Oxford Oath

Oxford Oath
The Oxford Union

The Oxford Oath was an oath by students of the Oxford Union on February 9, 1933 vowing never to "bear arms for king and country" in the United Kingdom.[1][2]

The students voted 275 to 153 for the proposal, 10 days after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Winston Churchill, later Prime minister of the United Kingdom, denounced it as "that abject, squalid, shameless avowal". He continued: “One can almost feel the curl of contempt upon the lips of the manhood of (the German, Italian and French) peoples when they read this message sent out by Oxford University in the name of young England.”[1]

Contents

Consequences

The oath "made a lot of noise in the world"[2] and "caused reverberations around the world".[1] In fact, it has been said that the Oxford Oath made a tremendous impression upon Hitler himself. He regularly cited the oath when his general staff protested his military decisions.[2]

US oath

In 1935, 60,000 college students signed the United States equivalent of the Oxford Oath, swearing never to take up arms in behalf of King or country.[3] At Columbia, 3,000 students took the Oath that day at a rally featuring Roger Baldwin, Reinhold Niebuhr and James Wechsler as speakers.[4]

Disappearance

The official framed copy of the oath was stolen in 2004.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Pierce, Andrew (May 7, 2004). "Oxford Union’s ‘squalid oath’ disappears". Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/news/article418158.ece. Retrieved 12 October 2008. 
  2. ^ a b c Alsop, Josheph (May 11, 1970). "Blundering in to War - By Being Anti-War". St. Petersburg Times. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SgYOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JXwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7379,157482&dq=oxford+oath. Retrieved 12 October 2008. 
  3. ^ http://www.jstor.org/pss/3641185
  4. ^ http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/nov99/nov99_letterseditor.html
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