The nuclear freeze movement emerged in 1980, on both sides of the Atlantic, in response to America’s defense buildup, which began under the James Earl Carter, Jr., administration and accelerated under the Ronald W. Reagan administration. American peace activist Randall Forsberg first introduced the proposal of a nuclear freeze that encompassed further nuclear testing, weapons production, and missile deployment. She maintained that the two superpowers had achieved parity regarding nuclear capability. She further contended that any additional increase in nuclear capability by either nation would increase the chance of nuclear war. Forsberg’s proposal attracted peace activists in the United States and Europe. As the movement gained strength, a number of states passed “nuclear freeze” resolutions. In addition, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops endorsed a “nuclear freeze” in a pastoral letter on peace.
The proposal for a nuclear freeze gained little acceptance in Congress. In 1982 the House of Representatives rejected a resolution calling for an immediate freeze on U. S. and Soviet nuclear weapons. In the next term, however, the House passed a resolution that called for negotiations between the Unites States and the Soviet Union to lead to a nuclear freeze, but the Senate refused to support this resolution. During the presidential election year of 1984, peace activists mobilized through the “Freeze Voter ’84” campaign to endorse pro-freeze candidates. This activists’ campaign had little influence on the elections. Arms control negotiations in Reagan’s second term, as well as the eventual breakup of the Soviet Union, led the grassroots activist movement to decline. As a result, the nuclear freeze movement’s influence on defense policy or arms control negotiations remained minimal.
See also arms race; Catholic Bishops’ Letter.
Further reading: Douglas Waller, Congress and the Nuclear Freeze: An Inside Look at the Politics of a Mass Movement (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987).
—Leah Blakey
World History
