Keim and Grant M. Stolzfus, The Politics of Conscience: The Historic Peace Churches and America at War, 1917-1955 (Scottdale: Herald Press, 1988), 108-114; French memo, November 14, 1940, Memorandum of Conversation, November 25, 1940, Box A-1, NSBRO MSS., Swarthmore College Peace Collection (Hereafter cited as SCPC).
2. "Civilian Public Service of the American Friends Service Committee," February 3, 1941, Box 16c, AFSC MSS, SCPC.
3. Clarence E. Pickett, For More Than Bread: An Autobiographical Account of Twenty-Two Years' Work With the American Friends Service Committee (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1953), 349-356; Coy to F.D.R., June 24, 1941, OF 146A, Mexico Misc. Folder, F.D.R. Library, Hyde Park, NY (Hereafter cited as FDRL).
4. Hershey to Dargusch, May 28, 1941, 345. Con. Objectors (General), Box 2, Record Group 147, Selective Service System Conscientious Objectors General File, National Archives. (Hereafter cited as SSS Records); Lewis B. Hershey interview #2, May 2, 1975, in "Report of Interviews with Lewis B. Hershey, General, USA (Ret): Senior Officers Debriefing Program," Col. Robert L. Elder and LCOL James G. Hattersley (Carlisle Barracks: U.S. Army War College, 1975), 33-34.
5. Welles to F.D.R., July 10, 1941, OF 146A, Mexico Misc. Folder, FDRL.
6. Clarence Pickett Journal, July 21, 1941, American Friends Service Committee Archives, Philadelphia, PA.
7. Coy to F.D.R., June 24, 1941, OF 146A, Mexico Misc. Folder, FDRL; French to Coy, July 23, 1941, Coy to French, August 26, 1941, Box G-87, NSBRO MSS., SCPC.
8. French to Zigler, October 8, 1941, Box AS-5, NSBRO MSS., SCPC; Pickett Journal, October 10, 1941, December 5, 1951; Pickett to ER, December 6, 1941, Pickett Folder, Box #817, Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, FDRL; Welles to F.D.R., December 5, 1941, OF 111 Conscientious Objectors Folder, FDRL.
9. NSBRO Minutes, December 12-13, 1941, Box 16c, AFSC MSS., SCPC.
10. French to Kosch, January 26, 1942, Kosch to French, January 30, 1942, 345. Class IV-E: Conscientious Objectors (General) Vol. I, Box 17, SSS Records; "Propose Objectors do Work Abroad," New York Times, January 3, 1942, 8:8.
11. French Diary, November 27, 1941; Zigler to French, July 7, 1941, French to Brubaker, December 20, 1941, Kuppinger to French, December 23, 1941, French to Kuppinger, January 14, 1942, Box C-122, NSBRO MSS., SCPC.
12. Chance to French, December 9, 1941, French to Row, February 16, 1942, Box C-122, NSBRO MSS., SCPC; Pickett Journal, March 10, 1942; Pickett, For More Than Bread, 214-216; James Stanley, "China Unit," in The History of CPS Camp No. 6, Lagro, Indiana, by W. Earl Griffin, quoted in Leslie Eisan, Pathways of Peace: A History of the Civilian Public Service Program Administered by the Brethren Service Committee, (Elgin: Brethren Publishing House, 1948), 314-315.
13. Pickett Journal, July 29, 1942.
14. French memo #6 to the Board of Directors, January 9, 1942, Box A-56, NSBRO MSS., SCPC.
15. French to Kosch, August 31, 1942, in French memo #67 to the Executive Camp Directors, September 5, 1942, Box A-56, NSBRO MSS., SCPC.
16. Congress, Senate, Committee on Military Affairs, Conscientious Objectors' Benefits: Hearings before a Subcommittee on Military Affairs on S. 2708, 77th Cong., 2nd sess., August 19, 1942, 14.
17. Congress, Senate, Committee on Military Affairs, Conscientious Objectors' Benefits: Hearings before the Committee on Military Affairs on S. 315 and S. 675, 78th Cong., 1st sess., February 17, 1943, 23.
18. Stephen G. Cary interview, June 3, 1988; George T. Little, "Program of Training in International Administration at Columbia University," The American Friend, December 31, 1942, 566-567; "CPS Men Study Relief Administration at Columbia University," Gospel Messenger, January 9, 1943, 1, 4.
19. Pickett Journal, May 26, 1943.
20. E. Raymond Wilson, Uphill...