IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES

IOWA CITY, IOWA

PEG MULLEN (1917-2009)

PAPERS, 1968-2003

(bulk 1970s)

5.25 linear feet

ACQUISITION: The papers (donor no. 139) were donated by Peg Mullen in 1993 and subsequent years.

ACCESS: The papers are open for research.

AUDIOVISUAL: Four audiocassettes shelved in audiovisual collection [AC103, AC220-221, AC340] and one videocassette shelved in videocassette collectuin [V44].

COPYRIGHT: Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa.

PHOTOGRAPHS: In box 1.

PROCESSED BY: Your name, year»Natalie S. Brody and Robert J. Jett, 1993; Suzanne A. Vesely, 2001; Nickol Himschoot, 2004; Sharon M. Lake, 2008. [MullenPeg.doc]

Biography

Social activist Margaret (Peg) Mullen was born in 1917, in Pocahontas, Iowa, the daughter of Clair and Josephine Wolfe Goodyear. She graduated from Sacred Heart High School and was employed as a secretary in the US Department of Labor from 1937 to 1944. In November 1941, she married Oscar Eugene (Gene) Mullen of Waterloo. During World War II, he served in the Army in Des Moines, Iowa; Springfield, Missouri; and Fort Logan, Colorado. After his discharge, the Mullens moved to the 120-acre family farm near La Porte City, Iowa. From 1955 to 1961 Peg Mullen commuted to Waterloo to work in an advertising agency. In addition to working the farm, Gene Mullen was employed as a quality control supervisor at the John Deere Tractor Works in Waterloo. Peg Mullen participated in community affairs, including the church youth group and 4-H, and in politics as a Democratic delegate to county and state conventions.

The Mullens had four children: Michael, Patricia, Mary Margaret, and John Kevin. Michael Mullen graduated from Don Bosco High School in Gilbertville, Iowa, in 1963 and earned a BA in chemistry from Rockhurst College, a Jesuit school in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1967. He was awarded a fellowship for graduate study at the University of Missouri and studied there for one year. In September 1968, he was drafted into the Army. He completed basic training at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and attended accelerated Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO) training at Fort Benning, Georgia. In September 1969, he was sent to Vietnam and served with the 198th Light Infantry Americal division near Chu Lai. Michale Mullen was killed on February 18, 1970, by shrapnel discharged by United States artillery, also known as "friendly fire."

Peg Mullen had opposed the Vietnam War before her son was drafted, but after his death she became a public critic of the war. She became widely known for urging the Pentagon to release documents that pertained to the circumstances surrounding her son's death and her involvement in the anti-war protest movement.

With their son's military gratuity, the Mullens placed two ads in The Des Moines Register. The first ran on April 12, 1970. It consisted of 714 crosses representing those Iowans reported killed in Vietnam. Another ran on April 26, with 719 crosses. The response to the ads was dramatic and Peg Mullen soon became a national figure. She received thousands of letters of support from throughout the country; gave interviews for radio, television, and newspapers; counseled families; traveled to Washington to protest the war and spoke frequently at anti-war rallies. The Mullens were one of the families featured in a film, And Another Family for Peace. In 1972, Mullen served as a McGovern delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In that same year she was nominated Iowa Mother of the Year.

The story of the Mullens’ attempts to obtain the facts from the Pentagon about Michael's death attracted the interest of journalist C.D.B. Bryan, who first visited the Mullens in La Porte City in 1971. Five years later, Bryan’s three-part series appeared in The New Yorker (March 1, 8, and 15, 1976). The New Yorker series was later expanded and published as Friendly Fire (Putnam, 1976). In 1979, the book was adapted for a television movie starring Carol Burnett and Ned Beatty. The show received six Emmy awards.

After the publication of the book and the television production, Mullen received waves of mail, telephone calls, and requests for interviews. In 1976, Gene Mullen suffered a massive heart attack and received a medical retirement from John Deere. Later that year, the Mullens moved to Brownsville, Texas. Gene Mullen died in July 1986.

Peg Mullen later moved back to Iowa, where she continued her anti-war activism by speaking out against US wars in the Persian Gulf and Iraq. She published Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir (1995), in which she recalls her activities in the years following her son’s death in Vietnam. In 1997, Mullen was inducted into the Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame.

Peg Mullen passed away in La Porte City, Iowa, on October 2, 2009 at the age of 92.

Scope and Content Note

The Peg Mullen papers measure 5.25 linear feet and date from 1968 to 2003. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence and newspaper clippings from the 1970s related to the anti-war movement. The papers are arranged in five series: Biographical information, Correspondence, Friendly Fire, Vietnam War resource files, and Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir.

The Biographical information series (1970-2003) includes newspaper clippings, articles, and interviews with Mullen from the 1970s through 2003; most of these materials describe Mullen’s activism against the war in Vietnam, but a few are related to the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War. Newspaper articles about Michael Mullen and the circumstances of his death in Vietnam are included in this series as well as letters written by Michael Mullen from Vietnam to his parents. A history of the Mullen family, "Six Generations in Black Hawk County, 1852-1996," and a short sketch of her father written by Peg Mullen. Four interviews with Mullen conducted in the 1990s, newsletters carrying columns written by Peg Mullen, and several photographs of Peg Mullen, and of her son, Michael, complete the series.

The Correspondence series (1968-2003) consists primarily of letters written to the Mullens during the 1970s, and especially from the periods immediately following Michael Mullen's death in 1970, the publication of Friendly Fire in 1976, and the television adaptation of the book in 1979. It includes contacts with the White House, the Pentagon, political leaders, and letters from hundreds of Americans expressing support for the Mullens. The series also includes correspondence between the Mullens and the Pentagon pertaining to the Mullens' quest to determine the cause of their son's death. Carbon copies of many of the outgoing letters are included with the responses. (Many additional letters from this period can be found in the series, Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir.) The series also includes letters from the 1990s relating to the US wars in the Persian Gulf and Iraq, and correspondence between Mullen and high school students from Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Mullen continued to receive letters from Vietnam veterans in the 1990s.

The Friendly Fire series includes the portions of C.D.B. Bryan’s book, Friendly Fire, which first appeared in The New Yorker magazine and correspondence from 1971 to 1979 between Mullen and Bryan. Also in this series are a typescript of the book, published in 1976; Fay Kanin's script for the television adaptation; a VHS copy of the film, Friendly Fire, and a bound notebook of articles concerning popular response and television critics' views.

The Vietnam War resource files (1970-1978) include anti-war correspondence, draft resistance materials, petitions, newspaper clippings, reports, speeches, and memoranda gathered by Mullen during the 1970s. The series contains a "Vietnam Information Packet," which was compiled by members of Milestones, an independent high school newspaper. This series includes information from six organizations that Mullen belonged to: American Friends Service Committee, Another Mother for Peace, Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace (BEM), Common Cause, SANE, and Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Other causes Mullen supported include National Strike for Peace, the abolition of the draft, and Four folders of letters and one folder of postcards written by persons in support of Amendment 609 complete the series.

The Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir series (1970-1996) includes four drafts of the manuscript. Also included is correspondence dating from the 1970s to and 1990s that Mullen used while writing the memoir. Part of the correspondence is organized topically, the remainder chronologically. The newspaper clippings pertain to the Vietnam War, especially casualty notices. Materials relating to the publication and response to the book complete the series.

Copies of the hardcover and paperback versions of Friendly Fire and a hardcover copy of Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir are shelved in the printed works collection.

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style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'>Box no. Description

Box 1

Biographical information, 1970-2003

Interviews

Audiocassettes [shelved in audiocassette collection]

WSUI radio

August 1990 (9:45 minutes; AC220)

February 1994 (with Kären Mason; AC103)

November 1994 (AC221; 9:47 minutes)

WMT radio: November 14, 1970 [AC340]

Peg Mullen, 1970s-2003 (3 folders)

Michael Mullen, c. 1970 (2 folders)

Scrapbook and newspaper clippings

"Six Generations in Black Hawk County, 1852-1996," by Peg Mullen

Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, 1997 (2 folders)

“Peg’s Corner” in Arthritis News and Views, 1998-2000

Pioneer Newsletters, 2002-2003

Photographs, c. 1970

Box 2

Correspondence

1968-1969

January 14-March 19, 1970

March 20-31, 1970

April 1-18, 1970

April 20-30, 1970

May 1-10, 1970

May 11-19, 1970

May 20-30, 1970

June 1970

Box 3

July 1970

August 1970

September-October 1970

November-December 1970

Undated, 1970

January-March 1971

April-May 1971

June-December 1971

1972

1973

1974-1975

Box 4

January-May 1976

June-December 1976

1977

1978

January-February 1979

April 5-23, 1979

April 24-30, 1979

May 1979

June-December 1979

1980

1981-1984

1985-1995

Mt. Pleasant student project, 1996-1998 (folders 1 and 2)

Box 5

Mt. Pleasant student project, 1999 (folder 3)

Undated (2 folders)

General, 1990-2000 (3 folders)

Persian Gulf, 1990-1998

Iraq War, 1998-2002

Friendly Fire

Correspondence with C.D.B. Bryan, 1971-1979

The New Yorker series (March 1, 8, 15, 1976)

Iowa Humanities Lecture Series, Friendly Fire, C.D.B. Bryan; lecture and discussion by Tony Colby, undated

Book: Friendly Fire (Putnam, 1976)

Newspaper clippings

Friendly Fire (Bantam Book, 1977, paperback) [shelved in the printed works collection]

Box 6

Manuscript

Film (1979, 2 hours) [shelved in videocassette collection V44]

Newspaper clippings

Reviews

Script

Box 7

Vietnam War resource files

Antiwar correspondence [copies], 1970-1979 (scattered) and undated

Draft resistance

Petitions, 1970

Amendment 609

Petitions

Postcards, 1970

Correspondence, 1969-1970 (4 folders)

Box 8

Printed material

Brochures and flyers

"Vietnam Information Packet" assembled by the members of Milestones

Newspaper clippings (1 folder)

Iowa

General

Obituaries

National

General

Compilation of Washington Post editorials: "Those Who Served: Vietnam Veterans--An Extraordinary Washington Post Editorial Series--1977-1978," The Washington Post

News releases, 1971

Reports

"Background Material For Vietnam Veterans' Week, May 28 (Memorial Day) to June 3 [1979]," United States Congress Of Mayors.

"Compassionate Reassignment And Deferments From Oversea Shipments," U.S. Army AGO 20119A

Congressional Record, May 1, 1970-May 19, 1971 (scattered)

Dateline, Washington D.C.; A Report to Iowa, June 1971, January 1972

"Discharge Of Enlisted Personnel On Account Of Dependency or Hardship." U.S. Army 20119A

"Military Spending/Cambodia Voting Record January-May 7, 1970" Friends Committee On National Legislation

Public Information Series. Bureau of Public Affairs, April 12 - March 9, 1971

"A Report On Vietnam War Memorial Legislation.", Doug Westphall, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Vietnam Veterans Chapel, May 11, 1978

Washington Report, March 1971

Speeches, 1970-1971 and undated

Box 9

War protest organizations

American Friends Service Committee, 1970-1973 and undated

Another Mother for Peace, 1968-1972

Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace (BEM), 1970-1973 and undated

Common Causes, 1971-1973 and undated

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF),

1970-1973 and undated

National Strike for Peace

SANE, 1966-1972 and undated

Unfriendly Fire: A Mother's Memoir

Manuscripts, 1994-1995

#l

Box 10

#2

#3

Box 11

#4

Correspondence

Topical

Investigation, 1970-1982

Marines, 1970-1971, 1991

And Another Family for Peace, 1970-1972, 1976, 1979

Private Ed Hall, 1970-1972

November 6 1970-July 11 1971

August 5 1970-May 25 and undated

Americal, 1970-1992

Letters at Michael's death, 1970-1979 and undated

Amnesty, 1973-1976

Box 12

Chronological

June-October, 1969-March 1970

April 1970

May-June 1970

July-December 1970

Undated

Sympathy cards, undated

1971

January-November, 1976 and undated

1977-1978

April 1979

Box 13

May-December 1979

1980-1990

1991-1994 and undated

Newspaper clippings

1970s

1990-1991

2000

Publication

Permission letters, 1970-1994 and undated

Publishers' correspondence, 1984, 1991-1994 and undated

Response

Readers' correspondence, 1994 and undated

Reviews and publicity, 1995 and undated

Drama, "Peg Mullen Takes a Stand," Lydia and Rita Robertson, 1996

Sales Receipts, 1997-1999