Oxford Oath


The Oxford Oath, or Oxford Pledge, is the name commonly given to a resolution carried by students of the Oxford Union that "this House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country". It was passed by 275 votes to 153 at the King and Country debate on 9 February 1933.

Aftermath

The resolution "made a lot of noise in the world" and "caused reverberations around the world". It has been claimed by one Joseph Alsop that the resolution made a tremendous impression upon Adolf Hitler; he regularly cited it when his general staff protested against his military decisions.
Winston Churchill, later Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, denounced the resolution as "that abject, squalid, shameless avowal". In the knowledge that ten days beforehand Hitler had become chancellor of Germany, he continued:

US oath

On 12 April 1935, 60,000 college students signed a United States equivalent of the resolution, calling it the Oxford Oath, swearing never to take up arms on behalf of king or country. At Columbia University, 3,000 students took the Oath that day during a rally featuring Roger Baldwin, Reinhold Niebuhr and James Wechsler as speakers.

Disappearance

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