| Alfred Hassler Al Hassler was Executive Secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation in the United States from 1960 until his retirement in 1974. He was also General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and president of the International Confederation for Disarmament and Peace.
Al Hassler worked for the American FOR from 1941-1974, first as editor, then as director of publications, and for most of his tenure, as Executive Secretary. He was also closely involved with IFOR, which in that period didn’t have its own staff and relied on only a few student interns. For some years in the 60s and 70s he was also General Secretary of IFOR. Al authored hundreds of editorials, articles and pamphlets and two books for the FOR on a huge array of subjects. "Some that I remember," relates Laura Hassler, Al's daughter and the founder and director of Musicians without Borders (NGO), "are ‘Neither Run nor Hide,' the case against ‘civil defense’ in the context of the threat of nuclear war; ‘The Montgomery Story,' a comic book (literally) to promote Martin Luther King’s movement in the late 50’s-early 60’s; ‘Diary of a Self-Made Convict,' a book about his experiences (9 months in Lewisburg penitentiary) as a CO during World War II, and ‘Saigon, USA’ about the Buddhist movement in South Vietnam." FOR USA’s campaign against fall-out shelters during the Cold War (producing ‘for-sale’ type signs saying "This house has no fall-out shelter; peace is our only protection," and at the same time raising money for homeless people in India) was Al’s idea. So was the grain bag campaign during the famine in China (sending little bags of rice to the White House with the message: If thine enemy hunger, feed him: send surplus grain to China), which didn’t end the famine in China, but was reported later to have played a role in the President’s decision not to start a war with China.
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In the 1960s, Al was responsible for introducing Thich Nhat Hanh to the American and European peace movements, as proponent of the Buddhist "Third Way" during the war in Vietnam. In the early 70’s, Al and Thich Nhat Hanh founded together a new movement, called "Dai Dong" (from a Vietnamese proverb about a world in which not only one’s own children are one’s children, but all the world’s children are yours). Dai Dong attempted to bring about a coalition of peace and human rights organizations with scientists concerned about (particularly) environmental problems, and pointed to the inter-connectedness of world issues: economics, environment, poverty, human rights, peace. They organized several conferences, including an Alternative Conference on the environment to the UN Stockholm conference in 1972. Unfortunately, they were ahead of their time—it would take another several decades before activists (and donors) would begin to see the importance of linking these issues. Al retired in 1974 and moved to southern Spain, where he established a cooperative (retirement) community, which may still exist. Laura remembers, "I grew up in a cooperative community outside New York—inter-racial, inter-religious and non-profit—which also still exists. This community was also Al’s brainchild in 1946; he was its president for its first 10 years."
After his retirement, he continued to write occasionally for "Fellowship," the magazine of FOR USA, and other peace periodicals, and contributed to a number of international conferences. Alfred was not a soloist, but rather a leader who inspired and empowered others. He was hugely creative, had a wonderful and incorrigible sense of humor, was a born story-teller and loved being with his friends, colleagues and family. He was an avid reader, a great music lover and an amateur singer. In his later years, he loved taking walks with his neighbor, a shepherd, photographed small flowers and creatures and wrote several philosophical essays. He was a great lover of life. Al died on June 5, 1991.
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