Founding Statement

At a meeting on the evening of Friday, January 3, 2003, at the 117^th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, historians from more than forty colleges and universities agreed to form a new national network, "Historians Against the War." A committee was appointed to draft the following statement:

We historians call for a halt to the march towards war against Iraq. We are deeply concerned about the needless destruction of human life, the undermining of constitutional government in the U.S., the egregious curtailment of civil liberties and human rights at home and abroad, and the obstruction of world peace for the indefinite future.

Any historian can endorse and circulate this statement. Signatures should be mailed to Van Gosse, Department of History, Franklin & Marshall College, PO Box 3003, Lancaster PA 17604, or emailed to van.gosse@fandm.edu.

As of April 28, 2003, 2209 people had signed this statement, and the signatures are available on this website. This statement has been superceded with a September 21, 2003 Statement on the U.S. Occupation of Iraq.