TYPED LETTER, BOLDLY SIGNED by the Hungarian-born Feminist & Pacifist ROSIKA SCHWIMMER, making mention of Henry Ford's 1915 Peace Ship expedition which she initially led.

Chicago: July 20, 1923., 1923.. Good. - A one-and-a-quarter page letter with over 325 words typed on 2 sides of her 11 inch high by 8-3/8 inch wide light blue "4740 Dorchester Ave., Chicago" stationery. In her letter to the American lecture agent James B. Pond, the noted feminist & pacifist Rosika Schwimmer outlines her intention to offer a lecture on Henry Ford's role in the Peace Ship expedition she led in the early years of the First World War, a timely subject as Henry Ford was then campaigning for the Presidency. "Though numbers of Ford biographies and articles have been poured out, none of them contains more than a hint about his peace efforts in 1915 (Peace Ship and Neutral Conference)." She goes on to explain that she is not proposing to "make a propaganda speech for or against him, but merely to give the facts about a highly picturesque venture. It certainly would help the public to make up its mind what attitude to take in Ford's coming presidential campaign." Schwimmer also tells Pond about the subjects of other lectures she can offer, listing 6 of them. Boldly signed in full on the verso, with a couple of corrections in her hand. Folded for mailing with a few short tears to the bottom and to the edges of the folds, reinforced with clear archival document tape from the verso. There is a horizontal crease along the top with a perforation to the top left.

The Hungarian-born leader in the international pacifist and feminist movements, Rosika Schwimmer (1877-1948) was a leading advocate of women's rights in Hungary. Schwimmer campaigned against child labor and for marriage reform and birth control. Her Hungarian Feminist Association succeeded in passing woman suffrage laws in 1920 Hungary. Living in London when the First World War was declared, she traveled to the United States to convince President Woodrow Wilson and William Jennings Bryan to sponsor a neutral mediation conference. Unsuccessful, she traveled the US speaking to a wide range of constituencies, including feminist and Jewish groups. Creating the Women's Peace Party, she convinced Henry Ford to sponsor a Neutral Mediation Conference in Stockholm. Setting off on the Oscar II, which became known as the Peace Ship, the American delegation was ridiculed by the press and suffered several setbacks. Several delegates resented Schwimmer's overbearing authoritative approach and supposed financial mismanagement and Henry Ford withdrew his support. She served as Hungary's minister to Switzerland during its brief existence as a democracy but fled after Bela Kun's communist party took over. Returning to the United States in 1921, she was shunned by those who had once supported her and had difficulty obtaining speaking engagements. A Chicago federal district court denied her application for American citizenship as she would not "bear arms in defense of the country" due to her pacifist convictions and because she was an advocate for a form of World government. The district court decision was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court but with a dissent from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. The first reason for denying her citizenship is laughable considering her advancing age and that women were not then expected to serve in combat. She remained in the US as a resident alien until her death and was awarded a privately sponsored World Peace Prize and subsequently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1948.