Another Mother for Peace

Another Mother for Peace (AMP) is a grass-roots anti-war advocacy group founded in 1967 in opposition to the U.S. war in Vietnam. The association is “dedicated to eliminating the use of war as a means of solving disputes among nations, people and ideologies. To accomplish this, they seek to educate citizens to take an active role in opposing war and building peace.”

The inspiration for Another Mother for Peace came out of a child's first birthday in 1967. Barbara Avedon, a former writer for The Donna Reed Show who would later co-create the series Cagney and Lacey, had invited friends to her southern California home to celebrate the birthday of her son, Josh. Opposed to U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, Avedon expressed her fear that she could be raising her son only to send him off to war. She and others present agreed that they wanted to take some action.

In February or March, 1967, 15 women met in Avedon’s living room to talk about ways they could work together to help bring an end to the war. “We wanted to… communicate our horror and disgust to our elected representatives in one concerted action,” Avedon later wrote. “We were not ‘bearded, sandaled youths,’ ‘wild-eyed radicals’ or dyed in the wool ‘old line freedom fighters’ and we wanted the Congress to know that they were dealing with an awakening and enraged middle class.”

AMP’s first action was a Mother's Day campaign in opposition to the Vietnam War. Their plan was to send then-President Lyndon B. Johnson and members of Congress Mother's Day cards expressing their yearning for peace.

Los Angeles artist Lorraine Art Schneider donated the use of a striking illustration for the Mother's Day peace cards--a sunflower on yellow background amid the slogan “War is not healthy for children and other living things.”

The Mother's Day card featured Schneider’s sunflower design on the front. Inside was this text:

For my Mother's Day gift this year,
I don't want candy or flowers.
I want an end to killing. We who have given life
must be dedicated to preserving it. Please talk peace.

The yellow-and-black logo proved instantly popular. The initial printing of 1000 cards soon sold out By the end of May 1967, 200,000 of the Mother's Day cards had been sold. Members of Congress were “flooded” with cards, and Senator J. William Fulbright was photographed at his desk among piles of the AMP cards. l The logo was also used in jewelry, posters, pamphlets, bumper stickers and other items. The distinctive calligraphy associated with AMP materials was produced by in-house designer Gerta Katz.

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