1  Natasha  Beck  Stafford  Studies,  July  2014  

 William Stafford and Maurice Beck: Two Men of Wit and Principle

This  project  will  compare  and  contrast  the  lives  of  two  men  of  conscience  and  principle,  the  poet  William  (Bill)  Stafford  and  my  father,  Maurice  (Maury)  Beck.  I  will  focus  on  the  time  period  1935-­‐45,and  have  included  annotated  primary  documents  and  photos.  Further,  I  will  offer  examples  of  Beck's  sense  of  humor,  and  conclude  with  how  this  project  has  been  important  to  me.    Born  in  Kansas  in  1914,William  Stafford  was  a  graduate  student  in  English  when  he  refused  induction  into  the  U.S.  military  and  declared  himself  a  conscientious  objector  due  to  his  pacifist  religious  beliefs  (Church  of  the  Brethren).  He  served  at  camps  in  Arkansas,  Indiana,  and  California.  He  met  his  future  wife,  Dorothy,  when  she  visited  a  camp  in  southern  California  in  1943,and  they  were  married  the  following  year.  He  wrote  a  book  about  his  conscientious  objector  (c.o.)  camp  experience,  where  he  performed  physical  labor  but  also  was  part  of  a  community  of  thoughtful  and  intelligent  young  men.  After  the  war  he  presented  the  book  as  his  Master's  thesis.  After  completing  his  doctorate  at  the  University  of  Iowa,  he  continued  a  long  career  as  a  professor  at  Lewis  and  Clark  College  in  Portland,  Oregon  and  achieved  considerable  acclaim  as  a  poet.    Born  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island  in  1917,he  stayed  there  until  he  graduated  from  Brown  University  in  1939.  During  his  college  years,  he  wrote  for  the  Brown  Daily  Herald,  was  a  member  of  the  Young  People's  Socialist  League  (YPSL),and  served  as  president  of  the  Brown  Liberal  Club,  an  organization  also  affiliated  with  the  progressive  multi-­‐issue  group  the  American  Student  Union  (ASU).  Holding  pacifist  beliefs  when  he  was  ordered  to  report  to  the  local  draft  board,  he  tried  as  a  graduate  student  in  social  work  to  get  a  student  deferment.  He  was  denied  his  deferment,  lost  his  fellowship  and  was  inducted  into  the  army  in  September  1941;  he  served  in  a  number  of  camps  in  the  American  south,  and  his  work  involved  adult  basic  literacy  curriculum  development  and  administration  of  psychological  tests.  After  the  war,  he  completed  his  MSW  at  the  University  of  Pittsburgh  and  had  a  long  career  in  social  work  planning  and  administration.      Although  both  men  loved  literature,  Beck  didn't  write  any,  considering  his  relationship  to  literature  one  of  "consumer."  However,  he  often  quoted  lines  from  authors  ranging  from  Dickens  to  Melville.  When  my  sister  and  I  would  ask  the  meaning  of  a  word,  he  would  often  preface  his  remarks  "from  the  Latin  (or  Greek),  meaning..."  When  we  were  older,  we  would  be  encouraged  to  look  up  words  in  the  dictionary  and  to  consult  the  encyclopedia.      As  young  men,  both  Stafford  and  Beck  were  outsiders  in  their  political  and  philosophical  beliefs,  but  they  did  have  community-­‐-­‐Dad  through  his  memberships  in  YPSL  and  ASU,  and  Stafford  through  his  fellow  c.o.'s.  Stafford's  son  Kim  has  

  2  suggested  that  had  the  two  men  met,  they  would  have  had  interesting  conversations.      Both  men  also  loved  nature  and  met  their  future  spouses  during  World  War  II,  and  carried  on  extensive  written  correspondence  after  meeting.  Bill  and  Dorothy  bonded  over  their  love  of  literature  and  nature,  as  well  as  their  shared  philosophical  beliefs.  My  parents  met  as  camp  counselors  during  the  summer  of  1941,and  bonded  over  their  shared  interest  in  helping  other  people  through  social  work  and  volunteer  community  work.  They  also  enjoyed  cultural  activities  such  as  plays,  classical  music  concerts,  and  museums.  

   

 Photo  1:  Student  anti-­‐war  strike,  April  12,1935  

 In  1935,a  nationwide  strike  of  175,000  students  involved  young  people  from  Boston  to  Los  Angeles,  from  historically  black  colleges  to  City  College  of  New  York,  from  Los  Angeles  Junior  College  to  Vassar  College,  and  from  high  schools  to  professional  schools.  The  main  organizations  involved  in  this  historic  event  were  the  Socialist  group  Student  League  for  Industrial  Democracy,  and  the  Communist  group  the  National  Student  League.    The  country  was  in  the  middle  of  the  Great  Depression;  millions  of  adults  were  unemployed,  schools  were  closing,  and  some  teachers  were  unpaid,  yet  millions  of  federal  dollars  were  spent  on  armaments.    Students  were  concerned  about  the  outbreak  of  imperialist  war  and  the  presence  of  ROTC  on  college  campuses.  They  had  the  support  of  faculty  members,  clergy,  newspapers,  

  3  several  U.S.  senators,  labor  unions,  and  the  Socialist  Party.  Opponents  included  conservative  students  and  police.      

 Photo  2:  Pamphlet  by  Joseph  P.  Lash,  The  Campus  Strikes  Against  War,  1935.  

 Joseph  Lash  was  National  Secretary  of  the  Student  League  for  Industrial  Democracy,  a  leader  in  the  American  Student  Union,  and  a  member  of  the  National  Student  Strike  Committee.  Written  after  the  April  student  strike  mentioned  above,  Lash  urged  students  to  continue  their  peace  activism,  to  sign  the  Oxford  pledge,  to  continue  the  fight  against  fascism  in  Europe  and  Asia,  to  support  labor  unions,  and  above  all,  to  work  for  socialism.      

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 Photo  3:    Song  sheets  from  American  Student  Union  conference.  

  5    The  songs  reflected  the  wide-­‐ranging  progressive  views  of  the  American  Student  Union  (ASU):  anti-­‐war,  anti-­‐fascist  in  the  Spanish  Civil  War,  and  solidarity  with  workers  in  general  and  the  AFL  and  the  CIO  in  particular.    They  were  on  the  program  for  an  ASU  regional  conference  in  Boston.        

 Photo  4:  The  Oxford  Pledge  Card.  

 Students  were  asked  to  sign  the  Oxford  Pledge,  which  stated:                      “I  refuse  to  support  the  government  of  the  United  States  in  any  war  it  may                    undertake,  and  pledge  my  unwavering  opposition  to  war  preparations  and  the                  militarization  of  America.  “    

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 Photo  5:    Leaflet  from  the  Young  People’s  Socialist  League  (YPSL)  ca.  1938.  

 Maurice  P.  Beck  and  several  members  of  the  Liberal  Club  were  YPSL  members.    The  leaflet  offered  an  urgent  call  for  unity  from  a  broad  range  of  youth  and  encouraged  them  to  attend  regional  conferences.    

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 Photo  6:    Letter  from  Janet  Phillips  of  the  Boston  District  American  Student  Union  

 This  April  19,1938  letter  to  Maurice  Beck  discussed  the  forthcoming  Fast  for  Spain,  in  support  of  the  anti-­‐fascist  Republicans  in  their  war  against  the  fascist  Nationalists.      

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 Photo  7:    Call  to  Strike  Against  the  War,  Boston  Common,  ca.  1930s.  

 This  leaflet  discussed  an  action  supported  by  a  coalition  of  organizations;  some  of  the  more  notable  ones  include  Fellowship  of  Reconciliation  (FOR),  Women’s  International  League  for  Peace  and  Freedom  (WILPF),  and  the  Young  People’s  Socialist  League.  Notably  absent  was  the  Young  Communist  League,  which  had  abandoned  its  previous  anti-­‐war  position  and  pledged  itself  to  support  the  Soviet  Union.    (On  a  contemporary  note,  the  first  two  organizations  soon  will  celebrate  their  100th  anniversaries:  WILPF  in  2015  and  FOR  in  2016.)    The  strike  supported  a  number  of  issues.  Chief  among  them  were  demands  to  divert  money  to  be  spent  on  militarism  and  war  preparation  towards  education,  job  creation,  slum  clearance,  and  public  housing.  Further,  the  strike  urged  the  U.S.  to  boycott  Japanese  goods,  to  end  the  embargo  against  Spain,  and  to  support  the  

  9  people’s  right  to  have  a  war  referendum.  The  strike  committee  pledged  themselves  to  world  peace  and  social  and  economic  justice.          

 Photo  8:    American  Student  Union  Brochure,  Boston,  How  Can  the  U.S.A.  Prevent  a  World  War?    This  leaflet  was  written  when  Europe  was  on  the  brink  of  World  War  II.  The  U.S.  government  hadn’t  yet  made  a  break  with  its  isolationist  policy  with  respect  to  Europe,  and  its  authors  urged  students  to  take  several  actions.  First,  to  write  President  Roosevelt  and  Congress  people  urging  them  to  lift  the  embargo  on  Spain,  and  to  further  clarify  the  difference  between  aggressor  and  victim  in  applying  government  embargoes.    Second,  to  sign  a  petition  from  the  Youth  Committee  for  Concerned  Peace  Efforts  in  support  of  the  above.  Third,  to  donate  and  collect  money  for  relief  aid  to  support  the  anti-­‐fascists  in  Spain  and  China.      

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   Photo  9:  Dorothy  and  William  Stafford,  1945.  He  was  still  doing  his  conscientious  objector  service.  They  had  met  in  1943  and  married  in  1944.    

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Photo  10:  Maurice  Beck,  graduation  from  Brown  University,  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  B.A.  in  Psychology.      

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Photo  11:  William  Stafford,  ca.  1980.                        

  13  Maurice    (Maury)  Beck’s  wit    Dad  had  a  dry  wit  and  loved  to  tell  puns  and  use  wordplay.  My  maternal  grandma,  Inez  Stickney  Hagen,  once  remarked:  “Life  with  Maury  will  never  be  boring.”  Here  are  some  examples  from  the  late  1930s  and  during  the  World  War  II  years:  .    

1. “Clash  with  Lash”  in  reference  to  a  debate  between  Joseph  Lash,  national  leader  of  the  American  Student  Union  (ASU),  and  member  of  the  Brown  Liberal  Club.    

2. He  referred  to  a  Boston  regional  organizer  for  the  ASU  as  a  “feminine  firebrand.”    

3. In  spring  1939,he  described  getting  ready  to  graduate  and  finishing  up  his  political  work  and  other  obligations  as  “running  around  like  a  chicken  with  its  head  cut  off.”      

4. My  parents  were  married  on  June  29,1943.  After  a  short  honeymoon,  they  went  to  Durant,  Mississippi  where  Dad  was  stationed  at  Camp  McCain.  He  had  an  erratic  schedule,  and  sometimes  would  climb  into  a  side  window  and  come  bursting  into  the  room  they  rented  and  ask,  ”Do  you  think  we’ll  win  the  war?”  

 5. By  1945,he  would  ask,  ”Do  you  think  we’ll  win  the  peace?”  

   

My  Personal  Thoughts  on  this  Project    This  project  was  enlightening  in  a  number  of  ways.  I  started  out  with  a  vague  idea  that  I  wanted  to  do  something  with  William  Stafford's  writings  on  his  conscientious  objector  (c.o.)  camp  experiences.  Then  I  thought  about  the  inherited  files  of  my  dad's  letters,  leaflets,  pamphlets  and  other  ephemera  about  his  college  student  activist  work  in  the  anti-­‐war  and  other  social  justice  movements  of  the  1930s.  Realizing  that  both  Stafford  and  Beck  were  contemporaries,  shared  common  philosophical  and  political  beliefs,  as  well  as  a  strong  love  of  literature,  I  decided  to  compare  and  contrast  their  beliefs,  interests,  and  lives.    As  a  member  of  Women's  International  League  for  Peace  and  Freedom  (WILPF),and  a  former  college  women's  studies  instructor,  I've  had  a  long-­‐time  interest  in  women's  participation  in  social  and  political  movements.  I  was  pleased  to  see  women's  involvement  in  the  leadership  and  staff  of  several  1930s  peace  and  justice  organizations.  While  I  don't  know  how  many  were  involved  in  grassroots  work,  judging  by  the  leaders  listed  on  mastheads,  I  calculated  that  women  formed  between  25-­‐30%  of  the  leadership  of  these  organizations,  and  also  held  paid  staff  positions.  I  was  also  pleased  to  note  that  WILPF  was  one  of  the  sponsoring  organizations  for  an  important  anti-­‐war  rally,  and  also  noted  the  names  Molly  Yard,  who  much  later  became  a  national  president  of  the  National  Organization  for  Women,  and  Viola  Scudder,  who  was  an  important  labor  union  organizer  in  the  1930s.  

  14  Works  Cited:  

 Beck,  Maurice.    Personal  papers:  political  correspondence,  brochures,  leaflets  and  photos.    McQuiddy,  Steve.  Here  on  the  Edge:  Corvallis:  Oregon  State  University  Press,  2013.    Stafford,  William.  Down  in  my  Heart:  Peace  Witness  in  Time  of  War.  Corvallis:  Oregon  State  University  Press,  2006.  (Originally  published  1947.)    Tejada-­‐Flores,  Rick  and  Judith  Ehrlich,  Producers.    The  Good  War  and  Those  Who  Refused  to  Fight  It.  Paradigm  Productions,  in  association  with  Independent  Television  Series,  2000.