Fight for Freedom Committee.

Biographical/Historical Note

Private organization lobbying for American intervention in World War II.

The national Fight for Freedom Committee, formed in New York City in April, 1941, favored the immediate entry of the United States into World War II to aid in the defeat of Hitler. The Committee's honorary chairmen were Henry W. Hobson, Protestant Episcopal Bishop for Southern Ohio, and Senator Carter Glass of Virginia. Included among its members and supporters were Marshall Field, Herbert Agar, Mrs. Calvin Coolidge, James B. Conant, Admiral William H. Stanley, Ethel Barrymore, William Clark, and other prominent persons from all political parties and all walks of life.

The Chicago headquarters of Fight for Freedom were opened on July 1, 1941, under the directorship of Courtenay Barber. Denison B, Hull accepted the chairmanship of the Chicago group in October. Among the Chicago sponsors were Mortimer J. Adler, Anita McCormick Blaine, Dorothy Bushnell Cole, William F. Edgerton, Edward R. Lewis, Bernadotte Schmitt, and Clifton Utley.

The principal activity of the Chicago organization was the distribution of interventionist literature in an obvious attempt to counter the influence of Col. Robert McCormick and the Chicago Tribune. Fight for Freedom was one of the major backers in a campaign to supplant the Chicago Tribune by a new morning newspaper. To accomplish this end, Fight for Freedom held rallies, distributed posters, buttons, car stickers, and other material. It publicized slogans such as "Billions for defense, not 2c for Tribune," and was successful in helping to convince Marshall Field and his associates that Chicago could and would support a new morning daily. The Chicago Sun was established in November 1941, with a vigorous pro-war stand. Fight for Freedom also organized motorcades, provided speakers to local organizations, held major rallies and street corner meetings in order to organize a pro-war attitude in Chicago and environs. The December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor ended the activities of the committee on both the national and local level.