"Healing the Bitterness of War and Destruction": CPS and Foreign Service

'Healing the Bitterness of War and Destruction' CPS and Foreign Service Mitchell L. Robinson* The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 required inductees who could not serve in the armed forces for reasons of "religious training and belief to perform "work ofnational importance under civilian direction." The three Historic Peace Churches, working with other pacifist groups under the umbrella ofthe National Service Board for Religious Objectors (NSBRO), created and sustained Civilian Public Service (CPS), as an avenue for conscientious objectors to fulfill this obligation. Their creation eventually encompassed 1 1 ,950 men and 15 1 projects scattered throughout the United States. The American Friends Service Committee, the Mennonite Central Committee and the Brethren Service Committee envisioned CPS as an opportunity for conscientious objectors to offer a witness against war through constructive service at home and abroad. Unfortunately the program never fulfilled these high hopes. Critics were particularly frustrated that assignees wasted their talents and skills laboring on insignificant projects in remote camps while efforts to employ them as reliefworkers in war-torn areas were stymied by opposition from veterans' groups, Congressional hostility and public indifference. The roadblocks placed in the path ofconscientious objectors who wished to serve overseas encapsulated the problems that confronted CPS throughout World War II and illustrated the dilemmas surrounding conscription in a liberal democracy. The initial blueprint for alternative service drafted by peace church representatives and Selective Service officials during the fall of 1940 included work camps in South America operated by the church agencies. President Roosevelt unexpectedly rejected this scheme as too lenient, thereby forcing pacifists to accept privately-funded camps where the men would work under the direction of federal and state agencies.1 Despite the initial setback, AFSC envisioned an ambitious educational program that included technical and language training for overseas reconstruction service.2 As the first CPS assignees were entering a former Civilian Conservation Corps camp inMaryland inthe spring of1941, the Committee was planning to dispatch fifty men to Mexico where they would join ?Mitchell Robinson received his Ph.D. in history form Cornell University in 1990. He wrote his dissertation, "Civilian Public Service during World War II: The Dilemmas ofConscience and Conscription in a Free Society," under the supervision of Richard Polenberg. He is employed by the U.S. Navy as a contract negotiator at the Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Detachment in Philadelphia, PA. Civilian Public Service and Foreign Service25 twenty-five volunteers serving in a regionthathadrecentlybeen devastated by an earthquake.3 The Roosevelt administration was eagerly seeking to shore up relations with its southern neighbors, and the Selective Service Director, General Lewis B. Hershey, saw reliefwork in Mexico as a logical component of this "Good Neighbor" policy. It also coincided with his desire to get drafted conscientious objectors as far away from their homes as possible.4 The State Department proved to be less receptive. Although Quaker relief efforts had facilitated "good relations," Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles feared that most Latin Americans would only understand the presence of conscientious objectors as an implication of "weakness in the United States defense effort" regardless ofhow carefully they might be chosen or how impeccable their conduct. Already faced with a bruising battle over its attempt to retain draftees on active duty beyond their twelve month obligation, the administration was sensitive to any action that might hint at domestic disunity. Welles warned President Roosevelt that "one of the most fertile fields" for Nazi propagandists in the other American republics was stressing evidence ofdissension in the United States, and that "the presence abroad of groups of young men who have objected to performing the normal military service required by our laws" would only provide additional ammunition.5 Clarence Pickett, the AFSCs Executive Secretary, and Paul French of the NSBRO led the drive for overseas service. Their allies included Eleanor Roosevelt, who had worked closely with Pickett and the AFSC on several social service projects. She promised in July that she would try to persuade Welles to change his mind.6 The Mexican Ministry ofForeign Affairs; the American Ambassador to Mexico, Josephus Daniels; and Wayne Coy in the President's Office for Emergency Management also urged that conscientious objectors be allowed to...