“If President Johnson had to kill – shoot, burn to death – ten Vietnamese women and children every morning before breakfast, the war would soon end.” -Linus Pauling, 1967
By early 1965, convinced that the United States government was the primary obstacle to initiating a cease-fire and subsequent negotiations in Vietnam, Linus Pauling increasingly began to go on the offensive against the war.
Read the entire post on the Pauling Blog.
This is part 5 of 7 on Pauling and the Vietnam War.
George W. Ball and President Lyndon Johnson, ca. 1965. Image credit: George W. Ball Papers, Princeton University.
Almost as soon as he had received it, Linus Pauling sent a copy of Ho Chi Minh’s letter of November 17, 1965 to U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. While the letter contained some “strongly worded” rhetoric about the United States, Pauling wrote, these were to be expected from the leader of a small country that was undergoing significant aerial bombardment from a world power.
In Pauling’s view, the more loaded statements made in the letter were relatively unimportant. Rather, Pauling highlighted Ho Chi Minh’s aspirations for peace as the crux of his response, pointing out that his four-point prescription for resolution was not described as a prerequisite for the initiation of negotiations. Indeed, Pauling took pains to note (perhaps with some measure of concern) that Minh had not called for negotiations as a means to achieve a peaceful resolution at all. Nonetheless, he believed that the Vietnamese leader’s hopes for peace in his country could prevail if the United States initiated negotiations for strategic withdrawal and cease-fire.
Read Part 4 of 7 in the series Pauling and the Vietnam War on the Pauling Blog.
“Occupying Margins” A Panel Discussion on Gender and The OMA at the Oregon Migrations Symposium.
“This panel aims to spotlight the lived experiences of non-binary/genderqueer/gender non-conforming folx who live beyond the gender binary.” As part of Trans Awareness Week on OSU’s campus, SOL and the Pride Center hosted an event entitled “Occupying Margins: A Panel Discussion on Gender” in which three OSU students—Tara, Malik, and Vickie—spoke about their personal experiences with gender, as well larger impressions of the topic.
The OMA was delighted to give a presentation on one of its current projects, the Latinos en Oregón oral history project, at the Oregon Migrations Symposium on November 17, 2016, at the University of Oregon in Eugene. It was a full day of amazing presentations with a kick off event occurring the evening before featuring a number of public history projects. The OMA’s presentation “Latinos en Oregón: Stories of Migration and Settlement in Madras, Oregon” is available online, so be sure to check it out!
Umbrella blind set up at gnatcatcher’s nest. William L. and Irene Finley standing by cholla cactus. Arizona, 1910.
OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley A0063.
William Finley and Herman Bohlman were not the only ones behind the camera. In the Finley household, photography was a family affair. This month’s installment of the Reuniting Finley and Bohlman series looks at the close involvement Irene and the Finley children had in the later years of William Finley’s work.
Nellie Irene Barnhard met Finley when both were students at the University of California. The couple married in 1906 and moved to Oregon, where William had purchased a plot of land south of Portland at Jennings Lodge, a site that had long been a favorite for his wildlife photography and collecting. Their family expanded quickly in those early years with the birth of Phoebe Katherine in 1907 and William Jr. in 1908.
Mrs. Irene Finley climbing up a rock face with photography equipment on her back.
OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley A1327.
Not even the move, home construction, and the birth of two children was enough to slow the Finleys down. As Herman Bohlman began taking on greater responsibility in his family plumbing business and spending less time in the field, Irene Finley stepped in as William’s field partner. She contributed significantly to the manuscript of American Birds, William Finley’s first book, which was published in 1907. Over the course of their careers, William and Irene co-authored two additional books, Little Blue Bird (1915) and Wild Animal Pets (1928), along with a number of articles. During that time, Irene began selling articles published under her own byline in addition to being a regular fixture in the field and an active Audubon Society member.
William L, Irene, Phoebe Katherine, and William L. Jr. wading in the Santa Cruz River.
Arizona, 1910.
OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley A0065.
The Finley children also had a role in this era, often serving as models holding the birds for their parents to photograph. The young family took its first major photography expedition through the Sonoran Desert of Arizona in 1910. The trip was just the first of many in what became a career of promoting popular nature lectures and films across the country.
Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, the Finleys formed a close working relationship with the American Nature Association and Nature Magazine, regularly contributing images and articles. William Finley was appointed as the magazine’s naturalist and lecturer in 1925. During this era, Arthur Pack, associate editor for the magazine, often joined the Finleys on expeditions to film and photograph the natural wonders of the American west. During trips ranging from Alaska to Arizona, Pack became a fixture of the family. This closeness was solidified by Pack’s marriage to Phoebe Finley in 1936.
In a 1946 letter to William Finley in honor of his 70th birthday, Arthur Pack wrote the following tribute to Irene and her contributions to their partnership:
You have had always a partner in your enterprise, Bill, who has never failed you. There has always been a by-line on your pictures, “By William L. and Irene Finley”, and I know you would wish her to share with you this token of appreciation from your fellow leaders in the cause to which both of you have dedicated your years. Your deeds are hers, and hers are yours.[1]
Two young palmer thrashers perched on Irene Finely’s shoulder.
Arizona, 1910.
OHS Research Library, Org. Lot 369, Finley A0227.
Learn More
To see more, be sure to check up on the Reuniting Finley and Bohlman Collection on Oregon Digital throughout the year as additional materials are uploaded.
This blog series is part of a yearlong partnership between the Oregon Historical Society Research Library and Oregon State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives to digitize the Finley and Bohlman photograph and manuscript collections held by our libraries and to unite them online through Oregon Digital and the OHS Digital Collections website. Stay tuned in coming months for future installments about Finley, Bohlman, and their birding adventures around the state.
This project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Oregon State Library.
[1] William L. Finley Letters and Scrapbook, Mss 2654, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
“The continuation of the savagery of the Vietnam War is unworthy of the dignity of man.” -Linus Pauling, 1965
In 1964, Linus Pauling’s colleague in anti-Vietnam War activism, Corliss Lamont, sent a copy of his 1962 open letter against Vietnam to President Lyndon Johnson. Pauling added his support to Lamont’s action, expressing his agreement with Lamont’s plea that the new President change course and disengage from a policy of military escalation had already “deteriorated almost beyond belief.”
President Johnson did not change course.
Read Part 3 of 7 in an examination of Linus Pauling’s activism against the Vietnam War.
Thanks to Gillian Bergmann, OHBA student extraordinaire, for a suite of posts related to Peter Kopp’s new book Hoptopia: A World of Agriculture and Beer in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
Corliss Lamont
“As individuals who believe that the only security for America lies in world peace, we wish to ask you why at present the United States is sending its Army, Navy and Air Force to bring death and bloodshed to South Vietnam, a small Asian country approximately 10,000 miles from our Pacific Coast.”
-“An Open Letter to President John F. Kennedy Against U.S. Military Intervention in South Vietnam,” April 11, 1962.
In spring 1962, Linus Pauling was in communication with Corliss Lamont, a philosopher and the director of the American Civil Liberties Union, who was organizing an open letter to President Kennedy (which Pauling ultimately signed) opposing military action in Vietnam. Lamont had written to Pauling share the details of his own correspondence with McGeorge Bundy, the U.S. National Security Advisor. Bundy was highly critical of Lamont’s open letter and had provided documents intended to both enlighten Lamont and dissuade him from taking a strong stance against the U.S. position.
Read the whole post on The Pauling Blog.
[Ed Note: This is part 2 of 7 in our series focusing on Linus Pauling’s activism against the Vietnam War. This is also the 600th post to be released on the Pauling Blog. We thank you for your continued readership.]
Last week the Oregon State Queer Archives hosted its first ever crafting event as part of OSU’s Queer History Month celebrations. We supplied attendees with copies of archival materials, including images from the Pride Center records, old event flyers, After 8 materials, and of course, glitter! One of the main goals of this event was to use archival materials as a way to imagine queer futures, particularly as they pertain to OSU and the surrounding community. Some absolutely fabulous art was created, and many of the artists generously donated their pieces to OSQA.
Father Georges Dominique Pire with a map and model of refugee villages in Europe.
“Our present object is not to apportion blame among the groups of combatants. The one imperative is that this crime against all that is civilized in the family of man shall cease.”
-“An Appeal by Recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize,” 1965
On the 27th of April, 1965, Father Georges Dominique Pire wrote a letter to all of his fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipients from Aberdeen, Scotland. The letter intended to rally this group in opposition to the Vietnam War. At the time, public opinion in the United States overwhelmingly supported the recent deployment of troops to Vietnam, as ordered by President Lyndon Johnson.This commitment would be increased by December, bringing the total number of U.S. military personnel in Vietnam to nearly 200,000.
Linus Pauling, who had been awarded the Peace Prize in December 1963 for his work ushering in a partial nuclear test ban treaty, read Pire’s letter with a heavy heart. Pauling had received notification of his award just as President John F. Kennedy began to increase American involvement in Southeast Asia, and only a month later the President was assassinated. This series of events paved the way for a new Commander in Chief, Lyndon Johnson, to further expand the American presence in the region.