The Freeze Campaign in the United States and the Bishops’ Letter

Abstract

The peace movement in the United States is a fragmented one, largely based on a few long-standing organisations such as the War Resisters League, the American Friends and the Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE), all pressing for different aims. These groups, however, have never attracted widespread national sympathy. The account in Chapter 7 shows that, although the international front organisations were actively involved in the protest movement against the Vietnam War, they had little success in promoting their disarmament and anti-nuclear campaigns in the United States. The vast majority of American citizens, who still believe in the United States role as the champion of democratic principles, support the policy of nuclear deterrence as the means of preserving peace. This has been the policy of successive Administrations since the announcement of the ‘Truman Doctrine’ in March 1947.* There is no significant or coordinated unilateralist opposition to it. There is however a vast range of institutes and organisations throughout the country engaged in the serious study of disarmament problems. Many of them are critical of established defence and arms control policies and aim to promote new initiatives with a view to achieving a genuine breakthrough in negotiations.