National Council for Prevention of War (U.S.)

The National Council for Prevention of War was an American peace organization that grew out of an earlier body formed in Washington, D.C., in 1921 during the era of arms-limitation talks. By fall 1923 it had taken the name National Council for Prevention of War, and it later became one of the best-known pacifist pressure groups in the United States.

For many years the organization was directed by J. Frederick Libby, a minister and activist closely associated with its public work. Archives describing its records note that it lobbied Congress, produced educational materials, and campaigned around questions of neutrality and war prevention. At its height in the mid-1930s, it supported efforts such as neutrality legislation, anti-war referendum proposals, and the Keep America Out of War campaign.

Today, the council is remembered less as a single author than as a collective voice in American antiwar history. Its surviving pamphlets and books offer a window into organized peace activism, showing how reformers tried to influence public opinion and national policy in the years between the two world wars.