American Union Against Militarism

The American Union Against Militarism (AUAM) was an American pacifist organization established in response to World War I. The organization attempted to keep the United States out of the European conflict through mass demonstrations, public lectures, and the printed word. Failing in that effort with American entry into the war in April 1917, the Union battled against conscription, action which subjected it to state repression.

In January 1915 a group of New York City pacifists known as the "Henry Street Peace Committee" organized an organization known first as the "Anti-Militarism Committee" in an effort to keep the United States from entering World War I in support of the Entente powers against Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire. The committee emerged from among the activists in a settlement house project located on the city's Lower East Side. Feelers were extended to Roger Baldwin to head the new national organization, which he declined. Instead, Lillian Wald of the Henry Street Settlement was elected chairwoman and lawyer Crystal Eastman became executive director of the organization.

The slogan advanced by those favoring American entrance into the European conflict was that of "Preparedness." Throughout the latter part of 1915 this campaign gathered steam, inspiring the fledgling Anti-Militarism Committee to change its name to the "Anti-Preparedness Committee" in about January 1916 and to the American Union Against Militarism (AUAM) later in that year.

Baldwin involved himself in the activities of the St. Louis chapter of the AUAM but had grown tired of life in the Midwest and sought to relocate in the East. In February 1917, Baldwin wrote to the national office of the organization, urging it to hold mass meetings in opposition to American participation in the war, an eventuality which seemed imminent. With Crystal Eastman in ill health, the national office responded in March with a telegram signed by a number of liberal and radical worthies asking Baldwin once again to head the organization. This time Baldwin accepted, and he headed for New York to replace Eastman as executive director in the group's office, located in the Munsey Building on Fifth Avenue.

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