Document 7B: Ida Floyd White to Hamilton Holt, 20 August 1926. Papers of Edwin Doak Mead & Lucia Ames Mead, 1876-1936, Swarthmore College Peace Collection (Scholarly Resources Microfilm, reel 3, box 6).

Document 7B: Ida Floyd White to Hamilton Holt, 20 August 1926. Papers of Edwin Doak Mead & Lucia Ames Mead, 1876-1936, Swarthmore College Peace Collection (Scholarly Resources Microfilm, reel 3, box 6).

encl.

                  Jacksonville, Florida.
                  August 20, 1926.

President Rollins College
Winter Park, Fla.
[A]

My dear Club President, Mr. President,

       A serious menace is facing Florida in that the National Council for the Prevention of War is sending Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead on an extended lecture tour through the southern states in the months of November and December. The plan is to have her speak before Universities, Normal Schools, High Schools, Church Assemblies, Rotary Clubs, and all Women's organizations where she can get a hearing.

       Some authentic data as to who Mrs. Mead is, has been gathered by the Daughters of the American Revolution through the assistance of the Military Order of the World War and other patriotic organizations who are helping to stem the tide of radicalism which threatens the best institutions of our country. We wish to present a few of these facts to you, in order that you may not be deceived by the apparently harmless subjects upon which Mrs. Mead proposes to lecture.

       Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead is the wife of Dr. Edwin Doak Mead of Boston, well known with his wife as a pacifist worker. She is a Vice Chairman of the National Council for the Prevention of War, an organization sympathizing with and promoting socialist and radical ideas.

       Mrs. Mead is a member of the National Council for Women and is a lecturer against armaments, preaching disarmament by example and wanting the United States to take the lead.

       She is a member and prominent worker in the Women's International League for Peace[B] of which Jane Adams [sic] is president. Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, Rosica Schwimmer, the Austrian Jewish Communist who came to America in 1914 and others of like reputation are her associates in this organization whose purposes are as follows:

       (a) Amnesty for all political prisoners; (b) Abolition of Army and Navy; (c) Friendship and sympathy for Germany; (d) Endorsement of the Youth Movement; (e) Abolition of private property rights, (pure communism); (f) Advocates the Recognition of Soviet Russia.

       This organization at its Zurich meeting in 1919 adopted the famour [sic] "Slacker Vow" which was designed to bring an international strike of women against war.

       Mrs. Mead's long career as a leader in such un-American movements is evidence of what she stands for.

       The Daughters of the American Revolution stands for an honest and justifiable world peace, as we all do, --provided such a peace does not jeopardize our country's security. But 'peace at any price' as taught by the above mentioned radical organizations is alien to the hearts and minds of every red-blooded American man and woman. Let us not subject our youth, who are always susceptible, to hearing a speaker who may implant in their minds false ideas and ideals. I think it is hardly necessary to urge you to use your best efforts to prevent this speaker, and others of her beliefs from being heard in your community. We cannot be too careful in our investigations concerning lecturers who seek our platforms, for many radicals work under clever disguises and we must be alert.

       Thanking you for the cooperation I know you will give in helping to keep our state and country free of the propaganda which threatens the best institutions of our beloved state and country, I am

                Very cordially yours,
                (signed) Ida Floyd White
                State Regent, Florida D. A. R.

     

    A. Italicized text here appears as handwritten additions to a typed circular letter.
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    B. Ida Floyd White is referring to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
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