William K. Hefner Papers

An accountant by trade, and a peace and civil rights activist by nature, Hefner was already a veteran of twenty years in the struggle for social justice when he became the sole peace candidate for national public office in 1960. Although he failed to secure the Democratic nomination for the seat in the First Congressional District of Massachusetts, and lost again two years later, Hefner never relented, remaining a passionate public voice for social justice for many years.

A native of Logan, West Virginia, William K. Hefner (1915-1993), had his first taste of practical politics shortly after high school when he worked for the County Board of Education. By his student days at Antioch College, he had already become a deeply committed pacifist, so much so that after graduation in May 1940, he helped found Ahimsa Farm in Aurora, Ohio, a center for study and discussion of simple living and nonviolent direct action modeled on Gandhian principles. During the Second World War, Hefner refused military service on religious grounds and was assigned to alternative duty in civilian public service camps for the duration. After his release, he married Elizabeth Mutsch of Brooklyn, New York, in 1947, and in the following year, the couple moved to western Massachusetts, where Hefner began work as a certified public accountant in Greenfield and later as an Assistant Professor of Accounting at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (1951-1954). The Hefners had two children, Linda and Robert.

In many regards, Hefner followed a classic, old-line Liberal line on politics, though always distinguished by his ardent pacifism. His commitments hardly wavered, even at the height of the McCarthy era. As early as the end of the Second World War, he stood up publicly for widely unpopular causes on a number of fronts: arguing for the equality of the races, speaking out in favor of nuclear disarmament (urging his fellow citizens to match their "American patriotism" with "American ideals"), and calling for diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China. Informed by Quaker theology, his vision of patriotism fed into a steady stream of articles written for regional newspapers and into his annual Christmas messages, in which he called on his fellow Americans to act peacefully in accord with their Judeo-Christian professions.

Having already emerged as a local leader of SANE in western Massachusetts, Hefner helped organize Political Action for Peace (PAX) in 1959 to back peace candidates for public office and, as an early brochure stated, to "inject into the 1960 political campaign a set of ideas that does not lead to the inevitable failures stemming from the contradictory concept of 'maintaining peace through the arms race.'" Coordinating with national peace advocates such as A.J. Muste and Arthur Springer, PAX promoted their agenda with considerable energy and provided substantial support for Hefner's bid for the Democratic nomination for the congressional seat in the First District. Although he lost that race, Hefner polled well enough to be encouraged.

In 1962, PAX had a greater impact, with Massachusetts (along with California) fielding the largest number of peace candidates for public office. Hefner, who had been the only avowed peace candidate in 1960, secured the Democratic nomination for the First District, losing to two-time Republican incumbent Silvio O. Conte in the general election, while-PAX backed candidates Elizabeth Boardman ran for the congressional seat in the Third District and Harvard History Professor and independent, H. Stuart Hughes, for Senate. Although Boardman and Hughes lost their elections, the organization that supported them endured, reforming as Massachusetts Political Action for Peace (Mass PAX) in November 1962 and merging in 1972 with a broadly similar organization, Citizens for Participation Politics(CPP) to form Citizens for Participation in Political Action (CPPAX).

Peace activism for Hefner went hand in hand with the struggle for social and racial justice, and from his college days, Hefner built working relationships with a number of nationally significant figures in the civil rights movement, including Bayard Rustin. Hefner lead contingents from western Massachusetts to at least three of the Marches on Washington, including the 1963 March led by Martin Luther King, and two marches against the war in Vietnam in 1964 and 1965.

Hefner was affiliated with a remarkably large number of peace and social justice organizations including the Fellowship of Reconciliation; War Resisters League; the Peace Committee of the New England Region American Friends Service Committee; the Committee on Peace and Social Concerns of the Middle Connecticut Valley Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers); the American Civil Liberties Union; the Congress of Racial Equality; the World Without War Council; and the American Committee on Africa. Locally, his commitments were equally varied, ranging from service as a member of the Board of Directors of Woolman Hill Quaker Conference Center in Deerfield, Mass., as Chair of the New England Committee on Political Action for Peace (PAX), Chair of the Hampshire-Franklin Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, and, for two years, as a member of the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee. A Presbyterian, he attended the Mt. Toby Friends Meeting. He died in Greenfield in 1993.

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Hefner's unflinching commitment to effecting social change through the political process resulted in a deep and remarkably varied body of records. Although the Hefner papers span only about five years of his career in detail (1959-1964), they offer remarkable insight into the mind and organizational activities of a tireless peace advocate, a would-be congressman, and progressive proponent of causes ranging from civil rights to disarmament, a just foreign policy, and social equity at home.

Organized in three series, the collection contains records relating to Hefner's two runs for a seat in U.S. Congress from the First District of Massachusetts (1960 and 1962); materials relating to his work with peace organizations (Turn To Peace, Platform For Peace, SANE) and Civil Rights groups (Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party); and the foundational records for Political Action for Peace. The content in each of these series is varied, but overlaps considerably, and each series includes both incoming and outgoing correspondence, memoranda, newsletters, campaign press releases, and ephemera.

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Series 1. Political Campaigns 1957-19871960-1962 75 folders

Beginning with early efforts to galvanize support for his run the U.S. Congress in 1960 through his defeat at the hands of Republican incumbent Silvio O. Conte two years later, this series includes dense documentation of Bill Hefner's skills as a political organizer and his stance as a peace candidate. In addition to relatively mundane materials on campaign finances and getting out the vote, the series includes a strong selection of Hefner's stump speeches, his platform, publicity materials, and a thick run of correspondence with well known activists and antiwar supporters, including the singer Richard Dyer-Bennet, A.J. Muste, Bayard Rustin, and Benjamin Spock, and outgoing letters from Hefner to these and others. The series provides a detailed framework for understanding Hefner's attempts to enter Democratic Party politics, to marshal support and wage a peace campaign, and analyze the results. The campaign diary represents a slender, but engrossing chronicle of the 1962 election, and the campaign evaluations for that election provide a keen retrospective.

The series also contains significant materials relating to Hefner's involvement in supporting peace candidate H. Stuart Hughes' campaign for the Senate in 1962, including correspondence with campaign organizers, candidate's statements, press releases, newsletters, fliers and ephemera, and a series of notes on the campaign.

Series 2. Causes 1945-1978 114 folders

Although Hefner's involvements in reform activity were many and varied, he was particularly embroiled in the antiwar and civil rights movements. This series contains a wealth of correspondence, memoranda, ephemera, and other materials relating to Hefner's political activities in the 1950s and 1960s, with particular emphasis on his work with Turn Toward Peace and other disarmament and antinuclear groups, and in the early anti-Vietnam War struggles. Among other organizations that appear are the Greenfield Peace Center (which Hefner helped to found in 1963), Platform For Peace, SANE, and the World Without War Council.

Hefner's support for the civil rights movement is less thoroughly represented, however there is valuable material relating to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and scattered materials on integration and race.

Series 3. Political Action for Peace 1958-1969 69 folders

A founder of Political Action for Peace in 1959, Hefner kept a strong record of its early years. In many ways, this series contains the incunabula of the organization: documents pertaining to the exploratory committee and the early efforts at propagating their ideas to the public, minutes of committee meetings, and correspondence with the organization's officers and supporters. Inevitably, the series contains material relating to the elections of 1960 through 1964 and should be read in tandem with the other series in this collection.

Series 1. Political Campaigns 1957-19871960-1962 75 folders

1960 Campaign 1960

1960 Election Results 1960

1960 General Election 1960

1960 Rallies 1960

1960-1962 Campaigns 1960-1962

American Broadcasting Affiliate Radio 1960

Bank Statements 1960

Bills Paid 1960

Campaign Correspondence #1 (incl. Bayard Rustin, AJ Muste, Richard Dyer-Bennet, WH Ferry, A. Paul Hare, Marshall Kaplan) 1960

Campaign Correspondence #2 (incl. AJ Muste, Margaret Bradford Malone) 1960

Campaign Correspondence #3 (incl. Dr. Benjamin Spock, Edward Kennedy, Bayard Rustin, Tracy D. Mygatt, Margaret Bradford Malone, Jerome Grossman) 1962

Campaign Diary 1960

Campaign Evaluation 1962

Campaign Material 1958-1960

Campaign Platform, MA District #1 1962

Campaign Story 1960

Campaigns Books 1962-1987

Candidate Questionnaires 1960

Candidate Questionnaires 1962

Clippings and Pamphlets 1962

Clippings 1960

Conte Record 1960-1961

Copies of Speeches 1960-1962

Corrupt Practices 1962

Democratic Committee, District #1 1962

Democratic Committee, Franklin County 1962

Democratic Organization 1962

Drafts of CcampaignMmaterials 1962

Election Newsletters and Pamphlets 1962

Election Results 1960

Election Results 1962

Elizabeth Boardman, 3rd District Candidate 1962

Evaluations 1962

Fair Campaigns Practice Pledge 1962

First District Statistics 1962

Fliers and Outreach 1962

Fundraising 1960

Hefner Campaign Photos 1962

Hefner for Congress Committee 1962

Helen Bliss, New Hampshire Peace Candidate 1964

House Meetings 1960

House Meetings 1962

House-to-House Canvassing 1960

Hughes: Plans, Workers 1962

Hughes: Press Releases 1962

Hughes: Senate #1 1962-1963

Hughes: Senate #2 1962

Hughes: Senate #3 1962

Hughes: Signature Campaign 1962

Hughes: Trip (incl. Marjory Collins, Stuart Hughes) 1962

Labor and Small Business 1962

Labor Union 1962

Letter Drafts 1960

Liberation Article (incl. Marshall Kaplan, AJ Muste) 1960

Literature Used (incl. campaign matchbook, nail file) 1960

Mailing Personal Letters, Small Towns 1960

Mailings, Political Platform 1960

Memo to a Third Party, by Roger Hagan 1960

Misc. Hefner Campaign Materials (incl. campaign buttons, pencil, bumper stickers) 1962

"New Kind of Politics" Speech 1960

Newsclippings: Western Mass and Holyoke 1962

Newspaper Ads 1962

Newspaper Publicity and Press Releases 1960

Nominating Papers 1960

Nominating Papers/Canvassing 1962

Paid Bills 1962

"PAX Not Communist"/Other Material 1960

Political Data on District #1 1960

Politics and Pacifism 1957-1959

Press Releases 1962

Primary Election Results 1962

Radio Spots 1962

Registered Voters, 4th Berkshire 1960

Speaking Dates 1962

Workers 1960

Series 2. Causes 1945-1978 114 folders

1964 Elections 1963-1964

1964 Peace Candidates 1964

1964 Peace Candidates State by State 1964

1968 Peace Politics 1966

American Friends Service Committee/Turn Toward Peace Controversy 1963-1964

Arms Control and Disarmament 1957-1958

Center for the Study of Non-Violence (incl. Milton Mayer, Arthur E. Morgan) 1968-1971

Christian Youth Groups 1961

Civil Disobedience 1961-1968

Civil Rights in Laos 1959-1963

Civil Rights/Integration 1960-1964

Coalition Politics 1965

"Consultative Peace" Council Meetings (incl. AJ Muste) 1959

Correspondence re: Greenfield Peace Activities 1962-1975

Cuba #1 1960-1962

Cuba #2 1962-1964

Disarmament 1965

Disarmament (Arms Control and Disarmament Agency) 1961-1964

Disarmament Bibliography 1962

Disarmament Defense 1955-1958

Disarmament Materials 1959-1962

Energy Nuclear and Utilities Partial 1974-1977

Election Results 1964

Eugene McCarthy 1968 Presidential Nomination Campaign 1967-1968

Eugene McCarthy for President, Franklin County" 1968

Fallout Shelters 1959-1962

Franklin County Peace Action Committee 1969-1970

Geneva Disarmament Committee 1961-1963

Greenfield Peace Center Administrative Business 1963-1968

Greenfield Peace Center Administrative Business and Outreach 1962-1967

Greenfield Peace Race Advertisements 1957-1962

Hampshire Franklin Committee for Sane Nuclear Policy 1958-1960

H-Bomb/Atomic Power Pamphlets and Information 1954-1960

Herman Kahn, Rand Incorporation 1959-1962

Integration Speech and Civil Rights Clippings 1962-1964

International Non New England Peace Organizations 1960

International Non Violent Force 1961-1965

International Peace Conference, 1963 1963

JFK Disarmament Proposal 1961-1962

Labor and Peace 1964-1965

Local Newsclippings, SANE 1958-1962

March on Washington (incl. Silvio O. Conte, Bayard Rustin) 1963

March on Washington: Vietnam (incl. Robert A. Lyon, AJ Muste, Bronson Clark, Sanford Gottlieb) 1965

March on Washington: Vietnam (incl. photographs) 1969

Military Spending 1959-1971

Military Strategy 1964-1964

Milton Mayer and Woolman Hill Colloqium 1967-1968

Minimal Deterement 1964

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party 1964-1965

Mohawk Trail School District 1956-1958

Multilateral Force (MLF) 1963-1965

National Conference for New Politics 1967-1968

National Executive and TTP Council Minutes 1962-1963

Negotiation Now! and Vietnam Summer 1967

Neo-McCarthyism 1965

Newspaper Clippings 1959-1988

The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 1960-1964

Nuclear Weapons Test 1962-1964

Nukes and Nuke-Free Zones 1964

Nukes: Correspondence (incl. Silvio O. Conte, John Olver) 1973-1977

Nuremberg Principles 1966-1970

Peace Candidate Conference #1 1962-1963

Peace Candidate Conference #2 1963

Peace Group: Agenda, Attendance, Plans 1961

Peace Politics (incl. James Farmer) 1967-1968

Peace Politics Clearing House (incl. Marshall Windmiller, Sanford Gottlieb) 1963-1964

Peace Steering Committee, Discussion Group 1961-1962

Peace-Related Newsclippings 1964-1978

Platform for Peace Minutes, Seattle, WA. (incl. Anne M. Stadler) 1960-1964

Polaris Action Inspired Forum Letters 1961

Poor People Campaign 1968

Post-Campaign Speeches, etc. 1960

Race Relations and Africa (incl. Bayard Rustin) 1955-1960

Race Relations Pamphlet 1945

Radiation Fallout 1959-1962

Radiation Testing 1956-1958

Rowe Atomic Plant International Inspection Memorial Project (incl. Silvio O. Conte) 1964

SANE Misc. 1958-1960

SANE Nuclear Policy 1958-1961

SANE Radiation Materials 1954-1959

SANE Speech Material 1957-1959

Society for Social Responsibility in Science Newsletter (SSRS) 1957-1961

Southeast Asia 1963-1965

Southern Christian Leadership Conference 1963-1964

Speech Documentation (incl. Linus Pauling) 1958-1962

Speech Material 1962-1966

Speeches of Leo Szilard (incl. Dr. Leo Szilard) 1962-1963

Speeches, Misc. 1962-1966

Spread of Nuclear Weapons 1963-1967

Students for a Democratic Society 1965-1966

Turn Toward Peace Clippings 1961-1962

Turn Toward Peace Letters 1963-1964

Turn Toward Peace National Council Minutes 1964

Turn Toward Peace National Council Minutes 1965

Turn Toward Peace National Office 1962

Turn Toward Peace Northampton and Amherst 1963

Turn Toward Peace Regional (incl. Marshall Kaplan) 1961

Turn Toward Peace Western Mass Intercom 1961-1962

Valley Peace Center 1967

Various Problems re: Latin America 1961-1965

Vietnam #1 1965 Jan.-1970 Apr.

Vietnam #2 1965 Jan.-19May

Vietnam #3 1965 Nov.-1973 Jan.

Vietnam Discussion 1967 Oct. 18

Vietnam Draft (incl. Edward Kennedy) 1964-1971

Vietnam: Greenfield Community College 1963 Jan.-1965 Nov.

Vietnam Military Posture 1958-1969

Vietnam Protest Letters and Clippings 1967-1969

Vietnam Protest Letters and Donation Forms 1962-1970

Vietnam References and Mail 1966 Jan.-1967 Oct.

Vietnam War Moratorium 1969 Oct-19Nov

Voluntary Organizations and a World Without War Council (VOAAWWWC) 1963

Voters for Peace 1963

World Without War Council of U.S. 1973-1978

Series 3. Political Action for Peace 1958-1969 69 folders

Agenda and Correspondence (incl. Anne M. Stadler, A. Paul Hare, Marshall Kaplan) 1959-1961

Bank Statements 1962-1963

Bills and Related 1962-1964

Calendar, Early Documents 1958-1960

Cambridge Office 1962 Apr.-Sept.

Candidates Meetings 1962

Checkbook 1962

Committee of Correspondence "Civil Defense Document" 1961 Oct.

Committee on Exploration 1959

Committee on Exploration Correspondence (incl. A.J. Muste) 1959-1960

Committee on Exploration Draft Statements 1959-1960

Committee on Exploration Early Documents 1959-1960

Committee on Exploration Extra Copies of Statements 1959

Committee on Exploration Implementation Program 1959

Committee on Exploration Meeting, Oct 17 1959 1959

Committee on Exploration Political Relevance of Non-Violence 1958-1959

Committee on Exploration Working Papers/Draft Statements 1959

Contribution Letters (incl. Marshall Kaplan) 1962

Contributions 1962

Correspondence (incl. A.J. Muste) 1959 Oct.-1961 Mar.

Correspondence (incl. A.J. Muste) 1962-1963

Correspondence 1963 Mar.-1964 Dec.

CPPAX Anniversary 1977

"Current Correspondence" 1959 Nov.-1960 Dec.

Executive Committee 1964-1965

Executive Committee 1966

Finances 1961-1962

Financial Records 1960

Fundraising and Meeting Correspondence 1962

Greater Boston Committee 1960

Kaplan Correspondence (Marshall Kaplan) 1962

Local Committee Charters 1960

Local Committee Work 1960

Mailing List 1962-1967

Mailing List (Organizations) 1962

Mailing List and Reports 1960

Meeting 1960 June 19

Meeting 1960 Aug. 4

Meeting 1960 Dec. 17

Meeting 1962 July 22

Meeting Minutes 1960 Feb.-Apr.

Meeting Minutes 1960

Meeting Minutes 1966-1969

Meetings, Correspondence 1960 Jan.-Mar.

Meetings, Platform 1963 Apr.-1964 May

Minutes and Members 1962

Monthly Meetings 1962 Feb.-May

New England PAX 1963

New England PAX 1964

Newsletter, Mailing List, Bulletings 1960-1961

Newsletters 1962 May-1964 Apr.

"Next Meeting" (incl. AJ Muste) 1960 Sept. 17

Outreach 1962 Jan.-July

Paid Bills 1960-1962

Pamphlets and Letterhead 1960-1962

Payroll/Tax Returns 1962-1963

"Peace News" 1957-1961

Peace-Politics Articles 1962-1963

Peace-Politics Newsletter 1962-1964

Platform 1964 Apr.-May

Plymouth, Massachusetts 1960 Apr.-Dec.

Policy Statement Draft 1959-1960

Prospective Candidates 1962

Questionnaire 1960

Receipts 1963 Jan.-1963 Feb.

"Reference" 1960

State Legislation 1963-1964

Ten Year Program 1959-1960

Working Committee and Map 1960