Guide to the Records of Ad Hoc Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties
1943-1982
(Bulk 1960-1979)
Wagner #37

Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2630
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu

© 2007 Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive. All rights reserved.
New York University Libraries, Publisher
Processed by Gail Malgreem, 1997
Machine-readable finding aid derived from a MS Word, dated: 1997. Machine-readable finding aid created by Hillel Arnold. Description is in English.


Descriptive Summary

Creator: Ad Hoc Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties
Title: Ad Hoc Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties Records
Dates: 1943-1982, (Bulk 1960-1979)
Abstract: The Ad Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties was organized in the spring of 1964 by some 35 national voluntary organizations for the purpose of encouraging the United States government to commit itself, through ratification of four United Nations conventions (dealing with Genocide, Slavery, Forced Labor and the Political Rights of Women), to the building and strengthening of a body of international law in the field of human rights. The first such measure, concerned with the basic, inviolable right to life itself, was the Genocide Convention. Developed in the highly charged atmosphere of the years immediately following the Holocaust, it was adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly in 1948 and signed, but never ratified, by the United States. The Committee’s task was to overcome legislators’ resistance to ratification, through direct lobbying, publicity campaigns and outreach to sympathetic sectors of the U.S. population. Under the leadership of its Executive Secretary, Betty Kaye Taylor (a long-time staff member of the Jewish Labor Committee) the Committee mobilized labor, civil rights, civil liberties, religious and fraternal organizations, and achieved a steadily growing body of support from Democratic and liberal Republican senators. But Congressional opposition and public indifference proved intransigent. The campaign was to last much longer, and was strewn with more bitter disappointments, than the organizers of the Committee could have imagined; ratification was finally achieved in 1986. The collection includes administrative records, publicity materials, reports, clippings, articles, and extensive correspondence with prominent supporters of ratification.
Quantity: 6 linear feet (6 boxes)
Call Phrase: Wagner #37
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Historical/Biographical Note

The Ad Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties was organized in the spring of 1964 by some 35 national voluntary organizations for the purpose of encouraging the United States government to commit itself, through ratification of four United Nations conventions (dealing with Genocide, Slavery, Forced Labor and the Political Rights of Women), to the building and strengthening of a body of international law in the field of human rights. The first such measure, concerned with the basic, inviolable right to life itself, was the Genocide Convention. Developed in the highly charged atmosphere of the years immediately following the Holocaust, it was adopted unanimously by the UN General Assembly in 1948 and signed, but never ratified, by the United States. Despite President John F. Kennedy’s support for ratification of all four conventions, expressed in addresses to the U.S. Senate and the UN General Assembly in the summer and fall of 1963, Congressional resistance to ratification proved to be deeply entrenched. The Committee’s task was to overcome that resistance, through direct lobbying, publicity campaigns and outreach to sympathetic sectors of the U.S. population. The campaign was to last much longer, and was strewn with more bitter disappointments, than the organizers of the Committee could have imagined.

The organizations comprising the Ad Hoc Committee represented a wide range of civil liberties, religious, labor and fraternal groups, among them the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Friends Service Committee, the American Veterans Committee, B’nai B’rith, Hadassah, the Industrial Union Department of the AFL-CIO, the Jewish Labor Committee, the NAACP, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the United Church of Christ, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Workmen’s Circle, the Ukrainian National Association and several individual trade unions. Through the National Conference of Christians and Jews the Committee forged close ties with the social action wings of a number of Christian and Jewish denominations. The United Nations Association put the Committee in touch with liberal supporters of the UN nationwide, and by using its connections to the AFL-CIO and the Jewish Labor Committee the Committee garnered support throughout the labor movement.

The day-to-day work of the Committee was coordinated by its able Executive Secretary, Betty Kaye Taylor. Born in Freeport, Long Island, Betty Kaye attended Freeport High School and the Morris High School in the Bronx. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1946 and went to work as an organizer, based in Chicago, for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. Beginning in her high-school years she had been a political activist as a member of the Young People’s Socialist League, and was eventually recommended by Daniel Bell to become an employee of the Jewish Labor Committee. She worked with JLC staffer (and Warsaw Ghetto survivor) Jerzy Glicksman in Chicago and transferred to the JLC’s national office in New York in 1948. There she coordinated the work of the JLC’s field representatives, edited Labor Reports (a JLC news service) and later became an assistant to the National Director. Bette Kaye Taylor remained on the JLC staff during her years of service to the Ad Hoc Committee. When she retired from the JLC in 1981, the work of the Committee was carried on by Hyman Bookbinder of the American Jewish Committee. Throughout the life of the Committee its work was greatly assisted by William Korey, foreign affairs director of B’nai B’rith and a leading scholar in the field of international human rights.

In the course of its years of work, the Committee won the support of an impressive roster of prominent individuals, in and out of Congress. But its efforts met a long string of defeats. Although President Truman had urged ratification of the convention, xenophobia, isolationism, public indifference and the exigencies of superpower politics proved to be insuperable obstacles during four decades of Democratic and Republican administrations alike. In 1967 the Committee’s staunchest Congressional champion, Senator William Proxmire, delivered the first of innumerable speeches (sometimes daily statements) on the subject over the next twenty years. Throughout the horrors of Biafra, East Pakistan and Rwanda, the Senate continued to turn a deaf ear. After the Khmer Rouge atrocities in Cambodia became public several senators joined the battle for ratification, still to no avail. Ironically, as historian Brian Urquhart has pointed out (NY Review of Books, April 25, 2002, p.13), it was in the wake of the public relations disaster of President Ronald Reagan’s visit to the SS graves at Bitburg, Germany, that the treaty was finally ratified. Even this gesture of concession to public outrage was undermined by a number of provisions immunizing the U.S. against the possibility of ever being charged with genocide. The vote in the Senate was 83 in favor, 11 against and 6 not voting; the U.S. was the 98th country to ratify the convention.

Sources:

William Korey, “The United States and the Genocide Convention: Leading Advocate and Leading Obstacle,” Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 11 (1997), pp. 271-290.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection includes administrative records of the Ad Hoc Committee (reports, financial records, internal correspondence, etc.) as well as a comprehensive collection of the outreach and publicity materials generated during the campaign for U.S. ratification of the Genocide and other UN conventions (flyers, conference programs, mass mailings, magazine articles, clippings, statements from the Congressional record, etc.). The collection also includes numerous resolutions passed by member organizations in support of the campaign and polls of Congressional opinion on the issue.

Notable individuals represented in files of correspondence with supporters of the Committee’s work are Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter, Senator William Proxmire, Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, Senator J. William Fulbright, Senator Jacob K. Javits, Senator Edward M Kennedy, Arthur J. Goldberg, William Korey, David Dubinsky, Herschel Halbert, Telford Taylor and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.

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Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.
Organized into 1 series:
I, General Files, 1943-1982.
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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Open for research without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the:
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
Phone: (212) 998-2630
Fax: (212) 995-4225
E-mail: gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu

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Access Points

Subject Names:
Goldberg, Arthur J.
Korey, William, 1922-
Proxmire, William.
Taylor, Betty Kaye.
Subject Organizations:
Ad Hoc Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties.
Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.)
National Council of Christians and Jews.
United Nations Association.
Subject Topics:
Genocide – Political aspects.
Genocide – United States – Public opinion.
Genocide.
Human rights.
United Nations. General Assembly. Convention on the Political Rights of Women.
United Nations. General Assembly. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Subject Places:
New York (State)--New York.
Document Types:
Clippings.
Correspondence.
Flyers.
Press releases.
Reports.
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Administrative Information

Provenance

The records were donated to the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives by the Jewish Labor Committee and Betty Kaye Taylor in 1996.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date (if known); The [Records of Ad Hoc Committee on the Human Rights and Genocide Treaties; Wagner #37; box number; folder number; New York University Libraries ;New York University Libraries

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Container List

[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]

 

Series I: General Files, 1943-1982.

Box Folder Title Date
1 1 Abraham, Morris 1967, undated
1 2 Actions of Member Organizations 1971-1979, undated
1 3 Ad Hoc Committee 1963-1965
1 4 Ad Hoc Committee 1966
1 5 Ad Hoc Committee 1967
1 6 Ad Hoc Committee 1968
1 7 Ad Hoc Committee 1969
1 8 Ad Hoc Committee 1970-1974, 1979
1 9 Ad Hoc Committee: Advisory Committee 1966
1 10 Ad Hoc Committee: Executive Board 1967-1968
1 11 Ad Hoc Committee: Finances 1965
1 12 Ad Hoc Committee: Fundraising 1971
1 13 Ad Hoc Committee: Mailings 1970-1971
1 14 Ad Hoc Committee: Member Organizations 1964-1973
1 15 Ad Hoc Committee: Minutes 1964-1966
1 16 Ad Hoc Committee: Minutes 1967-1971
1 17 Ad Hoc Committee: Statement of Purpose undated
1 18 Advisory Committee Meeting 1966
1 19 AFL-CIO 1965-1968
1 20 AFL-CIO: Resolutions 1973-1975
1 21 AFL-CIO: Statements 1964, 1968
1 22 AFL-CIO: Survey 1971
1 23 American Bar Association 1950, 1963-1978, undated
1 24 American Bar Association: Resolution 1967-1968
1 25 American Civil Liberties Union 1964-1967
1 26 American Ethical Union 1965-1966
1 27 American Jewish Committee 1961-1967
1 28 American Jewish Congress 1963-1967, undated
1 29 American Veterans Committee 1965
1 30 Armenians 1965
1 31 Assembly for Human Rights (Montreal) 1968
1 32 Bagby, Grover C.: Article 1966
1 33 Baldwin, Roger 1966
1 34 Baptist Church 1967, 1971-1972
1 35 Bibliographies 1964
1 36 Bipartisan Appeal 1971-1972, undated
Box Folder Title Date
2 1 Bitker, Bruno V. 1963-1979
2 2 B’nai B’rith 1964-1977
2 3 Bookbinder, Hyman 1969-1981
2 4 Boston 1965-1967
2 5 Britain 1963
2 6 Brooke, Edward W. 1966
2 7 Buckley, James: Petition to 1971-1972, undated
2 8 Canada 1964-1967
2 9 Carter, Pres. Jimmy 1977-1979
2 10 Catholic Association for International Peace 1964-1965
2 11 Catholic Church 1974
2 12 Church, Frank 1970-1972
2 13 Church Amendments undated
2 14 Cleveland, Harlan 1964
2 15 Conference of Presidents 1965-1966
2 16 Conference (Washington) 1964
2 17 Conference (Washington) 1965
2 18 Conference (Washington) 1969-1970
2 19 Conference (Washington): Delegates’ Packet 1966-1971
2 20 Conference (Washington): Preparations 1969-1970
2 21 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) 1966
2 22 Congressional Committee on Foreign Affairs 1973
2 23 Congressional Record: Senate 1969-1971
2 24 Congressional Record: Senate 1979
2 25 Contributions 1970-1971
2 26 Correspondence 1963
2 27 Correspondence Jan 1964-Sep 1964
2 28 Correspondence Oct 1964-Dec 1964
2 29 Correspondence Jan 1965-May 1965
2 30 Correspondence Jun 1965-Dec 1965
2 31 Correspondence 1966
2 32 Correspondence 1967
Box Folder Title Date
3 1 Correspondence 1968
3 2 Correspondence 1969
3 3 Correspondence 1970
3 4 Correspondence 1971
3 5 Correspondence 1972
3 6 Correspondence 1973
3 7 Correspondence 1974
3 8 Correspondence 1975-1976
3 9 Correspondence 1977
3 10 Correspondence 1978
3 11 Correspondence 1979
3 12 Correspondence 1980
3 13 Correspondence 1981-1982
3 14 Correspondence 1983
3 15 Crank Mail 1965
3 16 Democratic National Committee 1963-1964
3 17 Democratic Party 1964, 1968
3 18 Detroit 1964-1968
3 19 Dodd, Thomas 1965
3 20 Draft Resolution: International Human Rights and Genocide Convention undated
3 21 Dubinsky, David undated
3 22 Dworkis, Martin 1965
3 23 Elendorf Meeting 1965
3 24 Emma Lazarus Clubs 1966-1967
3 25 Episcopal Church 1968-1969
3 26 Ervin, Sam J. 1973-1974
3 27 Ferwerda, Vernon 1971-1980
3 28 Finances 1965-1970
3 29 Foreign Policy Association 1965-1967
3 30 Fulbright, J. William 1964, 1968-1979
3 31 Gardner, Richard N. 1965-1967, 1971
3 32 Genocide: General 1943, 1952-1953, undated
3 33 Genocide Convention: General 1949, 1964-1981, undated
3 34 Genocide Convention and Radical Right 1970-1972, undated
3 35 Genocide Convention: Women’s Appeal 1972, undated
3 36 Genocide Mailings 1970-1981
3 37 Genocide: Poison Gas (Washington Post) 1971
3 38 Goldberg, Arthur J. 1966-1979
3 39 Goldberg Letter to Senators 1974-1977
3 40 Gordon, Richard 1964
Box Folder Title Date
4 1 Halbert, Herschel 1967-1971
4 2 Halpern, Seymour 1964-1966
4 3 Helsinki 1976-1981
4 4 Hesburgh, Fr. Theodore 1967
4 5 Human Rights: General 1963-1980, undated
4 6 Human Rights and Genocide Packet 1964-1966, undated
4 7 Human Rights: International Conventions and Covenants 1967, undated
4 8 Human Rights: Internet 1979
4 9 Human Rights: Pamphlets 1963-1970
4 10 Human Rights: Policy Statements 1978-1980
4 11 Human Rights Year 1967-1968
4 12 Human Rights Year: Booklets 1963-1968
4 13 Humphrey, Hubert H. 1964-1966
4 14 ICFTU Statement 1968
4 15 Inquiries/Orders 1971-1972
4 16 Institute for International Order 1963-1967
4 17 International Bill of Human Rights [1977], undated
4 18 International Convention on the Elimination…of Racial Discrimination 1965
4 19 International League for the Rights of Man 1964
4 20 International Rescue Committee 1964
4 21 Javits, Jacob K. 1965, 1973-1979
4 22 Javits-Proxmire Letter 1978-1979
4 23 Jewish Community Relations Councils 1971-1979
4 24 Jewish Labor Committee 1963-1970, undated
4 25 Jewish Labor Committee: on Genocide 1950-1967
4 26 Jewish Labor Committee: Soviet Jewry 1949-1970
4 27 Jewish Organizations: on Ratification 1949-1950
4 28 Jewish Organizations: on Ratification 1966
4 29 Johnson, Pres. Lyndon B. 1964-1968
4 30 Judaism in Social Action 1965
4 31 Kampelman, Max 1979
4 32 Kennedy, Edward M. 1973
4 33 Kennedy, Pres. John F. 1963-1964
4 34 Kennedy, Robert F. 1964
4 35 King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1966
4 36 Korey, William 1964-1979
4 37 Kotler, Arnold H.: “US and Human Rights Conventions” 1967
4 38 Leadership Conference on Human Rights 1971
4 39 Liskofsky, Sidney 1963-1966, 1977
Box Folder Title Date
5 1 Mansfield, Mike 1972
5 2 Methodist Church 1964-1967
5 3 Michigan Ad Hoc Committee 1965-1967
5 4 Middle East 1964
5 5 Minnesota 1963, 1965, undated
5 6 Minnesota 1971
5 7 Minnesota Labor Committee for Human Rights 1968
5 8 Morse, Arthur D. 1970
5 9 NAACP 1966
5 10 National Citizens Commission on International Cooperation 1965
5 11 National Community Relations Advisory Council 1949, 1963-1967, 1975
5 12 National Conference of Christians and Jews 1972-1978
5 13 National Conference on Human Rights 1977
5 14 National Council of Jewish Women 1964-1966
5 15 National Freedom Assembly 1973
5 16 National Lawyers Guild 1949
5 17 National Urban League 1966
5 18 New York Times Coverage 1964-1972
5 19 Nixon, Pres. Richard M. 1968-1970
5 20 Nixon: Letter to Genocide Conference 1970
5 21 “No Auspices” Meeting 1964
5 22 Opposition 1965-1978
5 23 Orders for Material undated, 1971-1981
5 24 Pacem in Terris 1965
5 25 Philadelphia 1965-1970
5 26 President’s Commission for the Observance of Human Rights Year 1968
5 27 Press Coverage 1960s, undated
5 28 Press Coverage 1970s, 1982, undated
5 29 Press Releases 1970-1971
5 30 Proxmire, William 1971-1982
5 31 Proxmire, William: Congressional Record 1970-1971
5 32 Publicity Material 1959-1970
5 33 Quaker Program at the UN 1964-1967
5 34 Ratification: Charts 1966-1967
5 35 Ratification: General 1965-1971, undated
5 36 Ratification of Conventions 1967-1970, undated
5 37 “Ratification of Human Rights Conventions,” paper by Diane La Voy 1976
5 38 Religious Organizations 1972-1980
5 39 Republican Party 1964, undated
5 40 Resolutions 1953-1981, undated
5 41 Rights of Women undated
5 42 Robinson, Nehemiah: “The Genocide Convention” 1960
5 43 Rockefeller, Nelson A. 1968
5 44 San Francisco 1965-1967
5 45 Seaman, Bernard 1966
5 46 Seminar on Human Rights: Confidential Report 1968
5 47 Senate Appeals 1970-1974, undated
5 48 Senate Correspondence 1964-1965, undated
5 49 Senate Correspondence 1966-1968, 1970-1973
5 50 Senate Correspondence 1974-1981
Box Folder Title Date
6 1 Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1950
6 2 Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1963-1968
6 3 Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1969-1970
6 4 Senate Foreign Relations Committee 1971-1978
6 5 Senate Foreign Relations Committee: Abram Testimony 1967
6 6 Senate Foreign Relations Committee: Correspondence 1971
6 7 Senate: Letters (Samples) 1972, undated
6 8 Senate: Poll 1965-1968, undated
6 9 Senate: Poll 1971
6 10 Senate: Questionnaire 1965
6 11 Senators’ Statements 1965-1974, undated
6 12 Socialist Party, USA 1967
6 13 Soviet Union 1953
6 14 Speeches for Senators undated
6 15 Statement on Genocide Convention 1970
6 16 Statements and Resolutions 1969-1971
6 17 Suggested Guidelines for Community Action 1967
6 18 Survey of Senate (AJC) 1970
6 19 Taylor, Betty Kaye 1977-1978
6 20 Taylor, Telford 1960
6 21 Tillett, Gladys A. 1966
6 22 Trade Unions 1971-1979, undated
6 23 Unitarian Universalist Association 1965
6 24 United Nations 1949, 1964-1968, undated
6 25 United Nations Association 1964
6 26 United Nations Association 1965-1966
6 27 United Nations Association 1967-1968
6 28 United Nations Association 1969-1971
6 29 United Nations Association 1972-1979
6 30 UN Commission on Human Rights 1966
6 31 UN Convention on Forced Labor 1957, 1963, undated
6 32 UN Convention on Political Rights of Women 1967, undated
6 33 UN Convention on Racial Discrimination 1965-1966, undated
6 34 UN Convention on Slavery 1956
6 35 UN Genocide Convention: Background 1967, undated
6 36 United Nations: Ratifying States 1968, 1972-1973, undated
6 37 UN: Washington Seminar on Human Rights 1967-1979
6 38 U.S. State Department 1966
6 39 United World Federalists 1966-1967
6 40 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1968-1978
6 41 Visits to Senators 1970
6 42 Warren, Earl: Statement 1968
6 43 Washington Conference 1965
6 44 Women’s Appeal 1972-1973
6 45 Workmen’s Circle 1965-1966
6 46 World Assembly for Human Rights 1968
6 47 World Jewish Congress 1964-1968
6 48 World Federalist Youth 1972

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