Erskine Caldwell on Peace
Friends:
It seems to me that history has been written, chapter by chapter, century after century, in praise of war and its accompaniment of death and destruction. If we look at the history of our war-ravaged world, these chapters have glorified the winning of wars, the number of people who have been killed, and the destruction that has occurred.
Between these chapters of horror there has been very little written about peace because there have been so very few intervals of peace to commemorate.
However, it is my belief that the time is coming—how soon I do not know, but inevitably—when war will have been banished from this planet.
It is not consistent with the ideals of liberal-minded people, people with foresight and intelligence, to let the horrors of war be perpetuated and encouraged to continue to exist in the future as they have been in times past.
I suggest that this meeting of writers offers the opportunity to inaugurate a crusade for peace. And I am confident that such a crusade would be successful because writers do possess a talent that enables them to contribute to the good of the world and the welfare of mankind.