nuclear weapons
A More Hopeful Path: Working for Peace in a World at War
by John Whitehead The following is adapted from remarks given November 9th, 2024, at the quarterly peace vigil in Washington, DC, sponsored by the Consistent Life Network. We are here today to witness for peace and for the protection of human life. We are here today to oppose the greatest threat to peace and human…
“Oh, the Hateful A-Bomb!”: Survivors’ Stories from Hiroshima and Nagasaki
collected by John Whitehead August 6 marks the 79th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and August 9th the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki. Below are some testimonials from hibakusha [bombing survivors] about their experiences. These stories serve as a reminder of both the evil done in 1945 and the fate that may…
Apocalypse Imagined: The Urgent Message of Nuclear War: A Scenario
by John Whitehead Among the recent signs of renewed attention in the United States to the threat from nuclear weapons, perhaps the most important is the book Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen. Published earlier in 2024, the book was a New York Times best-seller for several weeks and the focus of a well-attended…
Are We Finally Waking Up? Signs of New Awareness of the Nuclear Threat
by John Whitehead Nuclear weapons have threatened humanity’s survival for almost 80 years. During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the nuclear threat received substantial attention and inspired significant anti-nuclear activism, such as the June 1982 rally against nuclear weapons in New York City that drew roughly 1 million people….
The Safety of Incredibly Dangerous Things
by Rachel MacNair A common method used to try to justify violence is to make comparisons to innocent-sounding things, saying that the violence being justified is actually safer than things that people don’t normally fear much. Here are three examples Nuclear Weapons and Radiation In my youth, when we were opposing nuclear weapons as…
Sleepwalking toward Nuclear War: The Lessons of the Able Archer Scare
by John Whitehead Since nuclear weapons were created, nations have repeatedly come close to nuclear war. The most famous episode was the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Another terrifying near miss occurred 40 years ago this November. In 1983, with extreme Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, a NATO military exercise…
“Never Again”: Taking Action against the Nuclear Threat
by John Whitehead The following is adapted from remarks given at the Vigil to End the Nuclear Danger, a peace witness outside the White House co-sponsored by the Consistent Life Network. We are here today to call for an end to the nuclear threat that hangs over humanity. We are here to remember the…
Hiroshima’s Children
by Sarah Terzo On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Two hundred forty-seven thousand people, over half the city’s population, were killed. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Contrary to what Americans are often told, the bombings may never have been necessary to…
Movie Review: Oppenheimer
by Rachel MacNair Oppenheimer is a biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.” According to its director’s custom, it has three different threads of stories that weave throughout. One tells the story of his early years and the development of the atomic bomb with care for historic accuracy, and the…
The Logic of Escalation: Nuclear Threats in Belarus and South Korea
by John Whitehead Twice this year, within the span of roughly a month, two powerful nations issued threats based on their nuclear weapons arsenals. The first was Russia, which is stationing nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus and training Belarusians in how to use them. The second was the United States, which is sending a nuclear-armed…