Remember Hiroshima/Nagasaki – Disarmament Now

Eighty-one years ago, on August 6, 1945, the US destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima with an atomic bomb, unleashing a degree of wartime horror never seen before. Three days later, a second bomb devastated Nagasaki. In the ensuing years, the US built more and more weapons, and engaged in a spiraling arms race with the Soviet Union.

Since then, seven more countries have joined the elite nuclear club. But through determined activism and a few enlightened leaders, the risk of a nuclear war was reduced via treaties and nuclear weapons reduction. Today, however, many treaties have been allowed to expire, nations are expanding their nuclear arsenals and new nations seek nuclear armaments. The US is renewing its nuclear program (to the tune of about $100 billion/year) and threatens to start nuclear testing again. Meanwhile, nuclear tensions are dangerously high in Iran, Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere. 

Nuclear hypocrisy appears in many forms: that deterrence keeps us safe and prevents conventional conflicts; that nuclear power is “the peaceful atom”; that nuclear power will save us from climate disaster. And now, we bomb Iran and threaten them with nuclear attack because Trump says that they want to develop nuclear weapons. These are imperialistic claims that profit the billionaires, but even they won’t benefit from the destruction of our planet.

Deterrence is taught as national policy as if it were an obvious truth. Yet the idea that having weapons prevents their use is illogical. Deterrence is not defensive: it requires a plan to annihilate adversaries (Mutually Assured Destruction). It assumes no accidents or errors whether human or technical, despite many false alarms that could have been fatal, the most recent being 2018 when Hawaii was sent an alert that an attack was coming. As we see in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran currently, nuclear weapons don’t deter conventional attacks. And the most chilling fact of all: deterrence requires leaders able to be rational under extreme stress. Thus, nuclear weapons are extremely dangerous. According to research by Harvard’s Belfer Center, “claims that deterrence averts conflict rest on reading nonevents as success. That framing downplays close calls and accidents, which suggest that humanity has often avoided nuclear catastrophe more by luck than design.” 

The “Peaceful Atom”
In 1953, President Eisenhower promoted the “Peaceful Atom,” lauding the use of nuclear power. The inter-relationship of nuclear power and weapons was known, but not mentioned in his famous speech. The Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy in 1946 warned that “the development of atomic energy for peaceful purposes and the development of atomic energy for bombs are in much of their course interchangeable and interdependent.”

For many years nuclear power has operated as a trojan horse for nuclear weapons. Several of the countries that obtained nuclear weapons since the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1972, acquired them through nuclear power programs. Iran, India and North Korea are clear examples. The subterfuge continues: In July 2026, Trump made a nuclear deal with the Saudis, which Beyond Nuclear calls “a covert means to hand that country the materials, technology and know-how to develop the nuclear bomb” (in addition to a means to enrich 47 and his family). The 1960s activist cry should be heeded today: “The Peaceful Atom is a Bomb!”

What can we do?
Participate in local Hiroshima/Nagasaki commemorations and learn about ongoing organizing in your area. Work for the Five Back from the Brink demands to reduce the risk of nuclear war through education, advocacy and lobbying.

Back from the Brink calls on the United States to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war through these five policy solutions:

• Pursue global elimination of nuclear weapons through a verifiable agreement among nuclear-armed states to eliminate their nuclear arsenals

• Renounce the option of using nuclear weapons first

• End the sole, unchecked authority of any president to launch a nuclear attack

• Take U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert

• Cancel the plan to replace the entire U.S. arsenal with enhanced weapons

These plans are outlined in Congressional resolutions — H. Res. 317 in the U.S. House and S. Res. 323 in the U.S. Senate. Learn more about supporting our resolutions. Here in Syracuse, NY, we recently had a success in convincing Rep. John Mannion to co-sponsor H. Res. 317.

We must again raise our voices to say Nuclear Abolition Now. Each voice matters!

Diane Swords
Diane is a longtime anti-nuke organizer with the Syracuse Peace Council.

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