HAW at the AHA
January 6-9, 2005 in Seattle, Washington

Nominations for Historians Against the War Steering Committee/2005

Name: Ben Alpers
Institution: University of Oklahoma
Position: Associate Professor
Historial Specialization: 20th-century U.S.
Race/Ethnicity: Ashkenazic
Political Background: Growing up in Berkeley during the 1960s and 1970s was itself a political education. I have been politically active since high school. In graduate school, I founded a committee to explore graduate student unionization, worked in abortion clinic defense, and helped organize the local movement opposing the first Gulf War. More recently, I have served on the board of Common Cause Oklahoma, and was state co-chair of the Green Party of Oklahoma. I currently serve on the Peace Action Committee of the Green Party of the United States.
Reason for Running: I have been involved in HAW since its founding in January 2003. I have enjoyed working with the Steering Committee and look forward to continuing to do so. I am currently involved in the early planning for the first national HAW conference, which I hope will highlight scholarship, activism, and their interconnections.

Name: David R. Applebaum
Institution: Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ
Position: Professor
Historical Specialization: Contemporary French Cultural/Legal/Labor History
Race/Ethnicity: OWEM (Older White European Male)
Political Background: Marching and Organizing Since 1963 in Civil Rights, Peace Movement, Faculty Organizing, etc.
Reason for Running: Continue collaboration to end the occupation and sustain a movement of engaged radical historians.

Name: Marc Becker
Institution: Truman State University
Position: Associate Professor of History
Historical Specialization: Modern Latin American history
Race/Ethnicity: Platt Deutsch (Low German)
Political Background: My political consciousness was born (as Rigoberta Menchu would say) in 1980 with the Carter Doctrine which reinstated draft registration in reaction to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Unfortunately, I was 18 at the time, and coming to the realization that I did not want to be used as a pawn for someone else's foreign policy objectives led me to rethink completely my ideology. I subsequently worked extensively with Central American solidarity groups, including a stint with Witness for Peace in Nicaragua. More recently, I have worked with Indigenous rights movements in the Americas and am a founder of NativeWeb, the premier Internet site on Indigenous issues. Politically I identify myself as a socialist in the tradition of José Carlos Mariátegui, although I am not a member of any party. I am motivated by a desire for social justice, and am a pacifist.
Reason for Running: I have been involved with HAW since its founding at the AHA in January 2003. My motivation for joining HAW was to challenge imperialistic policies that run counter to our interests. I have worked on HAW's web page and am interested and willing to continue in that capacity.

Name: Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins
Institution: St. Scholastica Academy, Chicago, IL
Position: Assistant Principal for Academics, Social Studies Faculty
Historical Specialization: French Colonial Illinois
Race/Ethnicity: White
Political Background: National Board of Directors, Murder Victims Families for Human Rights, National State President's Council for Million Mom March/Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Democratic Precinct committee person. Speakers Bureau for Amnesty International, MoveOn.org, and other groups. Significant experience as public speaker and lobbyist on human rights issues, especially the death penalty and gun violence.
Reason for Running: As a history teacher for 23 years and a life-long educator, nothing is more clear to me in this current political climate than the need for historians to be the voice for education as to the real significance of the decisions of this current administration.

Name: Ron Briley
Institution: Sandia Preparatory School, 532 Osuna Road NE, Albuquerque NM 87113
Position: Assistant Head of School, history teacher
Historical Specialization: American History; Popular Culture; Film Studies, Sport History
Race/Ethnicity: Anglo
Political Background: I have been an activiist since undergraduate days with SDS at West Texas State Univeristy, not exactly a hotbed of radicalism. In fact, I am first generation literate on my father's side, and the first in my family to attend college. My family worked as sharecroppers, and I grew up picking cotton. That experience has impacted my political perspective to this day in term s of the struggle for equality for working people in this country. I only entered college because I learned about the possibility of a deferment, and I discovered an academic world I never knew existed. Following grad school, I have taught for 27 years at a prep school in Albuquerque, and I also teach weekends at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus. During my teaching career I have continued my involvement with political causes for racial and social equality as well as against the expansion of American colonialism and militarism on the world stage.
Reasons for Running: I want to become more involved because of the crisis to this nation and the world which the invasion of iraq and the expansion of the national security state (along with its corporate sponsors) poses for America and the world. I lost good friends in Vietnam, and I do not want the students that I teach today to repeat that experience. I have b een active in writing op-eds for the Albuquerque Tribune and giving weekly radio commentaries for our public radio station KUNM against the war. Also, I hope that as a person active in the schools I can help make HAW a force in the schools as well as the university.

Name: Edith Couturier
Institution: National Coalition of Indpendent Scholars, Branch Capital Area Independent Scholars
Historical Specialization: I retired from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1995; received my doctorate in Latin Amrican History from Columbia University in 1965.
Race/Ethnicity: Jewish
Political Background: Democrat ---mostly.
Reasons for Running: to provide a different viewpoint. I will be veryhappy not to be elected.

Name: John Cox
Institution: Univ. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Ph.D. candidate, History; defense date: April 2005); George Mason University (History instructor, Spring 2005)
Position: Ph.D. candidate, also instructor
Historical Specialization: primary: Modern Europe/Germany (Jewish resistance inside Nazi Germany; the Holocaust); secondary: Latin America
Race/Ethnicity: European/caucasian
Political Background: Active since mid-1980s in antiwar movements (Central America solidarity in 1980s-early '90s: travelled to Nicaragua with Nicaragua Network, member of peace groups in North Carolina and Washington during that time); active in antiwar student movement during first Gulf War, working in national headquarters in DC; in last few years, worked with Chapel Hill antiwar network, organizing teach-ins etc., often speaking on panels around the state)

Also participated in various other progressive movements and campaigns over the years: anti-apartheid and anti-racist groups (organized anti-apartheid group while an undergrad in mid-'80s and participated in NC-wide student network at that time; helped organize speaking tours for S. African activists in late '80s/early '90s, among other anti-aparthied activities; also helped organize anti-Klan rallies in N.C. on three occasions in last few years)

Also: pro-choice/clinic defense (during period of 'Operation Rescue' actions in early '90s, helped defend clinics in D.C.; more recently, worked with UNC feminist groups to organize pro-choice teach-ins and other activites); peace & justice in Middle East/Palestine (wrote some eyewitness reports from West Bank in 2001, for example); also worked in labor unions as rank-and-file activist in variety of workplaces from 1986-1995 in North Carolina, DC, Pittsburgh, and helped lead union-organizing drive in garment plant in N.C.

While in Chapel Hill in recent years, I also worked in labor-solidarity committee on campus (working with housekeepers' union).

Currently a member of DC Antiwar Network (DAWN).

Reason for Running: I suppose that my principal reason is the outrage toward this war that I share with most of the world's people - and a desire to help to deepen opposition to the war here in the United States through educational campaigns, protests, and so on. I've been politically active for many years, and have often taken on responsibilities and leadership roles for activist organizations, so I would hope that with my experience I could contribute to HAW's work. I would also look forward to learning from other members of the steering committee, which includes several people whose research and writing I greatly admire.

Name: Jack L. Cross
Institution: Retired from Texas A&M in 1985
Position: Among other things, I was Director of the International Affairs Office
Historical Specialization: Colonial, Middle, Modern America, Tudor-Stuart England, and Latin America--these were the fields of study for my PhD at the University of Chicago, 1987,
Race/Ethnicity: White
Political Background: A New Deal Democrat--and we are dying out rapidly
Reason for Running: To help in any way I can to oppose the War in Iraq, the foreign policy of the Bush administration, and to help to restore constitutional government in these United States.

Name: Brian DâAgostino, Ph.D.
Institution: Humanities Preparatory Academy (a New York City public school)
Position: Teacher; United Federation of Teachers Chapter Leader
Historical Specialization: Cold War belief systems; psychology of militarism
Race/Ethnicity: caucasian
Political Background: longtime anti-militarism activist; current Consultative Council member of The Lawyersâ Committee on Nuclear Policy; former member of Democratic Socialists of America; current member of the Green Party USA.
Reason for Running: Want to put my academic and organizational gifts to maximum use in effecting a rapid withdrawal of the U.S. from Iraq and long term transformation of U.S. foreign policy.

Name: Alan Dawley
Institution: The College of New Jersey
Position: Professor of History
Historical Specialization: 20th c. US, social and political; US in world history
Race/Ethnicity: North European
Political Background: I am a long time activist in progressive causes who got his start in the civil rights movement as the editor of the Mississippi Free Press. I have also been active over the years in the labor movement, grass roots economic development, Central America solidarity, and the anti-war movement from Vietnam to Iraq.
Reasons for Running: Having joined the Steering Committee at its inception, I have helped draft its major statements, coordinated the brochure, "Let History Judge," petitioned the OAH for the creation of the Committee on Academic Freedom, written and solicited articles for the newsletter, and otherwise sought to further the goals of HAW. I would like to see HAW reach out to international colleagues and broaden its impact at home through wider distribution of our publications.

Name: Carolyn "Rusti" Eisenberg
Institution: Hofstra University
Ethnicity: White
Historical Specialization: 20th Century US Foreign Policy, author of Drawing the Line: The American Decision to Divide Germany, 1944-49
Position: Professor of History
Political Background: Antiwar activist, 1965-present. Member of Iraq Working Group, United for Peace and Justice, Co-Chair Brooklyn Parents for Peace
Reason for running: "I am interested in encouraging historians to engage issues of war and peace, and to give greater emphasis to America's global role in scholarship and teaching." Rusti has been a steering committee member since HAW's beginning and has drafted statements and appeared on HAW panels among other activities.

Name: Rosemary Feurer
Nominator: Richard Doringo
History Instructor: The Andrews School; Cleveland State University
38643 Courtland Dr.
Willoughby, Ohio 44094
Institution: Northern Illinois University
Position: Assistant Professor of History
Historical Specialization: United States Labor History
Political Background: Historian of the labor movement in the United States. Direct and active participation in union organization drives in Missouri and Illinois. Participant and leader in local Labor Party organizations.
Reason for Nomination: Rosemary Feurer has the experience of active involvement is many labor and social struggles. This direct participation as well as her work in both historical writing and documentary filmmaking has provided Prof. Feurer with an intimate understanding of the human, social, and political issues facing American workers. Moreover, Prof. Feurer comprehends the global economic and political factors that contribute to these social and human rights issues in the United States. She would be a terrific asset to build on the work that HAW has been doing since its inception.

Name: Jerise Fogel
Institution: Marshall University
Position: Associate Professor, Classics
Historical Specialization: Ancient History (Roman Republic)
Race/Ethnicity: White (Jewish, German, Polish/Ukrainian, Italian, Scots-Irish)
Political Background: have worked on immigrant issues in NYC, attended and organized protests on and off campus; have not worked as actual staff, however (volunteered work)
Reason for Running: I feel very strongly that professional historians and "culture-workers" can and should have an impact on our regional, local and national politics. I am particularly interested in trying to build bridges between countries, and in disseminating positive information about alternatives to capitalism and empire, such as cooperative economic structures. These alternatives exist, but are at present ridiculed or ignored in much of the media. One way to stop future wars at a structural and systemic level is simply to make our fellow citizens aware that wars are not necessary or desirable, and that there are other ways of solving even large, international problems--in particular economic problems, which are at the root of every war.

As someone who is familiar with and teaches ancient history and the writings of ancient historians, I think I could bring to the committee an ability to reach a wider constituency, professional classicists and their students and colleagues--and one which has sometimes been (wrongly) assumed to be something of a conservative monolith.

Name: Marv Gettleman
Institution: Retired
Historical Specialization: I violated by grad school teachers by not specializing: hence books on Vietnam, Central America, the Middle East, antebellum New England, etc.
Race/Ethnicity: east coast white male
Political Background: "old new left;" active in civil rights, disarmament, anti-Vietam War, Central American Solidarity, Middle East stuff too.
Reason for Running: I feel I can continue to work with the HAW's active pamphlet/publication subcommittee, and also the steering committee (but in the interest of greater racial/gender/geo graphical diversity and youth in HAW's leadership I'd be more than delighted to step off the SC while keeping active in the above-mentioned HAW subcommittee)

NAME: Van Gosse
INSTITUTION: Franklin and Marshall College
RACE/ETHNICITY: White
HISTORICAL SPECIALIZATION: 20th Century U.S., African American
POSITION (describe what you do): Assistant Professor
POLITICAL BACKGROUND: Antiwar and electoral activism, 1969-76 (the usual); El Salvador solidarity, 1982-1995 (CISPES and related organizations); Peace Action's Organizing Director, 1995-2000. Active in United for Peace and Justice since its founding, elected to Steering Committee and then Administrative Committee representing HAW. Also a non-functioning member of the National Coordinating Committee and the National Executive Committee of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. Member of the Editorial Collective of the Radical History Review since 1990, chair 1994-2001.
REASON FOR RUNNING (one paragraph please): I would like to see HAW be more connected to the larger movement, while carving out a bigger space within history. Clearly, we have to settle in for a prolonged war and a prolonged antiwar movement, and there is a role for historians, especially if we can reach out and include secondary-school teachers, and provide useful resources for grassroots activists of all types. A national conference in fall 2005 would be an especially good way of pulling together and enlarging our base.

Name: Nicole Kief
Nominator: Paul Buhle
Institution: George Soros Institute
Position: Staff, The After Prison Initiative
Specialization: issues of incarceration, historical approaches to political=social issues, antiwar activism among students and public school teachers, etc.
Ethnicity: Jewish
Political background: activist Brown University, 1997-01, prison (and antiwar) issues and constituencies
Reasons for nomination: I am placing Nicole Kief's name in nomination because she brings us age diversity, energy and political shrewdness. She wishes to work on antiwar issues with highshool teachers in New York and beyond; and to coordinate our work with possibilities in and around the Soros Institute. I cannot recommend too highly her intelllectual and political maturity; or stress to much our need to reach out beyond our current age-restraints. She expects to be entering graduate school in history at a New York location in the Fall, bringing us contact with a new generation of grad students

Name: Ann J. Lane
Institution: University of Virginia
Position: Professor of History and Studies in Women and Gender (SWAG)
Historical Specialization: 19th-20th century women and gende
Race/Ethnicity:White
Political Background: Old lefty from way back
Reason for Running: I like Charlottesville but the south is different
from the north. I'd like to get back into some national/academic politics

Name: Staughton Lynd
Institution: Worker's Solidarity Club of Youngstown
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Historical Specialization: Period of American Revolution, history of nonviolence, oral history and US Labor history
Position: retired (but still practicing) attorney. Author of several books, including Lucasville.
Political Background: An unaffiliated Marxist and Quaker; Chairperson of the first march against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC in April 1965. In December 1965, Lynd, then a professor of history at Yale, made a controversial trip to North Vietnam with Tom Hayden and the late Herbert Aptheker.
Reason for running: continue work on veterans issues; member of HAW-SC since its inception and nominated by Ben Alpers, Van Gosse, and Carl Mirra.

name: David Montgomery
institution: Yale University
ethnicity: white
position: Farnam Professor of History emeritus
historical specialization: history of working people in the United States; comparative labor history
political background: American Veterans Committee in 1940s; active in United Electrical Workers and Machinists in 1950s; Pittsburgh area anti-war movement and Allegheny Alliance in 1960s;New Haven area strike support and nuclear disarmament groups1970s on
reason for running: The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq has inflicted untold carnage and social chaos on the Middle East, inspired other countries to assert their right to wage "preventive war," made a mockery of the "peace dividend" promised by the end of the Cold War, and seriously undermined political life, civil liberties, and economic stability here at home. Historians have an important part to play in the popular mobilizations necessary to halt the Bush administration's efforts to assert U.S. mastery over the whole world.

Name:Howard N Meyer
Institution: Independent Scholar
Historical Specialization: International Law (for dummies)
Race/Ethnicity:none
Political Background:left of center
Reason for Running: To promote appreciation of value of international law as redefined by International Court of Justice ("World Court") since 1980 as a peace asset and anti imperialist aid.

Name: Carl Mirra
Institution: SUNY College at Old Westbury
Position: Assistant Professor of American Studies
Historical Specialization: 20th Century US foreign policy and Peace Education
Ethnicity: white male
Political Background: Former marine who refused to fight in the first Gulf War, worked with the War Resister's League and currently a representative of IAUP/UN Commission on Disarmament Education, Conflict Resolution and Peace.
Reason for Running: work toward ending US occupation of Iraq and on the dangers of empire at home and abroad; continue developing conferences/pamphlets on veteran antiwar activity.

While it is my desire to remain on the steering committee, I would be willing to make space for new members, and continue with HAW on a subcommittee on the above issues or helping with the publications committee, etc.

Name: Jim O'Brien
Nominator (if other than the nominee): Van Gosse
Institution: College of Public and Community Service, U. of Massachusetts-Boston
Position: half-time faculty member (formally a lecturer, I guess)
Historical Specialization: 20th-century U.S.
Race/Ethnicity: white (mostly WASP despite last name)
Political Background: was active in Students for a Democratic Society in late '60s while at grad student at U. of Wisconsin; worked at New England Free Press, which was a cooperative printshop and publisher of radical pamphlets, for most of '70s; was active in Boston-area Central America work early '80s to mid-90s; was co-editor of Radical Historians Newsletter for over thirty years (it's currently in cryonic suspension) and have been an Editorial Collective member of the Radical History Review since the late '90s. I've been involved with HAW publications, such as the torture pamphlet, and will continue to help with these projects whether or not I'm on the Steering Committee.
Reason for Running: Van Gosse nominated me.

Name: Enrique C. Ochoa
Institution: California State University, Los Angeles
Position: Professor of History
Historical Specialization: Latin America; Mexico; Latinas/os in the U.S.; Economic and Labor
Race/Ethnicity: Latino
Political Background: I have been involved in community organizations that have worked at the grassroots for social change. In particular I have worked to facilitate dialogue between community activists and progressive academics, coordinating several workshops and conferences that have sought to bridge the gulf.
Reason for Running: It is important to continue and expand the work that HAW has done given the current political reality. I want to help develop greater participation by left historians on the west coast.

Name: Margaret Power
Institution: Illinois Institute of Technology
Position: Associate Professor of History
Historical Specialization: Latin America - Chile & women & gender & the Right
Race/Ethnicity: White
Political Background: I have been active in solidarity work: Chile solidarity; Puerto Rican solidarity; Central American solidarity. I have also been against U.S. intervention in Central America (the Pledge of Resistance) and now in the Middle East (Peace Pledge Chicago). I am also active in the women's movement.
Reason for Running: I like the group and I think it is important for historians to be active and trying to build a movement against the war.

Name: Andor Skotnes
Institution: The Sage Colleges
Ethnicity: white, South African immigrant
Historical Specialization: 20th century US social movements
Position: Associate Professor of the History of the Americas
Political Background: Involved in Western (California) support wing of the Civil Rights Movement in 1965; involved with SDS, antiwar movement, other movements of the 1960s and 1970s; involved in Radical History Review Collective; Scholars Writers and Artists for Social Justice
Reason for Running: served admirably as HAW's co-chair, sees "enormous potential to bring historians, historically oriented social scientists, history and social studies teachers, and historically minded activists into the new antiwar/anti-imperialist movement and to make a unique contribution to that movement."

Name: Kathryn (Kathy) Sukites
Institution: American University, Washington DC
Position: PhD Student (working part-time on PhD / also employed full-time)
Historical Specialization: Journalism History/ Popular Culture/ Working-Class History
Race/Ethnicity: white
Political Background: From writing letters to local representatives as a child in the 1970s, to minor involvement with Young Democrats, Peace Education groups, and Women's Rights organizations in the 1980s, on to participation in local Sierra Club campaigns in the 1990s, I seem to have always been interested in political issues.

By 2000 I joined the union at my current work-site and became a delegate to the local Washington DC Labor Council. Working also toward my PhD at this time, my research interests turned toward journalism history and I also maintained an interest in current media reform issues.

Soon, I became very frustrated when examining my own background -for I saw that I had participated with disparate groups that were each generally working toward isolated, temporary solutions; engaged in struggles that often had to be re-fought in various guises; not often really connecting to activists in other fields; and not addressing the underlying political economy that often provides a structural and ideological barrier to peace, equality, environmentalism, media reform and labor rights. This was especially frustrating since I was simultaneously studying the forward and backward patterns of success and failure in movements for social justice throughout our nation's history.

But with frustration also comes satisfaction in successful accomplishments, knowledge of ways to end these repeated patterns, and hope that springs from the achievements of recent broad-based progressive coalitions working toward Global Justice. I was part of the HAW contingent at the pre-invasion protest march at the Nation's Capitol sponsored by United for Peace and Justice that included a diverse crowd of labor activists, women's groups, and religious organizations; many of these activists saw their efforts as part of a larger global struggle toward true social justice and democracy. This pattern of course continues in current, coalition-building, anti-war efforts.

Reason for Running: I think that the most important progressive cause in the current political climate is the anti-war movement. Yet, this movement should include at least these four elements: to work to end the War/Occupation of Iraq, to strengthen public awareness of issues and events amid the limited view provided by commercial media, to build an alternative vision of just and humane foreign policies, and to promote domestic policies that strengthen rather than weaken democracy and equality. I think that Historians Against the War has a vital role in this broad-based, anti-war coalition. As historians, we can continue to provide context and background on U.S. policies and World History while defending academic freedom and civil liberties. And as activists, we can help expand the movement by creating a dialogue with both other progressives and members of the general public.

I have recently gathered information regarding foundation funding, and will continue to pursue these efforts so that HAW may be able to finance additional public outreach through informative articles in newspapers throughout the country, web-based features, or conferences -finding ways to communicate issues and policies that may be very disturbing (such as the recent HAW reports on torture) in a way that promotes constructive public dialogue and discussion. I hope to insure that HAW can foster these efforts while we also maintain an active role within progressive coalitions, and continue to provide an informative and activist agenda within the historical profession.