Scope and Contents

The collection consists of approximately three linear feet of correspondence, documents, newspaper clippings, periodicals, audio recordings, and videos donated to the archive by Louise Mulligan. The materials document Mrs. Mulligan’s experiences as the wife of POW James A. Mulligan who was shot down on March 20, 1966 and released February 12, 1973. The collection includes materials relating to Mrs. Mulligan’s advocacy work for POW/MIA issues with the National League of Families. During this work, she corresponded with government and military officials, members of the press, and others requesting support for various pieces of legislation, National League of Families events, and efforts to get the POW’s released and MIA’s accounted for from the Vietnam War. There is also correspondence with the Navy concerning her husband’s status, and services available to Mrs. Mulligan and her children as the dependent of a POW.

The collection also includes numerous magazines and newspaper clippings featuring stories about the POW’s thoroughout the war to include their homecoming. The materials date predominately from 1966 through 1975.

Biographical / Historical

Louise Mulligan was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1929. She and her family were stationed in Jacksonville, Florida when on March 20, 1966, her husband James A. Mulligan, a Navy pilot, was shot down and became a POW. Louise Mulligan and her six sons later moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. During this time, Louise Mulligan worked with Sybil Stockdale, prior to the founding of the National League, in an effort to organize the POW/MIA wives. Stockdale worked on the West Coast while Mulligan worked on the East Coast. The two women did lots of letter writing and organized POW/MIA wives to give speeches to any group that would listen to them. Together, they educated the American population about the POW/MIA issue. Mulligan met with President Nixon at the White House with a small group of POW/MIA wives on December 12, 1969. She spoke at the first Freedom Rally sponsored by Charles Moser and held in Constitution Hall in Washington, DC on February 21, 1970. On May 1, 1970, Mulligan spoke at a May Day rally sponsored by Senator Bob Dole at Constitution Hall.

Following James Mulligan's release on February 12, 1973 and the end of the Vietnam War, Louise Mulligan helped her husband recuperate and reunite with his family.

Series

• Periodicals with POW/MIA related articles
• Oversize periodicals with POW/MIA related articles