Abstract

From the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, Cold War relations deteriorated sharply. The two superpowers became confrontational on many fronts, including a mutual boycott of the Olympics, and the nuclear arms race suddenly ramped up. The rise of international tensions not only signaled a crisis of détente, but it also revamped old fears of nuclear holocaust. ¹ Public anxiety swept large portions of western societies and, in response, people turned to their local communities and relied on grassroots organizing as a way to express their uneasiness. ² In the United States, the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign (NWFC, or simply the Freeze) epitomized this widespread discontent. In just a few years, the Freeze gathered broad popular support and stimulated a vibrant political debate. More interestingly, the Freeze was also part of a transnational wave of anti-nuclear protests that shook the Western hemisphere and challenged militarism, rearmament, nuclear deterrence, and the seemingly unstoppable institutionalization of violence. ³