University of Montana, Mansfield Library, Archives and Special Collections
The University of Montana—Missoula
Missoula, MT 59812
406-243-2053
http://www.lib.umt.edu/asc
library.archives@umontana.edu
Mss
805
Streit,
Clarence K. (Clarence Kirshman), 1896-1986
Clarence Streit poems
undated
0.1 linear feet
This collection includes eight poems
written by Clarence Streit: three love poems; on poem to Valerie, a
grand-daughter; and four other poems.
Materials are
inEnglish
Biographical Note
Clarence K. Streit was born in California, Missouri, in 1896. At the
age of 15 he moved to Missoula, Montana, where he founded the
Konah, a high school paper that is now one of the oldest
in continuous publication. Streit worked in the summers surveying in Alaska and
the Rocky Mountains to finance his education at Montana State University, (now
The University of Montana-Missoula), where he edited the college newspaper, the
Montana Kaimin, and served on the debate team.
Streit left Missoula in 1917 and volunteered in the 18 th Railway
Engineers for war service. One of the first 50,000 American soldiers to land in
Europe, he reached France in August of 1917. In 1918 he joined the Intelligence
Service where for a time he served as one of the guards of President Wilson.
After his time in the service, Streit returned to Missoula where he won a
Rhodes Scholarship which enabled him to study history at Oxford. Once in
England, Streit met Jeanne Defrance of Paris, and they married in 1921.
In 1925 he joined the
New York Times as a foreign correspondent and in 1929 went
to Geneva as a correspondent for the League of Nations, a post he held for
nearly ten years. During his time as a journalist, Streit covered such
prominent issues as the Sino-Japanese war, the depression and the rise of Nazi
dictatorship. His interest in such international issues led Streit to resign
his position at the Times in 1939 and publish his first book,
Union Now, an appeal for a federal union of the
democracies.
After the success of
Union Now, which admirers hailed as democracy's answer to
Adolf Hitler's
Mein Kampf, Clarence and Jeanne Streit continued to commit
their lives to the cause of union. In 1940, the couple founded Federal Union,
Inc., an educational organization committed to universal world government.
Chapters opened in towns all over the nation, including the formation of a
Missoula chapter in 1940. Streit served as president of Federal Union as well
as editor of
Freedom and Union, the organization's magazine. Streit was
one of the founding members of the Atlantic Union Committee that merged with
other organizations in 1962 to form the Atlantic Council. His works on behalf
of world peace earned Streit a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Clarence Streit died in 1986.
This collection includes eight poems written by Clarence Streit: three
love poems; one poem to Valerie, a grand-daughter; and four other poems.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of
Archives and Special Collections, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, and
The University of Montana-Missoula.
Researchers are responsible for using in accordance with 17 U.S.C. and
any other applicable statutes. Copyright not transferred to The University of
Montana-Missoula
[Name of document or photograph number], Clarence Streit Poems,
Archives and Special Collections, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, The
University of Montana-Missoula.
Chain of ownership unknown.
Donated by Mark Lambert, 2011
The Archives & Special Collections also holds Mss 160, the
Clarence Streit Papers. The bulk of his papers are held by the Library of
Congress.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or
places should search the catalog using these headings.
Poets, American.
Poems
Literature
Montana