In 1963, for the eighteenth anniversary of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, a Chicago resident had an idea. Mrs. Donald Diddams wrote in the Chicago Tribune “On this anniversary date every American should spend five minutes writing to his senators and to President Kennedy backing the nuclear test ban agreement, which must be ratified by the United States Senate.”
The 1963 Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, between the U.S., U.K. and Soviet Union, banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere, underwater and outer space. The treaty was actually signed on August 5, the day before the Hiroshima anniversary.
The U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9). Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed or wounded by the blasts and in the aftermath. The atomic bombs brought an end to World War II. But they also gave rise to the Cold War nuclear arms race.
The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty offered a ray of hope upon the 1963 Hiroshima anniversary. But the treaty still needed to be approved by the U.S. Senate.
The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty had overwhelming public support and that of both President Kennedy and former President Eisenhower. The Limited Test Ban Treaty ultimately passed in the Senate that fall. Other nations joined the treaty as well.
Think how important the Limited Test Ban Treaty was less than one year after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which placed the U.S. and Soviets on the brink of nuclear war.
Now on this 2024 anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, we again need hope and action on nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear arms control treaties are stalled. In fact, the U.S., Russia and China are all modernizing their nuclear arsenals. There are over 12,000 nuclear weapons still in the world, almost ninety percent of them held by the U.S. and Russia.
With the war in Ukraine and the threat of a new arms race, the nuclear danger is increasing.
There are nine countries that possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. We can’t have anymore and we certainly can’t have any of these nations testing nukes.
On this year’s Hiroshima anniversary citizens could write to their representatives in Congress like they did in 1963. You could tell the President and Congress to pursue nuclear arms reductions with Russia and China. The Senate should ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which goes one step beyond the 1963 limited treaty and bans all nuclear testing including underground blasts.
For if the United States could convince China and Russia to also ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it can be an opening to nuclear disarmament talks. We need to do something to jumpstart nuclear disarmament again.
The U.S., China and Russia are headed toward a nuke arms race that none of them can afford. It would be expensive and dangerous to build up the nuclear arsenals.
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The nuclear powers have a shared interest in not wasting resources on nuclear arsenals. The benefit of new arms control treaties would be to save money in the long run, and also encourage diplomacy to resolve disputes.
The key is for the public to be engaged and advocate for nuclear disarmament. The activist group Back from the Brink is encouraging citizens to write their representatives on the anniversary of Hiroshima. You can make your voice heard in the struggle for world peace.
William Lambers is the author of Nuclear Weapons and The Road to Peace. His writings have been published by the NY Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Cleveland Plain Dealer, History News Network and many other outlets.
