11.01.2011

Wednesday, November 1, 1961: Women Strike for Peace

Thousands of women throughout the United States demonstrate in protest against nuclear weapons. The rallies were organized by Women Strike for Peace, founded by Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson. WSP's guiding statement, adopted in 1962:

"We are women of all races, creeds and political persuasions. We are dedicated to the purpose of complete and general disarmament. We demand that nuclear tests be banned forever, that the arms race end and the world abolish all weapons of destruction under United Nations safeguards. We cherish the right and accept the responsibility to act to influence the course of goverment for peace. ... We join with women throughout the world to challenge the right of any nation or group of nations to hold the power of life and death over the world."

* Official website: @
* "Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s" (book by Amy Swerdlow): @
* "Peace as a Women's Issue: A History of the U.S. Movement for World Peace and Women's Rights" (book by Harriet Hyman Alonso): @
* Video footage: @
* "U.S. Women Parade in Bid to End Arms Race" (The Age newspaper, Melbourne, Australia, November 3, 1961): @
* "Jackie and Nina Plead for Peace" (responses from Jacqueline Kennedy and Nina Khrushchev; Miami News, November 15, 1961): @
* Slideshow of 1962 protest at Nevada Test Site: @

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