GIs For Peace was an organization established by military personnel at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas in 1968. The organization aimed to: promote peace; end the Vietnam war, American militarism and institutional racism; support soldiers' rights, improve soldiers' conditions and provide them with counseling; and work for the betterment of the local community.
Resistance to the Vietnam war within the military began in 1966 with individual acts of resistance to authority. The first anti-establishment newspapers began publication in 1967. As the war and civilian protest escalated, so too did protest within the military. Those in the military were lagely isolated and alienated from civilian protest, as well as working in a more repressive environment. GI newspapers, a stateside phenomenom, were a means for GIs to develop a sense of solidarity with other protesters in the military and present a political analysis of local and national events from their own unique perspective.
GIs For Peace was one of many similar organizations in the country. It was typical in that membership was small and transitory, and that it was representative of the thinking of many in the military who were either not willing to chance the consequences of active involvement or chose to express themselves through other means.
This collection is a group of materials collected by Jim Jones, a founding member of GIs For Peace and editor of the organization's newsletter, Gigline. The mailing list for Gigline includes many listings of other GI newspapers and sympathetic leftist publications and organizations. The correspondence contains materials received by Jones both while he was editor of Gigline and after his discharge from the army. A Different Drum is Jones' recollection of the development of GIs For Peace, with an emphasis on his own participation.
This collection is open for research use.
[Item Description]. Cage 4617, GIs For Peace Records. Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The records of GIs For Peace were donated to the Washington State University Libraries in October 1983 (MS83-36) by James A. Jone
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.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.