Basil Dalack ’48, an 86-year-old Peddie alumnus, has formed a Peace Party to launch a bid for the United States Senate.

“Do you still sing ‘Steady Old Peddie’? ” was one of the first questions Dalack wanted to know from a current Peddie student.

Dalack has been a member of Veterans for Peace since 2004 as well as Pax Christi USA for his opposition to war and working for peace after having been conscripted into the Empire’s Korean War in 1951. Afterwards, he was hired as the editor of Oliver Drab Times in Seoul, Korea. He attended the Washington Square College of Arts and Science and the University of Miami School of Law.

Dalack’s experience at Peddie has shaped him into the person he is today. He remembers his English teacher, Mr. Overholser, who had a great impact on him during his career at Peddie. Dalack says that one of the most valuable things he learned at Peddie was the 5 W’s: who, what, when, where and why. He credits this knowledge for the success of his application process for an editor of Oliver Drab Times.

He says that an unforgettable memory of Peddie that he retains until this day was Vespers. When he was a student, he was not aware of the spiritual benefit of the event. He did not identify as a believer, but he did his best to practice attitude and conscious effort. When Peddie used to be a Baptist school, students were required to attend church every Sunday. He reminisces singing the subliminal hymns after supper, one in particular called “Eternal King.” As he explained the meaning of a hymn, he shared the ideas of Immanuel Kant and universalization, to “only engage in behavior that [you] would have woken any other to engage in.”

Dalack is currently proposing to form a Peace Party, running for the Republican Peace Candidate for the Senate in Florida as a “Peace Republican, a la Eisenhower.”

Dalack’s campaign emphasizes simplicity and beauty, and he is taking action to “stop the killing.”

“Do the American people want to continue [the killing] or stop the empire and revert to being a republic?” Dalack asks.