The debate about whether the United States should have fought in World War I is all but forgotten today. Although the war began in August 1914, a broad coalition of antiwar forces tried to stop our country from entering the war — and had succeeded until April 1917 when President Wilson asked Congress to declare war on Germany. Even fewer remember that a Healdsburg pioneer became a leading peace activist in the west during the first World War.
For almost three years, opponents of the war and of militarization (“military preparedness”), helped stop Congress from massively increasing the size of the U.S. Army, a measure favored by munitions manufacturers and proponents of intervention, including former President Theodore Roosevelt. The antiwar voices included labor unions, civil rights groups, socialists and newly formed organizations such as the Women’s Peace Party and the American Union Against Militarism.
Woodrow Wilson found it beneficial to run as the peace candidate until 1914, because antimilitarists dominated public opinion. Several months later, however, Germany’s decision to resume unrestricted submarine warfare against neutral merchant ships persuaded President Wilson that war was the only option. The Zimmerman Telegram, in which Germany urged Mexico to invade the United States, also tipped the scales toward war.
In the month that America entered the war, August 1914, Julius Myron Alexander, Secretary of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, was inspired to become a peace warrior. Alexander believed that 1914 was still an opportune time to assert the idea of civic patriotism, as opposed to the patriotism of war. He declared that there are other heroes “than those at the cannon’s mouth.” Alexander designed a handsome banner to serve as a rallying symbol for a global peace campaign, enlisting Theresa (Mrs. Ben) Ware to embroider the prototype. Soon Healdsburg’s Chamber of Commerce leader was not only promoting Healdsburg, but also leading the campaign to promote global unity under the banner of his Universal Flag of Peace.
Healdsburg Peace Flag taken up by peace movement
The first mention of the Peace Flag outside of Healdsburg appeared September 1914 in the San Francisco Examiner: “Peace Flag Presented to Cause By Julius Myron Alexander of Healdsburg.”
The article read, in part: “The armies of peace will follow a new banner, the first of the great international movement, into which has been wrought the symbolism of the humanitarian movement. Julius Myron Alexander, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of Healdsburg, is the designer of the peace emblem, and he delivered yesterday to the San Francisco leaders of the peace campaign a magnificent emblem, made under his supervision. The flag, which cost about $249, is Alexander’s contribution to the cause. It is a gold fringed banner showing a dove, a cross and a rising sun, against a field of deep blue. Alexander gives ‘the protection of Heaven over all the earth’ as the symbolism of the blue background. At each of the four corners is a star, typifying the range of the peace armies to the four corners of the world. The rising sun, with golden rays, stands for the dawn of peace, the white cross Humette with a border of gold, signalizes Christianity and civilization. The dove of peace, with wings spread, bears a green olive branch, a message of safety; all the design baring exquisitely wrought in silk embroidery.”
The new Peace Flag was embraced quickly by the antiwar movement in the Bay Area. Huge peace rallies were held in Berkeley and San Francisco. The San Francisco Examiner, on Sept. 24, 1914 estimated a crowd of 100,000 people in attendance:
“At the monster peace gathering at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco Sunday a very pretty and impressive ceremony was connected with the unfurling of the Peace Flag, designed by Julius Myron Alexander of Healdsburg. In the portion of the program entitled ‘A Message from San Francisco,’ 16 young ladies, in costume of the different nations, each with a snow-white dove, formed in line, headed by Miss Liberty bearing the Peace Flag, and marched to the front of the music stand, where the doves were released and the Peace Flag was waved over the multitude, while the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ was sung by thousands of voices…”
At the December 1914 meeting of the National Peace Committee, held at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, the Peace Flag designed by Alexander was adopted as the official symbol of the committee. Alexander offered the banner for their use:
“This is designed for a Universal Peace Flag and my thought regarding it was that it might be used in forwarding the peace movement now being inaugurated in the West … There has never been a Universal Peace Flag adopted and this one is for all nations and creeds. I have thought small flags might be made from the design and sold for the benefit of the Red Cross and other charitable work for which I would gladly donate it.”
Peace Flag presented to U.S. President
In September 1915, Alexander formally presented a Peace Flag to President Woodrow Wilson. The blue silk flag was beautifully embroidered by Theresa (Mrs. Ben) Ware. With the gift he enclosed an impassioned letter, gilded in poetry.
“Dear Mr. President,
To you, a little silken Flag of Peace, an emblem from a village in the West. Here, from the land of the orange bloom; from a land of flowers and birds of song. It is harvest time and the fruits are all gold and purple and red. They are happy, these Arcadia people of the West. It is a bounteous land and there is the voice of song and laughter, for Love and Peace rule here and each may go about his labor and return to a home of contentment; to a home protected under the Stars and Stripes of a great Nation. Over there we hear the echo of the Dead March of Saul. There are the trenches, the child and the man; there the sister and the mother and over all rules the God of War. The home is broken and the cities and fields lie destroyed and blistered under the blue of heaven. There are footprints of blood and there are tears and sorrows and heartbreak. A Christian land forgotten of God in its rebellion. A mark shall be upon the brow for all the years to come, the scar of war and wasting. This little Flag of Peace, only an emblem from those who pity and love; only a prayer for those who go to their homes of desolation and sorrow, in the land across the sea.
With love and respect, Sincerely Yours, Julius Myron Alexander”
From pioneer to peace activist
Julius Myron Alexander is usually described as Healdsburg’s first poet laureate. He was born in Alexander Valley in 1857, the year Healdsburg was founded. He cherished his home and its history all his life. The valley he called home was named for his uncle, Cyrus, who had located there in 1844. His parents, Charles and Aschah Alexander, were farmers who settled in the valley in 1849. In the Healdsburg Tribune in 1929, Julius recalled his local roots:
“From country school days, with all of their boyhood sports, I merged into a regular pioneer farm boy, plowing, chopping wood, mowing hay, cradling and binding grain and riding the range for stock. A farmer boy’s life was a lot of pleasures if it is not made too much of farm drudgery. We did not have many close neighbors and Healdsburg 72 years ago was but a few shacks, plank sidewalks, oak tracts, madrone groves, sloughs, oxen, Indians, dust, vaqueros and democrats. It was a kaleidoscope picture of a store or two, saloons, blacksmith shops, a China wash house, ox yokes, chewing tobacco and revolvers. Crowning it all was the unsurpassed virgin beauty of its mountains, its forests, streams and flower-covered lands.”
At age 17, Alexander was sent to the Napa Collegiate Institute from which he attained a B.S. degree. The bookish, contemplative country boy sought to please his parents by working in commerce. Instead of the literary life he craved, he then “became a cog in a wheel in the big city in San Francisco where I was with an express company for 15 years with the exception of a portion of time spent in Nevada as its messenger.”
After the death of his parents, Alexander felt that he had fulfilled his filial duty, and felt free to become the prolific poet and literary leader he yearned to be. From 1888-1890, he co-owned and published the Healdsburg Enterprise newspaper (a predecessor of today’s Healdsburg Tribune). Alexander became the head booster of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce for many years. He was chairman of the Oak Mound Cemetery Beautification Committee. Few residents have loved Healdsburg more passionately than Alexander.
His political views evolved as the Great War raged. Alexander may have originally started as a conscientious objector, but by 1916, he also espoused “preparedness” when he introduced his most ambitious book of poetry, “Flag of Peace and Other Poems.”
A sample from that book: “Dikes are builded to keep back the ravages of storm, counter fires are started to check the flames of the forest; jails are builded for protection against crime; your home has a burglar alarm or an insurance against the elements. All these and many more for Preparedness. The laws of the land require safety and protection. The working out of these principles is the gateway to peace. As with a home and a people, so with a Nation. Keep the door locked and be vigilant lest the wings of the dove be dyed with red. Teach and talk Peace at all times, but be prepared for conflict. Preparedness and Peace are brother and sister, and both are the children of Patriotism.”
Peace Flag for Armistice
In the 19 months before the Armistice ended World War I, approximately 53,000 Americans perished in battle. The country mourned the many dead, but Americans were jubilant to have peace at last. Alexander was one of the happiest participants in the 1918 Armistice parade. He joyfully welcomed peace home to the streets of Healdsburg, proudly waving the Peace Flag.
Holly Hoods is the curator of the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society.
