Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson (October 1905 – November 4, 1984) was an American peace, civil rights and environmental activist, lecturer and author during the twentieth century. An advocate of nuclear disarmament, she became the president of American branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in 1961 and the international chair of WILPF in 1965, the first American woman to hold that position since Jane Addams co-founded the organization in 1915."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson" (death and funeral notice). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D (subscription required)."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection" (Identifier: SCPC-DG-125). Swarthmore, Pennsylvania: Swarthmore College Libraries, retrieved online July 23, 2023."Woman Peace Leader Says Action Lags Behind Recognition of Need to Disarm." York, Pennsylvania: The Gazette and Daily, May 24, 1962, p. 1 (subscription required).
She was also one of the peace activists engaged in the fight for voting rights for African-Americans during this same time. As a polio survivor, she was supported by a leg brace and cane as she marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries.
Interviewed about her activism in 1965, she said:"Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D. "Dissent from public policy can be the highest form of patriotism.... I don't think democracy can survive without it, even though you may be crucified by it at times."
Formative years and family Born in Middletown, Connecticut in October 1905, Dorothy Hewitt was raised by parents who were Methodists; however, she was also exposed to, and influenced early on, by interactions with members of the Religious Society of Friends. Diagnosed with polio at the age of five, she recovered, but was required to use a leg brace and cane in order to walk for much of the remainder of her life. She subsequently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Holyoke College in 1927, and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree in zoology by Yale University in 1932."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection,” Swarthmore College Libraries.
In 1933, she wed Robert Cranford Hutchinson (1904-1981), a native of New Jersey who was a professor at Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College (now Thomas Jefferson University). They subsequently adopted three children: Robert Cranford Hutchinson Jr., who was born on March 21, 1936, son Hewitt and daughter Evelyn."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries.
During this time, she and her family lived in Fallsington, Pennsylvania; in 1940, she joined that community's Falls Monthly Meeting. Within three years, the Society of Friends was publishing her written works. Hutchinson and her family subsequently moved from Fallsington to Jenkintown; she then joined the Abington Friends Meeting, where she began teaching spirituality-related classes for adults."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries.
Longtime residents of the Rydal neighborhood in Abington Township, Montgomery County, she and her husband retired to the community of Sewanee in Franklin County, Tennessee in 1969. He preceded her in death there in 1981; his remains were returned to Pennsylvania for burial, and were interred at the Frenchtown Cemetery in Towanda in Bradford County."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries.
Her son, Robert, died on August 12, 2007, and was also interred at the Frenchtown Cemetery in Towanda."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D.
Activism From the 1940s through the 1980s, Dorothy H. Hutchinson was an active advocate for a freeze on the development, testing and use of nuclear weapons. During this time, she participated in, and organized hunger strikes, sit-ins and other protests against multiple corporate and government agencies."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D.
A co-founder and member of the Peace Now Movement in 1943 and 1944, she began working with psychology professor George W. Hartmann and John Collett, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Norway, to pressure the U.S. government and its allies to negotiate a settlement, rather than forcing Germany and Japan to surrender unconditionally in order to end World War II more quickly. As her visibility increased with her activism, she became the target of intense criticism by a significant percentage of Americans who felt she was supporting enemies of the United States during the war. She subsequently began receiving death threats, which exacerbated her post-polio syndrome symptoms of pain and fatigue, prompting her to resign from the Peace Now Movement in order to recuperate. Focused on raising her family as her health improved, she gradually resumed writing and lecturing about her spiritual and political beliefs."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries.Richards, Ray. "Dies Group Opens New Drive on 'Peace Now.'" San Francisco, California: The San Francisco Examiner, April 13, 1944, p. 9 (subscription required).
Post-war, she helped to support the world disarmament efforts of the United Nations"Committee Urges U.S. Take Lead to Outlaw Bomb." York, Pennsylvania: The Gazette and Daily, December 16, 1949, p. 1 (subscription required). by establishing a local chapter of the United World Federalists,"Churchwomen in Phila. To Attend 4-Day Parley." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 26, 1949, p. 12 (subscription required). but soon moved on to other work when she realized the group's platform did not also include strategies for international dispute negotiation and resolution."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries.
In 1954, she and Hazel DuBois embarked on a "Journey of Friendship," during which they "traveled the globe as Quaker emissaries, studying social conditions and carrying messages of peace and brotherhood.""Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries."May Fellowship Tomorrow: Church Women to Elect New Bucks County Council Officers." Bristol, Pennsylvania: Bristol Daily Courier, May 1, 1958 (subscription required).Price, Marie. "Inter-Faith Council Elects Mrs. Compter as President." White Plains, New York: The Reporter Dispatch, October 30, 1956, p. 6 (subscription required)."Speaker to Discuss 'Friendship Journey.'" Wilmington, Delaware: The News Journal, January 20, 1956, p. 12 (subscription required).
In 1958, she raised international awareness of the continuing danger posed by nuclear arms testing by staging a five-day fast at the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Two years later, she attended and wrote about the World Peoples Conference in Geneva, Switzerland."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries. In November 1959, she presented the opening address at the Religious Society of Friends' conference, "Crime and the Treatment of Offenders," in Germantown. The first conference hosted by Friends members in the United States on this topic, it was sponsored by the Friends World Committee."Friends Confer on Crime and Treatment of It." Wilmington, Ohio: Daily News-Journal, November 16, 1959, p. 12 (subscription required).
The national president and international chair of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) during the 1960s, she lectured and wrote extensively about the need for peaceful strategies to prevent and settle international disputes. In 1961, she participated in the Bryn Mawr Conference of American and Soviet Women."'Visit to Moscow' Talk." Baltimore, Maryland: The Evening Sun, May 21, 1965, p. 11 (subscription required). On May 1, 1962, she was the only woman to participate as a member of the Quaker delegation to the White House, which met with U.S. President John F. Kennedy that day to voice its concerns regarding the nation's continued testing of nuclear weapons."Dr. Dorothy Hutchinson, A World Peace Leader, Will Talk at Harrisburg." York, Pennsylvania: The Gazette and Daily, May 22, 1962, p. 3 (subscription required). In December 1962, she was one of roughly twenty academics, members of the clergy, scientists, and other civic leaders who wrote a letter to Kennedy, urging him, as president of the United States, "to establish direct telephone or teletype communications with the Kremlin" as a way to "avert irrevocable mistakes" during the new "nuclear age" that the world was facing."JFK-Kremlin Phone Urged." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 17, 1962, p. 2 (subscription required).
The next year (1963), she served as an emissary from WILPF, and met with government leaders while touring Poland. In 1964, she led a peace delegation on a tour of the Soviet Union, during which time Hutchinson and her fellow delegates visited the Kremlin in Moscow, where they urged officials to offer greater freedom to residents of their nation while working to find peaceful ways to resolve international conflicts."Dorothy Hewitt Hutchinson, 78; peace activist traveled worldwide" (obituary) and "Hutchinson," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 1984, p. 10-D."Dorothy H. Hutchinson Papers," in "Swarthmore College Peace Collection," Swarthmore College Libraries."'Visit to Moscow' Talk," The Evening Sun, May 21, 1965, p. 11.