Keep America Out of War Congress

The Keep America Out of War Congress (KAOWC) was officially founded at a rally held on March 6, 1938, in the New York Hippodrome. The host and sponsor was the Socialist Party, and the chairman, veteran pacifist reformer Oswald Garrison Villard. Speakers included Robert M. LaFollette Jr., socialist leader Norman Thomas and columnist John T. Flynn. The national platform called for withdrawal from such 'imperialist' involvement as the stationing of American ships and marines in China's war zones; the scrapping of plans for industrial mobilization, conscription, and foreign alliances; the termination of war trade; and national adoption of a war referendum. The Congress created a skeletal organization (initially called the Keep America Out of War Committee), and made provision for state and local units.

For most of its life, the KAOWC was a coalition composed of the Socialist Party and six militant peace organizations: The Peace Section of the American Friends Service Committee; The Fellowship of Reconciliation; The World Peace Commission of the Methodist Church; The American Section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; The National Council for the Prevention of War; and The War Resisters League.

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