Remembering Armistice Day

by Steve McKeown of Veterans for Peace

Once again our VFP Chapter was at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery to ring bells 11 times in commemoration of that joyous day when bells were rung around the world to celebrate the end of World War I. It was a bloody war in which 10 million were killed and 20 million wounded. It ended with an Armistice that was signed at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918. At the cemetery, Chapter President Doug Drews invited anyone in the gathering to speak, and there were close to 100 people in attendance. Many people spoke, including one person who said he was touched by the observance of silence while at an airport in England to remember the Armistice.

November 11th was called "Armistice Day" until 1954 when it was changed to "Veterans Day" (the same year "one nation under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance). Although veterans were involved in the Armistice, it most assuredly wasn’t just about veterans. The "war to end wars" was over. War had had its day, and from that day on, legitimate patriotism could only be in the service of Peace. Many Americans believed that war had ended and many wanted it to remain that way. An organization that started with only 31 people from the grassroots, called the "Council for the Prevention of War," was put together and started working for a Permanent Peace. And WORK they did! I just finished a book called "To End War" that tells the Council’s story.

Frederick Libby was one of the founders of the Council and served as its secretary until 1954 when the Council ceased. He is the author of "To End War" which highlights the Council’s activities from 1921 to 1946. It is no longer in print but can be found in 199 libraries nationwide, including St. Cloud State U, Mankato State U, and the Minneapolis Public Library system.

Libby writes that Britain had popularized the slogan "a war to end wars,” and that it was the most persuasive slogan for rallying a people behind a war that has ever been devised, and that President Wilson seized eagerly upon this motif in 1917, adding one of his own, "to save the world for democracy."

At the time of the Council’s formation, Britain and the United States were in a Naval Supremacy race and the National Defense Act of 1920 was used as a rationale to literally indoctrinate the country by the military. More than 12,000 officers were let loose on the community. One officer gave this example to his fellow officers on how to succeed: “1) Get acquainted with the leading professional and businessmen of the community. 2) Become a member of business clubs which have weekly luncheons—Rotary and Kiwanis, for example. Whenever things of a military nature come up for discussion, you will be sure to be consulted. 3) Join the country club. A reasonable amount of time spent on the golf links is not wasted. 4) Take an active part in the Boy Scout movement, and if there are no Boy Scouts, get a group under way. 5) Join the American Legion Post. 6) Cultivate the press. Occasionally you will have an opportunity to prepare an editorial. 7) Talk wherever you have an opportunity before citizen’s assemblies, schools, clubs.”

With the help of the Council, the Naval race was lessened. The Council developed its own packets to counter the propaganda of the military. They were able to be more effective with the passage of the Kellogg Briand Pact which outlawed war and was signed into law by President Hoover. One of the Council members, Arthur Watkins, dedicated himself to teaching the Kellogg Briand Pact to American youth. Facilitated by one of the Council members, the National Education Association placed the Pact beside the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. It became one of the three fundamental documents of the United States to be studied always in the curriculum of every school. Hoover’s proclamation of the Pact was accepted by the U.S. Commissioner of Education, William Cooper in 1929, as placing all schools under obligation to teach the Pact. More than 1,500 high school principals did so immediately.

About seven years ago, I recall our Chapter ringing a large bell that was brought by Bob Heberle from North High to the Richard Green Elementary School, where Joe Johnson’s son attended at that time. VFPers put on an Armistice Day program there for a large assembly, at which three students read from the Kellogg Briand Pact. May the bells ring, and the weapons rest in silence.