Yesterday, August 27th, was the anniversary of the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact in 1928, a treaty created by an international peace movement after World War I. Frank Kellogg, US Secretary of State at the time, was instrumental getting the Pact passed. Kellogg Boulevard in downtown St. Paul is named after him. In 1929 he received a Nobel Peace Prize.


The Kellogg–Briand Pact (or Pact of Paris, officially General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy^[1]) is a 1928 international agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them.”^[2] Parties failing to abide by this promise “should be denied of the benefits furnished by this treaty.” It was signed by Germany, France, and the United States on August 27, 1928, and by most other nations soon after. Sponsored by France and the U.S., the Pact renounces the use of war and calls for the peaceful settlement of disputes. Similar provisions were incorporated into the Charter of the United Nations and other treaties and it became a stepping-stone to a more activist American policy.^[3] It is named after its authors, United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand.  (Wikipedia)  

Last night on the anniversary of the signing, Veterans for Peace, Chapter 27, Women Against Military Madness, and other groups with offices at 4200 Cedar in Minneapolis, dedicated a Peace Pole in the front of the building.

Read the full text of the Pact here.

An Anti-War video by Spadecaller updates this classic peace song originally written in 1950 by Ed McCurdy, a folk singer, songwriter, television actor and good friend of Pete Seeger.

Ed McCurdy (January 11, 1919 – March 23, 2000) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and television actor. His most well-known song was the anti-war “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream”, written in 1950.^{[1]   Wikipedia}

David Swanson’s book When the World Agreed to Outlaw War discusses the Kellogg-Briand Pact, its origins and impact.

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