World War II-era isolationist group in the United States
The mothers' movement included far-rightisolationist women's groups in the United States, beginning in California in 1939, soon after the start of World War II. At its height, it consisted of 50 to 100 loosely-confederated groups, with a total membership that may have been as high as five or six million. Members were typically white middle-class middle-aged Christian women.
They organised petitions and demonstrations, published propaganda, and were active in political campaigns. They are credited with having delayed US assistance to the Allies. Their activity declined after the Great Sedition Trial of 1944, but their leaders' opposition to the war continued.[1]
The movement originated in 1939 in Los Angeles, California, with the National League of Mothers of America.[2] It gradually grew into a loose confederation of 50 to 100 groups that developed on the West Coast, the Midwest, and the East Coast. The members of these groups were largely white middle-aged middle-class Christian women; their leaders were exclusively college-educated upper-middle-class Christians. The groups published books, pamphlets, and newsletters opposed to the war. The members testified before congress, picketed the White House, collected petitions, and participated in political campaigns. The leaders most likely learned their organizing experience from women's clubs, political parties, or movements led by men.[3]
The mother's movement failed to accomplish its main goal of ending involvement in World War II, which led to the declining enthusiasm for the cause. The movement slowly diminished after the war ended. The leaders mostly dispersed into different paths, and most of them lost the distinction that they once had during the 1930s and the 1940s.[5]
Lawrence, Dennis, and Maximilian John St. George. A Trial on Trial; the Great Sedition Trial of 1944. National Civil Rights Committee, 1946.
Berkowitz, June Melby. Days of Discontent:American Women and Right-Wing Politics, 1933–1945. Northern Illinois University Press, 2002
Frost, J.(2010). Dissent and Consent in the "Good War": Hedda Hopper, Hollywood Gossip, and World War II Isolationism. Film History: An International Journal 22(2), 170–181. Indiana University Press