Reformers to Radicals

by Thomas Kiffmeyer

  15. Memorandum, John D. Whisman to Robert Kennedy, Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the President’s Study Group for a National Voluntary Service Program, [1963], John D. Whisman Papers, Area Program Office Series, Programs Subseries, Margaret I. King Library, University of Kentucky, Lexington. At the time of writing the Whisman Papers were not yet processed. I would like to thank Glen Taul for allowing me access to the collection while he organized it.

  16. Ibid. (quote); Summary of Active Projects in Special Winter Program for Eastern Kentucky, John D. Whisman Papers, Area Program Office Series, Programs Subseries.

  17. Appalachian Volunteers First Progress Report, March 31, 1964, AV Papers, box 21; Contract between the United States of America and Council of the Southern Mountains, Contract No. CC-6120, March 2, 1964, AV Papers, box 3; Department of Commerce, Area Redevelopment Administration Press Release, February 3, 1964, AV Papers, box 20; Standard Operating Procedures—Field Operations, [ca. 1964], AV Papers, box 20; Appalachian Volunteers Third Progress Report, May 1964 (first quote), AV Papers, box 3; [AV] Program Background, [ca. 1964] (second quote), AV Papers, box 1.

  18. Appalachian Volunteers: College Students Wage War on Poverty in Eastern Kentucky, [ca. 1964], AV Papers, box 39; Contract between the United States of America and Council of the Southern Mountains, Contract No. CC-6120, March 2, 1964, AV Papers, box 3; Department of Commerce, Area Redevelopment Administration Press Release, February 3, 1964, AV Papers, box 20. See also Appalachian Volunteers First Report, March 30, 1964, AV Papers, box 3.

  19. Perley Ayer to W. H. Ferry, Fund for the Republic, March 10, 1964, CSM Papers, box 106.

  20. [Appalachian Volunteers] Second Progress Report, April 1964, on Contract between Area Redevelopment Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Council of the Southern Mountains, AV Papers, box 20.

  21. Ibid. According to this report, school repair remained the dominant AV activity. In April 1964, the Volunteers renovated twelve additional schools in five counties: one in Wolfe, two in Perry, one in Knott, three in Leslie, and five in Clay. Ironically, these projects foreshadowed later AV efforts—efforts that the CSM would oppose.

  22. [The Council of the Southern Mountains has been an educational institution since its inception . . .], [ca. 1964], AV Papers, box 27.

  23. Jack Ciaccio to Perley Ayer, July 29, 1964, CSM Papers, box 108.

  24. Fetterman, “Young Samaritans in Appalachia,” 4, and “Volunteers Are a Bargain,” 12.

  25. Appalachian Volunteers Third Progress Report, May 1964, AV Papers, box 3. In the month of May, the Appalachian Volunteers continued school renovation in five counties and held “organizational” meetings in four—Clay, Perry, Knott, and Leslie—of those five. Of the six communities in which they held meetings, the AVs listed five as desiring school-based projects. According to the report, the sixth, Urban, in Clay County, simply discussed local problems.

  26. Ibid.; Appalachian Volunteers: College Students Wage War on Poverty in Eastern Kentucky, [ca. 1964], AV Papers, box 39; Milton Ogle to Grace Dammron, April 21, 1964, AV Papers, box 32; Jack Rivel to Marilyn Haddock, August 28, 1964, AV Papers, box 32.

  27. [Appalachian Volunteers] Fourth Progress Report—June 1964, on the Contract between Area Redevelopment Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Council of the Southern Mountains (second quote), AV Papers, box 3; Appalachian Volunteers By-Laws, [March 1964] (first quote), AV Papers, box 1; Flem Messer to Pauline Winnick, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, July 28, 1964 (last quote), AV Papers, box 28. See also [Attachments to] Agenda: Meeting of College Presidents concerning Appalachian Volunteers, July 30, 1964, AV Papers, box 28.

  28. [Appalachian Volunteers] Fourth Progress Report—June 1964, on the Contract between Area Redevelopment Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Council of the Southern Mountains, and [Appalachian Volunteers] Fifth Progress Report, July 1964, AV Papers, box 3.

  29. Ibid.; Mary E. Birenbaum, Wilderness Road Girl Scouts, to Jack [Flem] Messer, June 2, 1964, Flem Messer to Mary Birenbaum, June 3, 1964, and [Report on Wilderness Road Girl Scouts’ Project, Leslie County, KY], [ca. August–September 1964], AV Papers, box 24. On the Mill Creek Project, see chapter 2 above.

  30. [Report on Wilderness Road Girl Scouts’ Project, Leslie County, KY], [ca. August–September 1964], AV Papers, box 24.

  31. [Plan Outline, “The demands of week-to-week planning will be great”], [ca. 1964] (quote), AV Papers, box 1. On the sense of satisfaction, see Oral History Interview with Roslea Johnson, June 24, 1991, Des Moines, IA, WOP Oral History Project. Johnson was the Berea College representative to the first AV meeting in 1964.

  32. [Open Letter about the Appalachian Volunteers], [ca. 1964], AV Papers, box 3.

  33. Appalachian Volunteers, Minutes of the Board Meeting, August 25, 1964, Berea, KY, AV Papers, box 2.

  34. [Appalachian Volunteers] Sixth Progress Report, August 1964, AV Papers, box 3; AV Board of Directors Meeting, August 25, 1964, Berea, KY, AV Papers, box 2; [Attachments to] Agenda: Meeting of College Presidents concerning Appalachian Volunteers, July 30, 1964, AV Papers, box 28; Oral History Interview with Roslea Johnson, June 24, 1991, Des Moines, IA, WOP Oral History Project.

  On the Books for Appalachia project, see School Library Project (Working Draft), [ca. July 1964], AV Papers, box 2; Oral History Interviews with Roslea Johnson, June 24, 1991, Des Moines, IA, and Jack Rivel, February 12, 1991, Berea, KY, WOP Oral History Project; and Books for Appalachia, [ca. 1966], AV Papers, box 8. F. E. Compton donated fifty sets of encyclopedias. See Milton Ogle to F. E. Compton & Co., January 3, 1966, AV Papers, box 21. See also Books for Appalachia, Procedure for Fieldmen, [March 1, 1965], AV Papers, box 28; and [Attachments to] Agenda: Meeting of College Presidents concerning Appalachian Volunteers, July 30, 1964, AV Papers, box 28.

  35. Books for Appalachia, [ca. 1966], AV Papers, box 8; School Library Project (Working Draft), [ca. July 1964], AV Papers, box 2; Oral History Interview with Jack Rivel, February 12, 1991, Berea, KY, WOP Oral History Project; News of Importance to the Appalachian South [CSM Press Release], [ca. November 1964], AV Papers, box 3.

  36. Appalachian Volunteers Meeting of the Special Advisory Committee, August 20, 1964, Berea, KY, AV Papers, box 2.

  37. School Renovation Project (Working Draft), [ca. July 1964], and School Library Project (Working Draft), [ca. July 1964], AV Papers, box 2; [Open Letter about the Appalachian Volunteers], [ca. 1964] (first quote), AV Papers, box 3; Appalachian Volunteers Minutes of the Board Meeting, August 25, 1964, Berea, KY (second quote), AV Papers, box 2.

  38. News of Importance to the Appalachian South [CSM Press Release], November 25, 1964 (quote), AV Papers, box 29. On the OEO grant, see Whisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer, 189. On the Mill Creek Project, see chapter 2 above.

  39. Dave Craft, Superintendent of Letcher County Schools, to Milton Ogle, September 22, 1964, William O. Gilreath, Superintendent of McCreary County Schools, to Milton Ogle, September 18, 1964, and Miss George Alice Motley, Superintendent of Menifee County Schools, to Milton Ogle, September 27, 1964, AV Papers, box 70.

  40. [Appalachian Volunteers] Seventh Progress Report, September 1964, AV Papers, box 3.

  41. On the roving pickets, see Whisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer, 188–89. Robin Buckner to Tom [Rhodenbaugh], February 24, 1965 (first quote), AV Papers, box 24; CSM newsletter, no. 2, September 1964, 7 (second quote), AV Papers, box 29. See also Horton, “The Appalachian Volunteers,” 55. The SDS volunteers were participants in that organization’s Economic Research and Action Project. This was also an effort to help the poor in Appalachia, but through a more confrontational approach. See Sale, SDS, esp. 95–150. Though health care could be a qualitative issue, because these benefits depended on the number of union miners, employment was the critical factor.

  42. [Appalachian Volunteers] Eighth Progress Report, October 1964 on Contract between Area Redevelopment Administration of the U.S. D
epartment of Commerce and the Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc., AV Papers, box 20; Memorandum, Jack Rivel to Council Staff, October 16, 1964, AV Papers, box 29 (copy also in AV Papers, box 25); Jack Rivel to R. L. Polk & Co., October 15, 1964 (quote), AV Papers, box 29.

  43. Milton Ogle to James Dixon, President of Antioch College, October 28, 1964, AV Papers, box 22.

  44. [Appalachian Volunteers] Ninth Progress Report, November 1964, on Contract between Area Redevelopment Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Council of the Southern Mountains, AV Papers, box 20; Elliott County Projects, November 19–20[, 1964], and Attached Report, November 21, 1964, AV Papers, box 30; Ida Brown, Supervisor of Jackson County Schools, to Milton Ogle, November 10, 1964, AV Papers, box 70; Memorandum, Tom Davis to Gibbs Kinderman, November 29, 1964 (quote), AV Papers, box 70.

  45. [Report for] Saturday, November 28, 1964, Leslie County, AV Papers, box 29; Report—November 1964, [by] Flem Messer, AV Papers, box 29; [Report for] Leslie County, Saturday November 21, 1964, AV Papers, box 30. Many counties were subject to these types of AV projects. For example, Rockcastle County’s Owen Allen, Cove Ridge, and Blue Springs schools all got enrichment projects, which included the provision of basketball equipment, making Christmas decorations, organizing sing-alongs, and presenting a ventriloquist act. In Knox County, the Mills and Erose schoolchildren participated in “games and crafts” as well as chemistry demonstrations. See Report—Rockcastle County, Kentucky, November 28, 1964, Thomas Rhodenbaugh, AV Papers, box 30; November 1964 Report [by] Jack Rivel, AV Papers, box 30; and Report—Rock-castle County, Kentucky and Jackson County, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Volunteers, Saturday, November 21, 1964, AV Papers, box 30.

  46. Sargent Shriver to Milton Ogle, December 15, 1964, AV Papers, box 25; Statement of CAP Grant, [Attachment, p. 4], December 10, 1964, AV Papers, box 21.

  47. Whisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer, 189; William Wells to Vernon G. Wills, Wilmington College, Ohio, December 4, 1964, AV Papers, box 22; [AV Fieldmen and Counties], n.d., AV Papers, box 39.

  48. [Appalachian Volunteers] Tenth Progress Report, December 1964, AV Papers, box 3; Report: Jackson County, Appalachian Volunteers, University of Kentucky, December 5, 1964, AV Papers, box 70; Project Report, Saturday, December 12, 1964, Berea College—Jackson County, AV Papers, box 20; Appalachian Volunteers Activities, Week of December 14–20, 1964, AV Papers, boxes 20 and 30. See also Jack Rivel, [Report for] December 7–12, 1964, AV Papers, box 30.

  49. [Handwritten Notes from the AV Fall Conference], [ca. December 5, 1964], Berea College, AV Papers, box 2.

  50. University of Kentucky Appalachian Volunteers newsletter, December 7, 1964, AV Papers, box 70.

  51. The objectives of the project are contained in News of Importance to the Appalachian South, [CSM Press Release], December 30, 1964, CSM Papers, box 103.

  52. Minutes, AV Board of Directors Meeting, August 25, 1964, Berea, KY, AV Papers, box 2.

  4. The War to End All Wars

  1. Oral History Interviews with Jack Rivel, February 12, 1991, and March 16, 1993, Berea, KY, and Flem Messer, September 26, 1990, Danville, KY, WOP Oral History Project.

  2. Oral History Interview with Flem Messer, September 26, 1990, Danville, KY, WOP Oral History Project. Messer and the Mill Creek project are the focus of chapter 2.

  3. Oral History Interview with Jack Rivel, March 16, 1993, Berea, KY, WOP Oral History Project.

  4. [Suggested Copy for Fund-Raising Brochure], [ca. 1965], AV Papers, box 25. The Appalachian Volunteers was not the first organization to adopt such a vision of the mountain region. See Batteau, The Invention of Appalachia,

  5. Appalachian Volunteers, Recent Activities, February 1, 1965, AV Papers, box 20; Appalachian Volunteers, Recent Activities, February 9, 1965, AV Papers, box 20; Milton Ogle to Michael Harrington, March 16, 1965, AV Papers, box 27. By exposing the extent of poverty that existed in the United States in the early 1960s, Harrington’s The Other America also contributed, it can be argued, to the start of the War on Poverty.

  6. Milton Ogle to Henry Ford II, November 13, 1964, AV Papers, box 23. Actually, this was a form letter sent to representatives of a number of large corporations. See AV Papers, box 23.

  7. Memorandum, Thomas Rhodenbaugh to P. F. Ayer, January 5, 1965, AV Papers, box 29.

  8. Report on Appalachian Volunteers Work Camp, Lick Branch School, Ary, Kentucky, January 4–9, 1965, [by Joe Mulloy], AV Papers, box 8; Evaluation of the Appalachian Volunteers Christmas Project, by Marshall Smith, January 11, 1965, AV Papers, box 8.

  9. Report on Appalachian Volunteers Work Camp, Lick Branch School, Ary, Kentucky, January 4–9, 1965, [by Joe Mulloy], AV Papers, box 8; Evaluation of the Appalachian Volunteers Christmas Project, by Marshall Smith, January 11, 1965, AV Papers, box 8. Twelve Volunteers originally planned to help at Lick Branch.

  10. Activities: January 1–February 23, 1965, under Contract between Community Action Programs, Office of Economic Opportunity and Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc., AV Papers, box 3; Project Report [by] Tom Rhodenbaugh, January 23, 1965, AV Papers, box 70; Report Form 1 Hunting Fork, Wolfe County, February 13, 1965, AV Papers, box 70; Report Form 1 Vortex, Wolfe County, February 13, 1965, AV Papers, box 70; Report Form 1, Dry Fork–South Fork, Jackson County, February 1965, AV Papers, box 70.

  11. Project Report, Tom Rhodenbaugh, January 23, 1965, AV Papers, box 70; Appalachian Volunteers Project Evaluation, January 9, 1965, Blue Springs School, Rockcastle County (first quote), AV Papers, box 24; William Wells to Steve Allen, March 19, 1965 (second quote), AV Papers, box 32.

  12. Council Staff—March 5, 1965, AV Papers, box 23. Jones quoted and AV personnel discussed in Whisnant, Modernizing the Mountaineer, 190.

  13. The University of Kentucky project is reported in Zeh, “University Students Protest.” Reports on the activities of the Volunteers during the first quarter of 1965 (most activity was during the month of February) can be found in AV Papers, box 70.

  14. Appalachian Volunteers, Council of the Southern Mountains, Evaluation Comments, by J. Hoge T. Sutherland, May 15, 1965, AV Papers, box 12. See also Oral History Interview with Roslea Johnson, June 24, 1991, Des Moines, IA, WOP Oral History Project.

  15. Appalachian Volunteers, Council of the Southern Mountains, Evaluation Comments, by J. Hoge T. Sutherland, May 15, 1965, AV Papers, box 12. See also Oral History Interview with Roslea Johnson, June 24, 1991, Des Moines, IA, WOP Oral History Project.

  16. Appalachian Volunteers, Council of the Southern Mountains, Evaluation Comments, by J. Hoge T. Sutherland, May 15, 1965, AV Papers, box 12.

  17. Ibid. While Sutherland believed that improving schools meant consolidating schools, fixing existing structures meant improvement to the AVs and, thus, had the same effect.

  18. Ibid. Unfortunately, the actual questions Sutherland asked are not in neither the AV nor the CSM papers.

  19. Christmas in Appalachia, CBS News Special Report, December 22, 1964; Batteau, The Invention of Appalachia, 13 (see also 7, 10, 147, 161, 162–63, 166, 167).

  20. Depressed Area USA, Suggested Story Line, [ca. 1964], CSM Papers, box 74.

  21. Perley Ayer to Richard Boone, January 28, 1965, AV Papers, box 4. The argument that only the Council was capable of leading Appalachian reform efforts is also articulated in Project Request from the Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc., to the Office of Economic Opportunity, January 26, 1965, AV Papers, box 25. In this document, it is argued that the War on Poverty was failing because local communities lacked the knowledge to fight poverty effectively. The Council was the only agency “that cuts across all governmental lines in the area” and that can provide “the help local communities need.”

  22. On the three outside colleges, see Activities: January 1–February 23, 1965, under Contract between Community Action Programs, Office of Economic Opportunity and Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc., AV Papers, box 3.

  23. Memorandum, Perley Ayer to Dorothy Crandall, November 27, 19
64 (first quote), CSM Papers, box 103; Gibbs Kinderman to Chuck Peters, February 4, 1965 (second quote), AV Papers, box 22.

  24. Loyal Jones to Donald Crane, University of Pittsburgh, November 18, 1964 (first quote), CSM Papers, box 104; Serge Hummon, United Church Board for Homeland Missions, to Loyal Jones, January 22, 1965 (second quote), AV Papers, box 25; Flem Messer to Rev. Donald E. Van Voorhis, February 19, 1965, AV Papers, box 26; Gibbs Kinderman to Hugh Allen, Beliot College, July 20, 1965, AV Papers, box 20; Milton Ogle to David Madden, University of Louisville, April 21, 1964, AV Papers, box 1; Thomas Rhodenbaugh to M. Eugene Mockabee, Pennsylvania State University, November 16, 1965, AV Papers, box 26; Daniel Fox to James M. Perrin, April 18, 1966, AV Papers, box 25. The general correspondence files of the Appalachian Volunteers Papers are filled with letters to volunteers from all over the United States. See esp. box 26, file 5, Kinderman, Gibbs, Field Coordinator.

  25. The Bard College Field Period, [October 1965], AV Papers, box 25; Richard Blass to Lionel Duff, March 23, 1964, CSM Papers, box 101. See also Richard Blass to [CSM], March 17, 1964, and Loyal Jones to Richard Blass, March 19, 1964, CSM Papers, box 101.

  26. Clarke Moses to Appalachian Volunteers, October 8, 1966, and Tom Rhodenbaugh to Clarke Moses, November 2, 1966, AV Papers, box 26.

  27. Loyal Jones to L. M. Baker, Purdue University, March 11, 1964, CSM Papers, box 101; [Handwritten Notes from the Appalachian Volunteers Fall Conference], [December 5, 1964] (first quote), AV Papers, box 2; Perley Ayer to Paul Cunningham, NBC-TV, September 27, 1964 (last quote), CSM Papers, box 120.

  28. Gibbs Kinderman to Tim Sword, Wilmington College Appalachian Project, January 20, 1965, AV Papers, box 22. The article Kinderman was referring to is “Collegians to Fix Jackson School,” Louisville Courier-Journal, January 20, 1965, sec. 2, p. 1.