Jack Lawlor is a member of CAPA’s Foreign Policy Working Group and the Chicago Chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Within a few months after the atomic bomb attacks against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 31 year old war correspondent John Hersey went to Hiroshima, interviewed survivors, and wrote a series of stunning articles for The New Yorker we know today as his book, Hiroshima. The book does not treat this first use of atomic weapons as an abstraction; instead, it personalizes the nature of the resulting individual suffering to six survivors caused by the attack in ways left unexplored in the recent movie, “Oppenheimer”. For many years, the book Hiroshima became mandatory summer reading on some high school summer book lists. The book moved me as a high school freshman to question my complete pro-American bias and inquire about how to protect humanity and the earth.
The commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic attacks is more relevant than ever, because we have not learned all that we can from them. President Putin of Russia has been frequently threatening to use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine, a step which would lead to horrible consequences. He is already using hypersonic weaponry against Ukraine, another unprecedented escalation.
What can we as citizens do to protect ourselves, our descendants, the earth? We need to join hands together and make international discussion of this issue much more of a top priority.
I wish we could see an arc of progress in efforts to regulate nuclear arms. But the arc is going in the wrong direction:
1
For all practical purposes, there are no longer effective arms control treaties in effect between the US and Russia. They have expired or are expiring. The New START Treaty expires in five months, on February 25, 2026. Russia has suspended its participation but has not withdrawn from the treaty, which successfully achieved verifiable large reductions in the number of US and Russian nuclear weapons to about 3,000 each. If New START is not renewed, and if China is not involved, the US may feel compelled to exceed the New START limits due to China’s nuclear weapons buildup. Also, both the US and Russia have walked away from the 1987 INF Treaty, which sought to eliminate intermediate- range nuclear missiles.
2
There are now at least nine countries with nuclear weapons, stockpiling 13,000 of them.
3
There have been UN resolutions pledging member countries to forego first use of nuclear weapons. This is an admirable effort, but its legal effectiveness is questionable and the nine nations who possess nuclear weapons either haven’t signed or privately feel free to violate the treaty. The 1990 treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (the “NPT”) has limited the number of states possessing nuclear weapons, but this success may end soon if Iran and other countries proceed vigorously to obtain a bomb in the wake of the recent Israeli/US attack on Iran and in the wake of concerns about the reliability of America’s nuclear umbrella.
4
US peace and justice groups have been pushing hard for the US to forego first use of nuclear weapons, but the legislative resolutions stall in a toxically divided Congress pre-occupied with elections and culture wars.
5
Peace groups’ efforts have tried to regulate the US president’s authority to authorize a nuclear attack. Apart from verifying that the order to launch comes from the President, US protocols do not require discussion or review of the order to attack by any other US official. This is dangerous if autocratic or unstable individuals occupy the Oval Office. Senator Tim Kaine’s recent effort to regulate the President’s authority was recently defeated in a 53-47 vote.
6
As you can glean, a new nuclear arms race may begin imminently. The cost to refurbish the US Sentinel land-based missile system ALONE has escalated to 140.9 billion dollars. Plus, President Trump has just announced his interest in a new Golden Dome system akin to President Reagan’s Star Wars defense system, likely triggering a costly Anti-Ballistic Missile arms race.
What can we do?
I suggest that we don’t assume that the US public is very familiar with any of this, and begin a dialogue that uses plain language to demonstrate the need to avoid future Hiroshimas and Nagasakis. People can be encouraged to:
a.
learn more about the situation, using resources such as Nuclear Disarmament and Arms Control magazine;
b.
let’s work together to support pending House Resolution 317, the so-called “Back from
the Brink Resolution”, which calls for the US, Russia, China, and all other nuclear-armed states to (1) reduce their arsenals, (2) renounce first use of nuclear weapons and hair-trigger alert postures, (3) maintain a test ban, and (4) renew the New START Treaty; and
c.
above all, join with other people in your community through groups such as Chicago Area Peace Action. You’ll learn a lot from others and they will appreciate your insights and talents. Seasoned groups know how to work with elected officials and their staff members, elevating the effectiveness of your efforts enormously.
Let’s ponder all this with the curiosity of a young John Hersey and work together to prevent other Hiroshimas and Nagasakis.