Hugh Hester Papers
Collection
Identifier: Mss-0051
The papers of Hugh Hester focus upon his numerous activities related to influencing the direction of American foreign policy. The collection includes articles and letters to the editor written by Hester, correspondence, and wide variety of printed material from the perspective of the Left. Of particular interest are typescript copies of The Congressional Innocents and an outline for America Faces Disaster, both by Morris Kaminsky. There is little information about his Army career or personal life.
The correspondence includes some letters from political leaders and other peace activists including Rewi Alley, Robert Drinan, V. William Fulbright, Ruth Gage-Colby, Ernest Gruening, Mark Hatfield, Dorothy Jones, Edward Kennedy, Morris Kominsky, George S. McGovern, and Andrew Young. There are also a considerable number of publications from Cuba, the German Democratic Republic, North Vietnam, and other communist states.
Hugh Bryan Hester was born in Hester, North Carolina on August 5th, 1895. He attended schools in Stem, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro, North Carolina. Hester attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1912-1917 and received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1916. Hester volunteered for the Army in 1917, abandoning his study of law.
Hester was wounded in action while serving as a Second Lieutenant in the Twelfth Field Artillery of the Second United States Regular Army. In 1918, he was promoted to First Lieutenant and then Captain. The following year he saw service during the occupation of Germany. He was decorated for valor by the United States.
After the war, Hester continued his career in the Army. He served at various military bases in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s and graduated from a number of training programs. Between 1924 and 1928, Hester was a Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) instructor at the University of Missouri. He also supervised Civilian Conservation Corps workers in Silver City, New Mexico in 1933-1934. In 1938, Hester attended and graduated from Babson Institute. From 1939 to 1942, he served on the General Staff of the War Department as an officer in the Quartermaster Corps. In 1941, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and then Colonel.
During the World War II, Hester srved as General Staff and Supply Officer (Southwest Pacific Theatre) under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. In this capacity, Hester worked with the Australian forces under the Reverse Lend-Lease Program. In 1945, he was promoted to Brigadier General and was awarded the United States Distinguished Service Medal.
After the war, Hester served in Germany from 1945-1947 in the Office of United States Military Government and was Chief of the Food and Agricultural Branch, Economic Division, United States Zone. He was elected to the French Legion of Honor for his work in Germany. During part of 1947 through 1948, Hester was Military Attaché to Australia. Returning to the United States, he served at the Army Supply Depot in Philadelphia until his retirement in 1951.
Upon retirement, Hester spend the next three years working with the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Between 1954-1957, he attended the University of Pennsylvania without receiving a degree. Even before resigning from the Army, Hester had become concerned over the direction of American foreign policy which was entering the period of confrontation with the Soviet Union known as the Cold War. He believed that the confrontational nature of American foreign policy could be avoided and lasting peace established.
Hester began to lecture and write concerning the need for new directions in American foreign policy. In 1959, he co-authored On the Brinkwith Dr. Jerome Davis, PhD. The period of the Vietnam War (1965-1973) was the high point of his activism. He spoke at numerous peace rallies, wrote letters-to-the-editor, and published several articles. In 1971, he published Twenty-six Disastrous Years, a general critique of American foreign policy. Hester continued to advocate disarmament, world government, and weapons control during the period after the Vietnam War.
Hester married Pauline (Polly) Hester Green in 1935. They moved to Asheville, North Carolina in 1970. Mrs. Hester died on January 8, 1981. Hugh Hester died on November 25, 1983.
5 Cubic Feet (including 1 folder of photographs and 1 oversize folder)
English
Hugh Bryan Hester served as an officer in the United States Army from 1917-1951. He saw active duty during the First and Second World Wars. Upon retirement, he became a frequent critic of American foreign policy and an advocate of peace. This collection was given by Hester and his niece, Mrs. Katherine Watson, between 1982 and 1984.
Hester's correspondence, letters to the editor, lectures, and articles are arranged chronologically. The subject file of printed material is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
These papers were donated to Clemson by Hugh Hester and his niece Katherine Watson in 1982 and 1983, accessions 82-22, 83-09, 83-11, 83-70 and 83-71.
Sixty-seven books were added to the general collections of the Library and forty-nine books were added to the holdings of Special Collections. There is a listing of these books located in the donor file.
This collection was prepared by Michael Kohl in 1984.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository