A Home for the Peace Movement

The anti-Vietnam War peace movement of the 1960s and 1970s often functioned as a broad coalition of many disparate organizations, causes, and points of view, who came together periodically to speak and demonstrate against the war. Many young people were concerned about the ethics of the war itself, but of course the draft posed an immediate mobilizing threat, prompting the formation of a number of anti-draft organizations that became the core of the youth anti-war movement. Veterans groups included veterans from WW I, and veterans who had fought in the Spanish Civil war, WW II, the Korean War, and early on Vietnam war veterans.

The secular group, the War Resister's League, based in Lower Manhattan, and the religious group, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, based in Nyack, NY, had both been in existence since WWI and still were active. A new interreligious organization comprised of members of the Roman Catholic, Jewish, Orthodox, and Protestant faiths, Clergy and Laymen Concerned About the War in Vietnam (CALCAV) was organized to address the war from a liberal faith perspective.

The Interchurch Center was a natural location for CALCAV. Office space and services were provided by the National Council of Churches of Christ (NCCC) and immediate neighbors included Union Theological Seminary, The Jewish Theological Seminary, Riverside Church, Columbia University, and others. CALCAV board members came from these neighboring institutions, The NCCC, The Methodist, Episcopalian, and Roman Catholic Churches and others.

CALCAV organized local meetings as well as annual trips to Washington, DC, which included congressional visits, speeches, workshops and demonstrations. On April 4, 1967, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. formally endorsed CALCAV and the anti-war movement in a speech at Riverside Church. During the last year of his life Dr. King often participated in CALCAV events. The photographs in this exhibition were taken by John Goodwin between May, 1966 and September, 1974 and are copyright protected, John C. Goodwin.

Click here to view Time Magazine tribute to Dr. Martin L. King and John Goodwin, 2010

Photos include:
1 - Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church, April 4, 1967
2 - Martin Luther King, Jr. at Riverside Church, April 4, 1967
3 - Peace rally at Wall Street, Trinity Church
4 - U.S. Marshall’s removing peace demonstrator from March on Pentagon
5 - Peace rally, Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.
6 - William Sloan Coffin, Jr., Jane Spock, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dept. of Justice,
Washington, D.C.
7 - Senator Eugene McCarthy
8 - Demonstrators, Central Park, New York - April 15, 1967
9 - Jeanette Rankin, Coretta Scott King
10 - Richie Havens, Peter, Paul & Mary
11- Rev. Richard Newhouse, Coretta Scott King, Rabbi Heschel,
William Sloan Coffin, Jr.
12 - Judy Collins
13 - Americans Resist exhibit at Interchurch Center, demonstrators at March on Pentagon
14 - Martin Luther King, Jr, James Bevel, close advisor to King
15 - Statement about assignment between 1966-1974.
16 - Daniel Berrigan, Paul Goodman, Thich Nhat Hanh, Senator
Edward Kennedy, Jane Fonda, John Kerry, David Harris, Joan Baez
17 - Johnny Winter(top), Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger
18 - William Sloan Coffin, Jr. on night vigil in front of White House,
Washington, D.C.
19 - Harry Belafonte (top), Adolph Green, Leonard Bernstein
20 - Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy, Rabbi Abraham
Joshua Heschel march in Arlington Cemetary.
"Partners To History" by Donzaleigh Abernathy

Photographer John Goodwin's first visit to the Interchurch Center occurred as a teenager, when he joined the throngs in Riverside Park who witnessed President Dwight David Eisenhower laying the building's cornerstone.

Mr. Goodwin began his lifelong use of photography as a tool for social change while attending American Baptist related Ottawa University, (Class of1963). In 1960 he attended the Baptist World Alliance meeting in Rio De Janerio, Brazil; several of his photos were subsequently published in ABC publications. Mr. Goodwin was drafted into the stateside US Army, but continued his photography while in service; in 1966, having completed his military obligation, he began a freelance photo career for Religious News Service, among other organizations and publications.

His first assignment for Religious News Service was to photograph a Manhattan event focused on the War in Vietnam, hosted by the interreligious organization Clergy and Laymen. Mr. Goodwin continued to do freelance photography for secular and religious groups until the Fall of 1974, when he was hired by GBGM of The United Methodist Church at The Interchurch Center. Mr. Goodwin served the UMC as Associate Director for AV resources for twenty years. Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in September, 1994, Mr. Goodwin went on disibility
leave but continues to do occassional photo assignments (Nine UMC General Conferences, 1976 - 2008), and also provides photos from stock for publications and media use. Some of the photos in this exhibition have appeared on the Bill Moyers and Tavis Smiley PBS programs as well as American Public Media and Time magazine web sites. He has been a member of ASMP, (The American Society of Media Photographers) since 1970 and currently serves on the board of the ASMP NJ chapter.

Presented by THE INTERCHURCH CENTER,
Paula M. Mayo: President & Executive Director

Curated by Frank De Gregorie

Additional editing and grateful assistance
by David S. & Benjamin T. Goodwin