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We all know that Obama turned his back on the peace movement when he moved from the Illinois legislature to the US Senate. But it is rarely discussed that Obama’s accomplice in promoting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was once part of an anti-war movement – – 40 years ago.
My mother passed away recently. My family has the task of sorting through her personal and political archives. I found a 3-drawer file cabinet full of papers from the mid-1960’s to the mid-1970’s when my mother was heavily involved with the League of Women Voters [LWV] in Springfield MA and then Babylon NY. This is was during the heyday of the LWV before the grinding down of the middle class and the corporate politicians turned into the shell of the voting rights force it once was.
We have dug out a number of treasures from that file cabinet. One was a typed up set of notes on speakers at the 1970 LWV 50th anniversary celebration in Washington DC. I don’t think my mother realized that the fiery radical law student she saw speak in 1970 became the 1990’s corporate politician.
Below the “more” are jpgs of the original documents with my mother’s notes.
p.s. On a historical footnote, the first speaker was Marian Wright Edelman, who would soon be Clinton’s boss and her life-long mentor. the timing raises interesting questions. Did Wright-Edelman have a hand in getting Clinton the speaking gig? Or did they first meet by the happenstance of the League booking them both to speak? – IW
Filed under: activism, afghanistan, Anti-War, grassroots democracy, Iraq, News, Peace, politics, president, US Politics Tagged: | Barack Obama, hillary clinton, league of women voters, lwv, marian wright edelman
[…] were activists. My mother was very much a letter-writer. She was very involved with the League of Women Voters in the early 70s, and spent a lot of time lobbying elected officials. Unfortunately, I do not […]