nuclear weapons
Orphans of Hiroshima
by Sarah Terzo On August 6, 1945, the United States military dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This one of a series on Hiroshima orphans. The rest of the series can be found on my Substack. The stories in this article are from Dr. Arata Osada’s Children of Hiroshima, which was published in Japan…
Advocating for Peace and Recognition: The Overlooked Korean Victims of the Atomic Bombings
by John Whitehead The United States’ atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are among the most infamous acts of violence in history. The bombings of Japan have been a subject of remembrance, analysis, and debate for over 80 years. Nevertheless, even such well-known events have aspects that many people remain unaware of. One aspect of…
A Chance for Humanity to Survive: The Urgent Message of ‘An Ordinary Insanity’
by John Whitehead Daniel Ellsberg was a consultant to the US Defense Department in the 1960s. His responsibilities included, as he described it, “the design of nuclear war plans.” The US nuclear war plan, which Ellsberg was involved in updating, called for the United States to initiate a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union and…
Changing our Thinking & Preventing Another World War
by John Whitehead The Consistent Life Network held its most recent vigil against the threat from nuclear weapons on May 16th. In the past, the vigil has been held outside the White House. However, the area around the White House is currently closed off to the public, so we had to gather elsewhere in Washington,…
A Tragedy for the World: The End of the New START Treaty and What Comes Next
A Tragedy for the World: The End of the New START Treaty and What Comes Next by John Whitehead The New START Treaty, an important nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia, expired on February 5th, 2026. Although the Russian government offered to maintain the treaty’s limits on nuclear weapons for at…
Prevent a New Nuclear Arms Race: Replace the New START Treaty
by John Whitehead The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) is the last significant nuclear arms control agreement that is still in effect between the United States and Russia. New START will expire in a matter of months, on February 5, 2026. Once New START is gone, the door would be open for the…
Mourning the Dead and Protecting the Living: Remarks from the August 9th Peace Vigil
Our quarterly peace vigil against nuclear weapons fell on August 9th, the 80th anniversary of the US bombing of Nagasaki. The vigil was an occasion both to mourn all those killed by the nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and to call for action against the threat posed by nuclear weapons today. Below is…
Reasons to Fear, Reasons to Hope: The Nuclear Threat after 80 Years
by John Whitehead The nuclear threat is now 80 years old. Nuclear weapons became a reality with the first successful test of a nuclear weapon, the Trinity test, in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. These weapons’ ability to destroy human lives and societies was demonstrated with horrific clarity a few weeks later when two…
Persuading People to Act against the Nuclear Threat: Some Findings and Recommendations
by John Whitehead A perennial question for activists is “How do you get people to join you?” Persuading people to accept your views on an issue and then to act on these views is a major challenge. Addressing this challenge, specifically regarding activism against the threat of nuclear weapons, is the subject of the recent…
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…