Rally mourns future bomb damage
November 14, 1961
By Harriet Forman
Rain soaked and cold, 100 persons gathered on the steps of the Historical Society Library in a protest demonstration against nuclear testing “by any nation” at 12:30 p.m. on Monday.
Sympathetic attendants at the rally wore black arm-bands in mourning for “the stillborn and maimed” who will result from nuclear testing. The demonstration was co-sponsered by the University Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) and the Student Peace Center.
Dick Roberts, the first speaker, attributed Russia with being first in the field of fall-out production, “a dubious honor.” He went on to say that it isn’t necessary for the United States to begin nuclear testing because as early as March, 1954, they had the capability of exploding a 15 mega-ton bomb. An explanation of a petition to President Kennedy to be circulated later, called disarmament “our only hope for world peace.” When asked about the effectiveness of such a petition, Roberts replied that he thought it would be good since similar petitions and similar demonstrations have taken place throughout the country this past week.
“If it is better to have 40 million dead than 80 million dead, then Civil Defense is effective,” charged Don Bluestone, chairman of Wisconsin SANE, pointing out the ridiculousness of fall-out shelters. “Every citizen must be actively concerned with the problem of peace... We must not and shall not compromise with madness!” he continued.
Francis Hole, Professor of Soils and Agriculture, introduced a three minute period of silence, in which the body “should listen beyond the physical ear..., let any interruptions stimulate an inner search for peace..., and lay aside fear, anger, arrogance, and greed and become soldiers of non-violence.”
The silence was broken by a small but noisy group of dissenters, who were later invited to speak before the group, rather than behind it.
Only one representative was persuaded to step forth, and he drew an analogy between the disarmament group and the D.A.R. before the Second World War. “How the Hell can you trust them (Russians) after some of the things they’ve done before... Better to be mutated than communist...”
At the end of his speech, which was dotted with profanity throughout, the crowd moved beneath the arches of the Historical Society to sign the dampened petitions, then broke into informal groups to discuss further the probabilities and possibilities of nuclear war.
