We Don't Need Nukes

Purple text with black illustrations of a nuclear facility, a mushroom cloud and a missile on a yellow background

Though many believed the end of World War II would usher in a period of stability and peace, a new conflict between the United States and Soviet Union was brewing at the time. What resulted was a decades-long Cold War characterized by international proxy wars and a tense arms race. The competition for nuclear supremacy led to several close calls, including the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which led many Americans to question the safety of nuclear stockpiles. Protests were launched all around the nation that argued for nuclear disarmament. Some even pointed to the ethical dilemmas and environmental issues involved with the use of nuclear weapons, citing Hiroshima as a case in point. The largest anti-nuclear protest took place on June 12, 1982, in New York City, where more than one million people gathered at Central Park to denounce the arms race. Though the two superpowers eventually entered a period of reduced tension in the 1970s and agreed to thin out their stockpiles, both countries still retain relatively large amounts of nuclear weapons.