Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger: An Appeal to JFK March 3, 1961

 

"Mr. John F. Kennedy

 

The White House

 

Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

Dear Mr. President:

I take the liberty of writing you as a fellow classmate of Harvard 1940, and as the man I voted for last November.

I am a musician, a singer of folk songs, facing trial for contempt of Congress on March 13th, because I declined to testify fully before the HUAC in August 1955, in New York. Since I did not use the 5th amendment, I was later cited for contempt and indicted.

At that time I stated under oath "…in my whole life I have never done anything of any conspiratorial nature…" I refused, however, to state whether or not I had ever sung specifically for the Communist Party, or joined it, saying "I have sung for Americans of Every political persuasion, and I am proud that I never refused to sing to an audience no matter what their religion or color of their skin, or situation of life…. I have never refused to sing for anybody because I disagreed with their political opinion."

Here is another sample of their questioning:

Mr. Tavenner: Did you sing this song, to which we have referred. "Now Is The Time," at Wingdale Lodge on the weekend of July 11th?

Mr. Seeger: I don't know any song by that name; I know a song with a similar name. It is called "Wasn't That A Time." Is that the song?

Chairman Walter: Did you sing that song?

Mr. Seeger: I can sing it; I don't know how well I can do it without my banjo…

Chairman Walter: I direct you to answer the question. Did you sing this particular song on the 11th of July at Wingdale Lodge in New York?

For not answering questions like this I am liable for a sentence of one year in jail on each of three counts. I enclose a copy of the song under discussion.

I would not take up your valuable time with my personal problem, except that I feel it is a very fundamental one which concerns all America these days. Do I, or does any citizen, have the right to hold unorthodox opinions, whether they be purely right or horribly wrong, and do I have the right to join with others who think similarly?- Without being blacklisted or persecuted as a 'subversive'.

My uncle, Alan Seeger, the poet, Harvard '10, the second American to die in World War I, in his poem 'Message to America,' issued this call:

 

'You have the grit and the guts, I know

You are ready to answer blow for blow

You are virile, combative, stubborn, hard

But your honor ends with your own backyard;

Each man intent on his private goal,

You have no feelings for the whole;

What singly none would tolerate

You let unpunished hit the state,

Unmindful that each man must share

The stain he lets his country wear,

And (what no traveller ignores)

That her good name is often yours.'

 

Should we not heed it now?

Sincerely,

Peter Seeger"

 

 

Submitted by: From the White House Central Name File, Box 2513, JFK Library

You may like...