Cora Weiss Papers

Cora Weiss is a peace and social justice leader and activist. She is a supporter of the United Nations, an early member of Women Strike for Peace, serving on the National Board of WSP from 1961-1973. Weiss was a leader in the anti-Vietnam war movement in the United States: involved with organization of demonstrations, including the largest on November 15, 1969 in Washington, DC. She was the co-chair and director of the Committee of Liaison with Families of Servicemen Detained in North Vietnam (1969-1972). As part of this group Weiss organized the exchange of mail between families of prisoners of war in Vietnam. This exchange revealed and names of those alive. Weiss and the COL arranged for the return of some POWs. In the 1970s Weiss organized the group Friendshipment to provide humanitarian relief to Vietnam (1972-1980). Beginning in 1978 Weiss ran the Riverside Church (New York, NY) Disarmament Program (1978-1988). With her growing interest in the anti-nuclear movement Weiss was active with SANE, as it combined with the nuclear freeze campaign (1986-2000) and later became Peace Action. Weiss was the president and a co-founder of The Hague Appeal for Peace, 1996-date. Always interested in the international aspects of the peace movement Weiss was president of the International Peace Bureau from 2000-2006. Weiss has always been active in women's peace issues. She hosted the first women's radio program in New York City in the 1970s, met with Vietnamese women during the war, attended women's disarmament summits in the former Soveit Union, participated in the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, and many other events. Weiss is the recipient of numerous peace awards from all over the world.