OMNI KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT 85th ANNIVERSARY
NEWSLETTER, Kellogg-Briand Pact in Paris, France,
AUGUST 27, 1928. Compiled by Dick Bennett for a
Culture of Peace and Justice.
OMNI NATIONAL/INTERNATIONALDAYS PROJECT
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Contents
Veterans for Peace
Swanson, When the World Outlawed War
Google Search: Kellogg-Briand Pact
Google Search: Swanson, When the World Outlawed War
Illegality of War Recognized in Congress
The Minneapolis-St. Paul chapter of Veterans For Peace was acknowledged in the
Congressional Record on Thursday April 18th by Congressman Keith Ellison who
acknowledged something else as well: the illegality of war.
Inspired by a book written by VFP associate-member David Swanson titled "When
the World Outlawed War", Veterans For Peace and allies in the Twin Cities have been
organizing efforts to commemorate the work of Frank B. Kellogg this coming August 27th.
That will be the 85th anniversary of the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact in Paris, France -a treaty that remains the supreme law of the land under Article VI of the U.S. Constitution and
which bans war.
1.
When the World Outlawed War
by David Christopher Naylor Swanson, 2011. Rev. by Bruce Levine.
Featuring fresh takes and real-time analysis from HuffPost's signature lineup of contributors
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Marlo ThomasRev. Al SharptonDr. Peggy Drexler, Bill Moyers
Bruce E. Levine
Practicing clinical psychologist, writer
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When the World Outlawed War: David Swanson's
David Swanson, since serving as press secretary in Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential
campaign, has emerged as one of the leading anti-war activists in the United States. Swanson
is not satisfied with just stopping current U.S. wars. In his previous book War is a Lie,
Swanson made the case for the abolition of war as an instrument of national policy, and his
new book, When the World Outlawed War, provides an historical example of just how
powerful war abolitionism can be.
Although polls today show that a large majority of U.S. citizens oppose recent and current U.S.
wars and want to cut military spending to reduce the federal deficit, few Americans are
engaged in anti-war activism. This political passivity is due, in part, to Americans' sense of
impotence at having any impact on the U.S. government, especially when it comes to the
military-industrial complex. Many of us feel powerless to stop the ever-increasing bombings,
invasions, and occupations of nations which pose no threat to us.
[For another
explanation see “From Ohlendorf to Obama” by Nicolas J. S. Davies, Z Magazine (Sept.
2013) : US public silence results from plutocratic-corporate-military-Congressional-White
House-mainstream media-imperial-“inverted totalitarianism.” --Dick]
Anti-war Americans have not always felt so defeatist. When the World Outlawed War tells the
story of how the highly energized peace movement in the 1920s, supported by an
overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens from every level of society, was able to push politicians
into something quite remarkable -- the Kellogg-Briand Pact and the renunciation of war as an
instrument of national policy. The 1920s "War Outlawry" movement was so popular
that most politicians could not afford to oppose it.
The history of the 1920s that most Americans are taught is restricted to excesses of the
Roaring Twenties and the failure of Prohibition. Few Americans are taught that in that decade
there was also a peace movement that mobilized millions of people to get the U.S. government
and the world's major powers to formally renounce war. This strong anti-war movement was
supported across the political spectrum, from international isolationists to peace activists.
Many Americans came to resent the governmental manipulations that had convinced them
World War I was a noble cause when it was unnecessary and catastrophic in terms of
casualties.
For "War Outlawrists," the institution of war was an immorality like dueling and slavery, both
of which had once been considered legal and practiced but had been abolished. And so by
outlawing war, this would change an entire cultural perspective on another immoral
institution. They hoped, at the very least, to open the world's eyes to war's status as an
immoral institution and to stigmatize it.
The American Committee for the Outlawry of War was the creation of Salmon
Oliver Levinson, prominent Chicago attorney and one of the prime movers for
the Kellogg-Briand Pact. Levinson wrote: "The principle underlying the outlawry of war is
this: The law should always be on the moral side of every question. But the law of nations has
always been on the wrong side of the war question." In December 1919, Levinson met with
Republican Sen. William Borah of Idaho, and Borah was excited by Levinson's plan for
Outlawry of War.
Borah, in contemporary terms, was similar to Congressman Ron Paul of Texas in the area of
foreign policy, though Borah had far more power. In 1917, Borah had supported World War I,
but he later said that his vote for World War I was the one vote he regretted. At the time of
Levinson's meeting with Borah in 1919, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations was Republican Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge had promoted the Spanish
American War as well as World War I, and supported a massive build-up of the Navy.
However, Lodge died in 1924, at which point Borah became Chair of Foreign Relations. And
Borah, who had become a major opponent of imperialism and militarism, now had significant
power to influence national policy.
U.S. anti-war politicians such as Borah attained such power in the 1920s because anti-war was
a popular position. When the World Outlawed War reminds us how very different American
culture was in the 1920s. In contrast to today, in the 1920s, peace was patriotic. Swanson
notes that in the 1920s, peace "did not require opposing the central agenda of the U.S.
government. It did not require going up against today's powerful military industrial complex.
In the 1920s, farmers had more pull than weapons makers."
The Kellogg-Briand Pact (named after Frank Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State and
Aristide Briand, the French foreign minister) was signed on Aug. 27, 1928 by the United
States and France, as well as world powers United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Germany, and by
several other nations. In 1929, the Kellogg-Briand Pact was ratified by the U.S.
Senate by a vote of 85 to 1, and it is still on the books, as part of supreme law of
the United States. The Kellogg-Briand Pact states:
The High Contracting Parties solemly [sic] declare in the names of their respective peoples
that they condemn recourse to war for the solution of international controversies, and
renounce it, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another.
The High Contracting Parties agree that the settlement or solution of all disputes or conflicts
of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them, shall
never be sought except by pacific means.
What good did the Kellogg-Briand Pact do? Obviously, it failed to stop wars. A common
criticism of it is that it had no teeth, as it contained no sanctions against nations that might
breach its provisions. The Kellogg-Briand Pact did, however, establish the practice of not
recognizing territorial claims gained through war.
Perhaps the most important legacy of the War Outlawry movement is that it was a time in
American history when people were still confident that they could compel politicians to take
popular actions. Swanson points out:
They took a popular demand to the government. They did not go to government officials of
one party or the other and ask, "What should we tell our members to ask you to do?" That
inversion of representative government has become the norm, leading to public
disillusionment with activist groups, labor unions, and other organizations that purport to
lobby public servants while actually treating us as the servants of the public servants. That
mindset is also internalized by many U.S. residents who believe their duty is to a party or a
politician, rather than the politicians' duty being to majority opinion.
If any one piece of American history can re-energize the American people to
again push their politicians, David Swanson's meticulously documented When
the World Outlawed War can do it.
Bruce E. Levine is a clinical psychologist the author of Get Up, Stand Up: Uniting
Populists, Energizing the Defeated, and Battling the Corporate Elite (Chelsea Green
Publishing, 2011).
When the World Outlawed War: An Interview with David Swanson
brucelevine.net/when-the-world-outlawed-war-an-interview-with-david-s...
Nov 20, 2011 – David Swanson's recently released book, When the World Outlawed War,
tells the story of how the highly energized peace movement in the ...
GOOGLE SEARCH for KELLOGG-BRIAND PACT, AUGUST 27,
2013, Page One
out 172,000 results (0.27 seconds)
Search Results
1.
Kellogg–Briand Pact - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg–Briand_Pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris, officially General Treaty for Renunciation of War
as an Instrument of National Policy) was a 1928 international ...
2.
Kellogg-Briand Pact - Office of the Historian
history.state.gov › Milestones › 1921-1936
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war signed on August 27, 1928.
Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it was signed, the ...
3.
News for Kellogg-Briand Treaty
Here Is The City
1.
Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 – No More Wars!
kmmsam - 2 hours ago
As a Vietnam Vet, I had the opportunity to see war up close and personal. I don't have to tell
anyone that it's not something I'd like to do again.
2.
Morning Minutes: Aug. 27
Enterprise News - 3 hours ago
4.
Dictionary
Kellogg-Briand Pact - Legal Dictionary - The Free
legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Kellogg-Briand+Pact
The Kellogg-Briand Pact, also known as the Pact of Paris, was a treaty that attempted to
outlaw war (46 Stat. 2343, T.S. No. 796, 94 L.N.T.S. 57). The treaty was ...
5.
The Avalon Project : Kellogg-Briand Pact 1928
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/kbpact.htm
Treaty between the United States and other Powers providing for the renunciation of war as
an instrument of national policy. Signed at Paris, August 27, 1928; ...
6.
Encyclopedia ...
Kellogg-Briand Pact (France-United States [1928]) --
www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/314413/Kellogg-Briand-Pact
(Aug. 27, 1928), multilateral agreement attempting to eliminate war as an instrument of
national policy. It was the most grandiose of a series of peacekeeping ...
7.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/.../Kellogg-Briand_Pact.ht...
The Kellogg–Briand Pact (also called the Pact of Paris, formal name: General Treaty for the
Renunciation of War) was signed on August 27, 1928 by the United ...
8.
Boundless
The Kellogg-Briand Pact - Non-Interventionism -
www.boundless.com › ... › Non-Interventionism
Learn more about the kellogg-briand pact in the Boundless open textbook. In 1928, the
U.S., Germany, and France signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, ...
Searches related to Kellogg-Briand Treaty
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GOOGLE SEARCH for SWANSON’S BOOK, April 29, 2013, First Page
2.
When the World Outlawed War: David Christopher
Naylor Swanson ...
www.amazon.com › Books › History › Military
o
Rating: 5 - 3 reviews - $13.50 - In stock
When the World Outlawed War [David Christopher Naylor Swanson] on Amazon.com.
*FREE* super saver shipping on qualifying offers. This is a masterful ...
3.
When the World Outlawed War | Let's Try Democracy
- David Swanson
davidswanson.org/outlawry
o
By davidswanson - Posted on 31 October 2011. When the World Outlawed WarGraphic.
Enter the Essay Contest. This is a masterful account of how people in ...
4.
Swanson ...
When the World Outlawed War: An Interview with David
www.alternet.org/.../when_the_world_outlawed_war%3A_an_interview_...
o
Nov 21, 2011 – David Swanson's recently released book, When the World Outlawed War,
tells the story of how the highly energized peace movement in the ...
5.
Google Books
When the World Outlawed War - David Swanson -
books.google.com › History › United States › 20th Century
This is a masterful account of how people in the United States and around the worldworked
to abolish war as a legitimate act of state policy and won in 1928, ...
6.
When the World Outlawed War | War Is A Crime .org
warisacrime.org/category/categories/when-world-outlawed-war
A copy of When the World Outlawed War by David Swanson will be donated to the library
of the winner's school. The WSFPC will also send the best Peace ...
7.
"When the World outlawed War" David Swanson - Interview
1 ...www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HVSwqx1y7o
Nov 9, 2011 - Uploaded by GeneratorJun
Please see video responses. RT, Nov 9, 2011: "The Heritage Foundation was founded in
1973 and according ...
8.
More videos for David Swanson, When the World Outlawed
War »When the World Outlawed War by David Swanson Reviews ...www.goodreads.com/book/.../12991599-when-the- world-outlawed-warOct 19,
2011 – When the World Outlawed War has 1 rating and 0 reviews. Swansonpresents a
masterful account of how people in the United States and ...
-Dick Bennett
My blog:
War Department/Peace Department
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/
Newsletters
http://www.omnicenter.org/newsletter-archive/
Index:
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