When Ronald Reagan took over as president, he suspended all negotiations with the Soviet Union over arms control and began to build an arsenal of nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union responded in kind. Before long, we were in a full blown nuclear arms race. 
The arms race was the greatest existential threat our planet had ever faced. The US and USSR had enough atomic weapons to destroy the world a hundred times over.
People were frightened. But across the country, people began to say enough is enough. We began to organize.
People were frightened. But across the country, people began to say enough is enough. We began to organize.
The Nuclear Freeze campaign was the idea of a brilliant woman named Randall Forsberg. It called for a halt on the production, deployment, and testing of nuclear weapons in the United States and the Soviet Union so we could prevent senseless nuclear catastrophe.
In March of 1982, Randy and I partnered to introduce the Nuclear Freeze Resolution in the House of Representatives. By June, there was enough momentum around the nuclear freeze that one million people showed up in Central Park to protest Reagan’s nuclear buildup.
On June 12, 1982—the same day as the UN Special Session on Disarmament—1 million people stood with us to demand a nuclear freeze. That rally is still the largest peace protest in the history of the United States. The message we sent that day was clear: no more nukes.
Ronald Reagan fought us. The Pentagon fought us. The arms manufacturers fought us. Our Nuclear Freeze Resolution was narrowly defeated in the House. But the public rallied around this call for bold and urgent action.
By the fall of 1982, nuclear freeze referenda appeared on the ballot in 10 states and 37 cities and counties across the country. In all but 1 of the states and 3 of the localities, voters delivered a resounding victory for nuclear freeze.
On May 4, 1983, the Nuclear Freeze Resolution passed the House with broad bipartisan support. By 1984 it was a part of the Democratic Presidential Party Platform.
It changed the whole tenor of negotiations between the United States and the USSR. It drove Ronald Reagan back to the negotiating table.
The Nuclear Freeze Movement began the end of the arms race. It was regular people concerned about their communities, their children, the future of our country and our planet who rose up, organized, demanded change, and won.
