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Peace

And you can only say as you go from one country to another, you can only say for yourself and say it to the citizens as you have opportunity, that if this war is ever to be settled through negotiations, and some time it must be -- heaven knows when, but some time men must stop fighting and return to their normal existence -- you say to those men, why not begin now before the military becomes even further entrenched? Why not begin now when you still have enough power to hold them to their own statements, to hold them to their own purposes, and not allow them to rule and control the absolute destinies of the nation. -- Jane Addams, The Revolt Against War, July 9, 1915.

When World War I began in 1914, it pitted the strongest European powers against each other and would eventually result in 17 million deaths. As one of the most powerful neutral nations in the world, the United States was in a position to help determine the course of the war. Peace activists, such as Jane Addams, wanted the United States to help negotiate peace amongst the belligerent nations and bring an end to all present and future world conflicts. Although the peace movement was lead by men and women, there was a particular obligation felt by women who saw how the war was affecting women, children, and soldiers for the worse. Women began forming their own peace organizations, within belligerent and neutral nations. In the United States, the Woman’s Peace Party was founded in January 1915 at a meeting of over 3,000 women lead by Jane Addams, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Fanny Garrison Villard. 

As a long time advocate for peace, Addams was a natural leader of the movement. In 1907, Jane Addams published Newer Ideals of Peace, in which she discussed how peace was a social process that would create a fair and a just society, not just the absence of war. Society had to begin this process from neighborhoods to local, state, and national governments. Addams believed that there could eventually be an international society that could promote peace amongst all nations. As a leader in the Women’s Peace Party, Jane Addams was invited to lead an international peace meeting at The Hague. Women had long been left out of the discussion on peace. They lacked the political power to influence the American vote on war because they did not have the right to vote. The only woman who could directly influence that vote was Jeannette Rankin, who was elected in 1916 and voted against the United States entering World War I. 

On an international level, women were not included in the public sphere and were not expected to comment on political issues. By forming peace organizations within their own countries, women had created a network of activists ready to meet on an international level. After a preliminary meeting headed by Aletta Jacobs in February of 1915, it was decided that the International Congress of Women would meet from April 28 to May 1st of 1915 at The Hague to discuss a peace plan to end World War I and prevent future violence. The gathering was lead by Addams and was attended by 1,300 peace activists. Not only did these women have to overcome the social barriers, they also had to overcome the difficulties of travelling across war-torn Europe, which was unsafe. Despite the barriers in their way, the meeting was a success.

When the meeting convened at the end of April, the International Congress of Women agreed on the basic premise that women deserved the right to vote and that peace was necessary. By the end, the Congress agreed on twenty resolutions, promoting peace, better treatment of women and children, and more democratic foreign policy platforms. After the congress ended, groups of delegates were dispatched across the world to try and convince world leaders to choose peace. Women were able to speak with the leaders of belligerent and neutral countries. Delegates tried to convince Woodrow Wilson to keep the United States out of the war, and although the country entered the war in 1917, the peace plan created by the activists influenced Wilson’s Fourteen Point Plan. War was not meant to be a place for women, but the delegates of the International Congress of Women overcame the barriers that prevented them from sitting idle by and attempted to change the course of international warfare. World War I would not end until 1918 and international peace would again be disrupted by the beginning of World War II just twenty one years later. The International Committee for Permanent Peace was renamed the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in 1919, which still exists today.

Primary Sources:

  1. Jane Addams, "Women to Appeal to Chief Capitals," New York Times, May 2, 1915, p. 5.
  2. Emergency Peace Federation Executive Committee, To the People of America, Peabody Gazette-Herald, March 11, 1915, p. 8.
  3. Jane Addams Down on Roosevelt Plan, New York Sun, March 6, 1915, p. 3.
  4. Jane Addams, Woman's Position in War Worse Than Hellish, Keynote of Peace Congress, Indianapolis Star, April 29, 1915, p. 1.
  5. Congress of Women Favors Arbitration, Dallas Morning News, April 30, 1915.
  6. International Congress of Women, Report of the International Congress of Women(1915) - contains the list of resolutions.
  7. Jane Addams, "Presidential Address at the International Congress of Women," Congress Report (1915), pp. 18-22.
  8. Jane Addams, Impressions of the Congress of Women, Manchester Guardian, May 14, 1915, p. 3.
  9. Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs to the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace, July, 1915
  10. Now is the Time to Make Proposals of Peace, Says Jane Addams, Fresh from the Battlefields, New York Tribune, July 6, 1915, p. 3.
  11. Jane Addams, Address at Carnegie Hall, July 9, 1915.
  12. International Congress of Women, The Women's Manifesto, October 15, 1915.
  13. Jane Addams, Emily Greene Balch, and Alice Hamilton, at The Hague, the International Congress of Women and Its Results (1915)
  14. Edward Marshall, "Jane Addams Points Way to Peace," New York Times, July 11,1915, pp. 1-2.
  15. General Federation of Women's Clubs, "Biennial Convention Official Report," (General Federation of Women's Clubs, 1918), pp. 251-263.
  16. Jane Addams, "The Attack on War," Christian Century 38, October 13, 1921, pp. 10-12.

Additional Resources:

  1. No Glory in War 1914-1918(website)
  2. Feminist Pacifism, International Encyclopedia of the First World War.
  3. Jane Addams: Chicago's Pacifist(Lake Forest College)

Suggested subject searches:

Addams, Jane, and peace movement

peace movement, activities of

peace movement, international

peace movement, organization of

peace movement, women and

World War I, opposition to

World War I, peace negotiations

People, organizations and events (with links to documents)

Balch, Emily Greene

International Congress of Women (1915)

International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace

Jacobs, Aletta Henriette

Macmillan, Chrystal

Schwimmer, Rosika

Woman's Peace Party

Photo credits

(top) Jane Addams and the American delegation to the International Congress of Women, April 1915 (Library of Congress)

<(bottom) The American Delegation, International Conference of Women, 1915 (Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Swarthmore College Peace Collection).