Peacenik follow-up (Lively Arts publication)

Garson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Mon Nov 23 03:53:05 UTC 2009


Vick Steinbok sent me an interesting citation for peacenik in the
Google Books database. The reference is to a government document that
Google Books dates to 1962 which includes a committee hearing with
Senator Strom Thurmond and Admiral Lowrance.

Any mistakes in this post are of course mine. The 1962 date is not
certain, but a search for 1963 suggests that it is in the future for
this document. It is tricky and error-prone to extract information
from this cite because only snippets are available, and the word
peacenik is not directly shown in a snippet.

Nevertheless, based on two extracts from page 2112 I hypothesize that
there is an article by Edward Wynne that appears in the publication
"Lively Arts" or "The Lively Arts" (Nyack NY) that uses peacenik and
was published within a year of March 1962. This appearance might be
before the Village Voice cite of January 1962.

If an individual is interested in the history of the word peacenik and
has access to the hardcopy version of the government document (cited
below) it would be great if he or she would take a look. Also, if
someone can access the publication "Lively Arts" in the 1960 to 1962
time frame and look for an article by Edward Wynne that would be
excellent. In any case, this note will be in the archive for others.

The second extract below suggests that Senator Thurmond was unfamiliar
with the term peacenik in this time frame. The extract also suggests
that at least one peace activist voluntarily adopted the term although
OED labels it depreciative today decades later.

Here is the first extract:

... ON PROPAGANDA EXPLOITATION
Senator THURMOND. Admiral, I have an issue of the Lively Arts, March
1962 - have you seen this publication -
Admiral LOWRANCE. No, sir, I have never seen that.
Senator THURMOND (continuing). Published by an organization in Nyack,
N.Y.? I think it is an excellent example of agitation against the
military, civil defense, and the general defense posture of our
country.
There is an article entitled "The Burning Issue" by Ruth Best. …


Here is the second extract:

In another issue of this publication the proposal is made for a
"Peacenik" movement. I assume what is meant by "Peacenik" is an
antimilitarist who would rather be "Red than dead."

In this article, a Mr. Edward Wynne talks about the antiwar and the
antiarmament activist. This misinformed writer set forth the "merits"
of our disarmament so that the Soviet Union might follow suit. He
recommends study groups to promote the idea of peaceful action against
communism, and believes that the forces of peace are active in the
USSR also.

Admiral, the reason that I am giving emphasis to this remote,
grassroots attempt to mold opinion in such a vehicle as the "Lively
Arts" publication, shows that we may have a growing problem for the
services.

Citation: Military cold war education and speech review policies:
hearings before the Special Preparedness Subcommittee of the Committee
on Armed Services, United States Senate, Eighty-seventh Congress,
second session, Volume 5, 1962.
http://books.google.com/books?id=1Jk0AAAAIAAJ&q=peacenik#search_anchor

The citation below also seems to contain hits for relevant passages.
It may be a duplicate document with different metadata.
Citation: Parts 4-5 of Military Cold War Education and Speech Review
Policies: Hearings, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on
Armed Services. [from old catalog], 1962.
http://books.google.com/books?id=_dAQAAAAIAAJ&q=peacenik#search_anchor

Garson

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