Brad Lyttle: A Pioneer Anti-Nuclear Resister, Still Going Strong - Rosalie Riegle

Brad Lyttle is a professional peacemaker. He was 18 on August 6, 1945 when he heard that the US had bombed Hiroshima, and he said to himself, “The human race either has to end war or war is going to end the human race.” 

Acting on that belief, he has worked his entire adult life as a professional anti-war organizer. Whether coordinating demonstrations against Polaris nuclear submarines in Groton, Connecticut, organizing the California to Moscow peace walk, or working against the Vietnam War in Chicago, Brad has been contributing planning and logistical skills to the peace movement since completing his first prison term in 1955—served for refusing alternative service during the Korean War.

Annals of Nuclear Resistance

Peace and Planet Mobilization April 26, 2015

Photo courtesy of Libero Della Piana - used by permission

From the Ban the Bomb movement to peace and planet summer, for seven decades people have resisted the menace of nuclear weapons that overshadow life on planet Earth.

This blog is dedicated to stories of protest and resistance, calls for nuclear disarmament, remembering those who have made and do make significant contributions to peace.

These are extraordinary stories. It has been an honor and privilege to recruit the material for the blog as a United for Peace and Justice project for Nuclear-Free Future Month and Peace and Planet Summer.

Bird-dogging Candidates in NH in 2015 - Judy Elliott

I am a bird dog in the NH Primary. My mode of anti-nuclear resistance is to question as many presidential candidates as possible about US nuclear weapons policy.

I try to ask them all approximately the same question:

"The United States already has thousands of nuclear weapons in its active military stockpiles, many of them on hair-trigger alert. And yet there is a plan, which the Administration apparently buys into, for a massive rebuilding of our nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles. This includes a new fleet of submarines, heavy bombers, cruise missiles, plus redesigned warheads. It’ll cost a trillion dollars and create profits for Pentagon contractors. Do you support this plan?"

So far, I've asked the question of eight candidates, both Republican and Democratic. (Interestingly, George HW Bush and George W. Bush achieved bigger cuts in nuclear weapons than either Clinton or Obama.)

Most of them don't know what I'm referring to, but at least the questions educate the audience and the candidates a bit. A few of the candidates are at least slightly acquainted with the plan.

I've logged all the encounters on my blog https://gunsvsbutterflies.wordpress.com/.

My efforts are part of AFSC's Governing Under the Influence project, where you can see reports on from all the bird dogs at gui.afsc.org .

Judy Elliott, New Hampshire