The mothers' movement was an anti-war women's movement in the United States, beginning in California in 1939, soon after the start of World War II. At its height, it consisted of 50 to 100 loosely-confederated groups, with a total membership that may have been as high as five or six million.
They organized petitions and demonstrations, published material, and were active in political campaigns. They are credited with having delayed U.S. involvement with the Allies. Their activity declined after the Great Sedition Trial (later found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court) of 1944 that criminalized anti-war activism, but their leaders' opposition to the war continued.[1]
- ^ Glen Jeansonne. Women of the Far Right: The Mother's Movement and World War II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.