American Veterans Committee: FOIA Files
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Historical/Biographical Note
The American Veterans Committee (AVC) was founded in 1944, during World War II, as a liberal veterans organization and an alternative to groups such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. With the motto "Citizens first, veterans second," the AVC supported a range of liberal causes: for example, it challenged military segregation and maintained racially integrated chapters in Southern states. Although it had 100,000 member by 1947, it was targeted as a "Communist front" organization (i.e., one under the control of the Communist Party, USA), and in response the AVC ousted prominent Communist members and chapters, and subsequently voted to close its membership to members of all totalitarian parties. This bitter struggle resulted in a decline in membership, with AVC rolls falling to 20,000 by 1948, although continued to support liberal causes until it disbanded in 2003.
Scope and Content Note
The collection contains United States Air Force Office of Special Investigation files (lacking any apparent system of arrangement) from the 1940s-1950s obtained in the 1990s under the Freedom of Information Act by Marvin E. Gettleman, emeritus professor of history at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
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People
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials in this collection, which were created in circa 1940s-1950s, are in the public domain. Permission to publish or reproduce is not required.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; American Veterans Committee: FOIA Files; TAM 213; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials found in repository; provenance is unknown but the collection was likely donated by Marvin E. Gettleman circa 1995. The accession number associated with this collection is 2001.024.
