Research Guides: Nuclear Freeze Movement: Home

Introduction

Statement on this collection:

Includes the business records of the Thurston County Nuclear Freeze Campaign, information gathered by members, newspapers, periodicals, comics, bibliographies of news clippings and resources sent out by the national Nuclear Freeze Campaign, materials and props used in local marches, and more.

This guide was prepared in conjunction with the Ain't It Great to Be Alive: The Nuclear Freeze Movement in Thurston County and Beyond exhibit in the library. On display Oct. 16 - Dec. 31, 2015.

For more information about the collection, please contact Archives or Andrea Heisel.

A Brief History

WORLD PEACE is a Local Issue opens with these words: "In a democracy, the most important office is that of the private citizen." Justice Louis Brandeis. The film documents how local efforts can impact national issues. The story begins in 1983 showing actions, worldwide, toward reining in escalation of the nuclear arms race. In a suburban community, 300 people show up, petitioning their City Council to pass a Nuclear Freeze. Their impassioned pleas overcome Council resistance, resulting in a Freeze Resolution! Highlights include statements from Paul Newman, Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator Ed Markey, who introduced the original Freeze Resolution to Congress. Today, thirty years later, with the nuclear issue still relevant, we watch Markey re-introduce similar legislation: the SANE Act (Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures).

Run time 16 Minutes
Producer Dorothy Fadiman
Audio/Visual sound, color
Language English
Contact Information Concentric Media www.concentric.org info@concentric.org

Credits

Re-edited, re-mastered version (2014):
 Director/Producer: Dorothy Fadiman 
Music: Laurence Rosenthal 
Narrator: Peter Coyote 
Editors: Owen Tomlins and Marlo McKenzie

Original version (1983) :
Director: Dorothy Fadiman 
Assistant Producer: Phyllis Cole 
Executive Producer: Frank Spencer 
Music: Alex de Grassi 
Project Coordinator: Victoria Nichols

Suggested resources available @ Evergreen

Thermonuclear Monarchy by Elaine Scarry
Call Number: Open Reserves Shelf
In this incisive, masterfully argued new book, award-winning social theorist Elaine Scarry demonstrates that the power of one leader to obliterate millions of people with a nuclear weapon--a possibility that remains very real even in the wake of the Cold War--deeply violates our constitutional rights, undermines the social contract, and is fundamentally at odds with the deliberative principles of democracy. According to the Constitution, the decision to go to war requires rigorous testing by both Congress and the citizenry; when a leader can single-handedly decide to deploy a nuclear weapon, we live in a state of "thermonuclear monarchy," not democracy. The danger of nuclear weapons comes from potential accidents or acquisition by terrorists, hackers, or rogue countries. But the gravest danger comes from the mistaken idea that there exists some case compatible with legitimate governance.
Coalitions and Political Movements by Thomas R. Rochon; David S. Meyer
Call Number: JX1974.7.N81534 1997
The Nuclear Freeze Campaign by J. Michael Hogan
Call Number: JX1974.7.H59 1994
In the first in-depth, critical analysis of the nuclear freeze campaign, J. Michael Hogan examines the rhetorical strategies of freeze activists in political speeches, mass-market paperbacks, direct-mail, documentaries, and even public school curricula. Through a series of case studies Hogan examines the reasons for the campaign's success as a media phenomenon, while also accounting for its failure as a policy initiative.
Peace or Atomic War by Albert Schweitzer
Call Number: JX1974.7.S3
The Renunciation of Nuclear Tests - The Danger of an Atomic War - Negotiations at the Highest Level
Has Man a Future? by Bertrand Russell
Call Number: JX1974.7.R8 1984
From the publisher: Nobody today writes a clearer, sharper prose; nobody with more conviction on this subject.... This primer for peace should be a basic addition to every library.

Other books, ebooks, and materials available via the Evergreen Library Search:

By subject heading:

Ain't it great to be alive!

dove and bomb

Additional Archives Across the Country

Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign - The State Historical Society of Missouri.
Randy Kehler, former director of the National Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, donated
the group's records to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of
Missouri-St. Louis on May 15, 1985.
Whatcom County Nuclear Arms Freeze records, 1981-1986
Whatcom County Nuclear Arms Freeze records document the activities of this local branch of the national anti-nuclear proliferation organization that was active in the early to mid 1980s. Material includes newsletters, newspaper clippings, information regarding the pairing relationship with Bellingham's sister city, Nakhodka USSR, as well as informational articles that pertain to nuclear weapons.
Atomic West (Anti-Nuclear Movement) List
Following the Vietnam War, Colorado pacifists embraced the anti-nuclear movement of the 1970s and 1980s. The Archives holds the papers of individual activists such as Roy Young, Chet Tchozewski, Mary Hey and Kathy Partridge, who helped found the Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center as well as other allied efforts. The papers of the American Friends Service Committee/Colorado Peace Network and the American Friends Service Committee/Rocky Flats Project and the Colorado Freeze Voter demonstrate the degree to which the anti-nuclear crusade was first and foremost a pacifist struggle.
From the National Security Archives: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Policy: A Video History, 1945-2004
One of the most distinctive productions of the Department of Energy, "U.S. Strategic Nuclear Policy," is a four-part nearly four-hour long oral history/video documentary. Completed in 2005 by Sandia under the direction of staffer Dan Curry (scriptwriter and interviewer), this is an engrossing piece of work that that will be a significant resource for historians, social scientists, students, and the interested public. Starting with World War II and the atomic bombing of Japan, this policy-oriented documentary takes the story of U.S. nuclear policy, with a focus on the history of nuclear deterrence through the course of the Cold War, and then from the early post-Cold War period to the aftermath of 9/11.
The Nuclear Vault - Resources from the National Security Archive's Nuclear Documentation Project
The "Nuclear Vault" includes reading lists and other bibliographic information on key documents and significant contributions to the nuclear history and policy literature. The "Vault" will also provide links to valuable Web sites in the field, as well as occasional compilations of photos. The National Security Archive hopes that this material will help interested students and others to better their understanding of the grave problems raised by the nuclear age and its history.

Nuclear Freeze Movement: Home

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