The Birth of the Antibomb Campaign

Abstract

This study originated in the author's concern, first aroused over three decades ago during his college years, as to the consequences of the atomic arms race for the fate of mankind. Among his previous works in the area of peace history is a valuable monograph on the American peace movement from the 1930s to the 1980s (Rebels against War: The American Peace Movement, 1933-1983, 1984). The present book, however, is much wider in scope, since Wittner's goal is now, in a series of volumes, to give a concise account of the development of the world nuclear disarmament movement-from the launching by the United States of the first atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II to the present-and, in addition, to investigate the reasons why this movement, in its various phases, proved unsuccessful in freeing the world from the danger of nuclear annihilation. Some readers, he notes, may think it an odd time to examine the struggle against the Bomb (p. ix). Yet, as he points out correctly, such a study is not of purely historical interest but retains its contemporary relevance. For, although the nuclear menace has been contained in important ways, it remains alive and (p. xi). The question still faces humanity: world or none? Because of the leading role played by the United States in world politics after 1945, the activities of the American antinuclear movement and the nuclear policies of successive U.S. administrations figure prominently in the story unfolded by Wittner. But he has endeavored also to provide adequate coverage of the nuclear disarmament movements emerging in other parts of the world. He admits indeed that this proved a more difficult task for one person, with limited language skills and little funding, than he had first envisaged (p. xii). His narrative shows that he has been successful nevertheless in overcoming at least the major obstacles to producing a global history of the movement against nuclear weapons as far as 1953, at which date the present volume ends. His twenty-five page bibliography, as well as the