• Identification00066869
  • TitleDescriptive inventory for the Robert J. Havighurst papers, 1943-1966
  • PublisherChicago Historical Society
  • Language
    • English.
    • English
  • RepositoryChicago History Museum Research Center 1601 North Clark Street Chicago, IL 60614-6038
  • OriginationRobert J. Havighurst Linus Pauling Chicago Area Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights Chicago Committee to Oppose Peacetime Conscription National Committee for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact Hyde Park Community Peace Council (Chicago, Ill.) National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (U.S.) National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
  • Date1943-1966
  • Physical Description
    • 3.5 linear ft. (8 boxes)
    • 2 oversized folders
  • Location
    • MSS Lot H
    • MSS Oversized H

Processed with funding provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

This collection is open for research use.

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Gift (accession#: 1976.0049).

Robert Havighurst papers (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Correspondence, research files, newsletters, press releases, speech transcripts, newspaper clippings, and other papers of Robert Havighurst, a professor of education at the University of Chicago and a leading peace activist. The collection mostly relates to Havighurst's activities opposing the development of the Cold War and supporting academic freedom, freedom of speech, and political dissent. Materials pertain to opposition to universal military training in the United States after World War II; the Chicago Committee to Oppose Peacetime Conscription (1940s); opposition to the Korean War; advocating limits on nuclear power and nuclear weapons; and activities of the National Committee for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact, which Havighurst served as chairman and Paul Barton Johnson served as executive secretary in the early 1950s; and the National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee. Topics include cases across the United States involving loyalty oaths, threats to freedom of speech, and loss of academic freedom.

Robert J. Havighurst was an activist and professor of education at the University of Chicago. He served as chairman of various peace and civil liberties organizations including the National Committee for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact (chairman), the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights, and the Chicago Committee to Oppose Peacetime Conscription (co-chairman). Havighurst also served on the board of the Chicago Area Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy and was involved with numerous other political organizations.

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights and related organizational records, 1940-1986.

  • Names
    • Havighurst, Robert J. (Robert James), 1900-1991--Archives
    • Eby, Kermit
    • Johnson, Paul Barton
    • Thompson, John B.
    • Chicago Area Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy
    • Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights
    • Chicago Committee to Oppose Peacetime Conscription
    • National Committee for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact
    • Hyde Park Community Peace Council (Chicago, Ill.)
    • National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (U.S.)
    • National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee
    • United States. Subversive Activities Control Board
    • University of Chicago--Faculty
  • Subject
    • Academic freedom--United States--20th century
    • Antinuclear movement--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
    • Antinuclear movement--United States--20th century
    • Civil rights movements--United States--20th century
    • Cold War
    • College teachers--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
    • Education--Study and teaching--20th century
    • Freedom of speech--United States--20th century
    • Korean War, 1950-1953
    • Loyalty oaths--United States
    • Peace movements--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Geographic Coverage
    • Chicago (Ill.)--Social conditions--20th century
    • Hyde Park (Chicago, Ill.)--20th century

The collection is arranged in four series.

Series 1. Universal military training and Chicago Committee to Oppose Peacetime Conscription materials, 1944-1952 (box 1)

Series 1 consists of Havighurst's research files and materials for distribution to persuade against peacetime universal military conscription (UMT), including correspondence, flyers, pamphlets, printed materials, speech transcripts, and newspaper clippings. Also present are Chicago Committee to Oppose Peacetime Conscription (CCOPC) meeting minutes and militarization reports by Albert Einstein and Pearl Buck among others. Topics include Korea and the Korean War, the North Atlantic Pact, armament and disarmament, and American-Soviet friendship. A majority of the materials for distribution are directed towards legislators and other politicians.

Series 2. Civil and political rights materials, 1943-1965 (box 2-3, 1 oversize folder)

Series 2 contains correspondence and reference materials related to Havighurst’s activities in support of civil liberties, including reports, notes, flyers, meeting minutes of various committees, news clippings, and petitions. Topics include intellectual and educational freedom, nuclear disarmament, National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (U.S.), the Cold War, ethical and social responsibility of scientists, University of California Crisis and Loyalty Oath (1949), the McCarran Act, and the Levering Act. Correspondence is between Havighurst and other activists and politicians, such as Linus Pauling in support of Havighurst, and John S. Wood, chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Some of the correspondence requests support for colleagues under scrutiny for subversive activities. Also present is an illustrated brochure titled: "How to Analyze Your Neighbor's Character in 30 Seconds."

Series 3. National Committee for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact and related organizations materials, 1949-1956 (box 3-6, 1 oversize folder)

Series 3 contains materials related to the Committee for Peaceful Alternatives to the Atlantic Pact (CPA) and other Chicago, national, and global peace organizations. Materials include correspondence, reports, programs, policy statements, newsletters, fact sheets, flyers, newspaper clippings, speech transcripts, press releases, petitions, and financial statements. Topics include communism, disarmament, military training, the Atlantic Pact, Subversive Activities Control Board, and Korea. Much of the correspondence is from Emily Balch and Thomas Mann, and several letters pertain to Havighurst's colleagues who were forced out of ministry and teaching positions due to involvement with CPA. Also present is a peace poster and an article: "Two Scientists Tied To Red 'Peace' Crusade" (1951), which includes a photo of Dr. Havighurst (oversize folder).

Series 4. Research files, 1940s-1960s (box 6-8)

Series 4 consists of research files in the form of bound publications, books, and booklets. Some of these materials contain handwritten notations in margins. Topics include Korea, Christianity, communism, J. Robert Oppenheimer, House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, deportation, atomic energy, foreign relations, bacterial warfare, and civil freedoms.