Anti-nuke women arrested at the White House: 1962
Three women demanding to see President John F. Kennedy about his decision to resume nuclear arms testing are escorted to a police vehicle March 16, 1962.
The women refused repeated requests to leave the White House grounds saying that police would have to arrest them if the President refused to see them.
From left to right: Marjorie Swann, 41, Norwich, Conn.; Frances Whitlen, 43, New York; and Hermens Evans, 55, Chicago.
Anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations had taken place in the country since the early 1950s, but were gaining steam in 1961.
Women’s Strike for Peace was formed in 1961 headed by a housewife, Dagmar Wilson, who lived in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The group sprang up overnight across the country and staged nationwide demonstrations November 1, 1961 in 50 cities. 1,500 marched in the District of Columbia. It was the largest women’s demonstration of the 20th Century.
The rise of Women's Strike for Peace marked to change in anti-nuclear sentiment from the fringes to the mainstream.
A student-sponsored anti-nuclear weapons demonstration drew 5,000 people to Washington, D.C. in February 1962, surpassing all expectations.
The Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 where the U.S. and the Soviet Union squared off over the placement of missiles in Cuba, spurred more demands to de-escalate.
In 1964 a partial test ban treaty was signed by the United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain—three of the four nuclear powers at that time. France has never signed the treaty. The treaty banned atmospheric testing but permitted underground testing.
Other treaties followed in the coming years to limit the type and number of nuclear weapons. However, President Donald Trump pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019. The treaty had been signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
This marked the first step backwards in nuclear arms control since the 1964 nuclear testing agreement was signed.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsjDjYsZp
The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection.
Anti-nuke women arrested at the White House: 1962
Three women demanding to see President John F. Kennedy about his decision to resume nuclear arms testing are escorted to a police vehicle March 16, 1962.
The women refused repeated requests to leave the White House grounds saying that police would have to arrest them if the President refused to see them.
From left to right: Marjorie Swann, 41, Norwich, Conn.; Frances Whitlen, 43, New York; and Hermens Evans, 55, Chicago.
Anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations had taken place in the country since the early 1950s, but were gaining steam in 1961.
Women’s Strike for Peace was formed in 1961 headed by a housewife, Dagmar Wilson, who lived in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
The group sprang up overnight across the country and staged nationwide demonstrations November 1, 1961 in 50 cities. 1,500 marched in the District of Columbia. It was the largest women’s demonstration of the 20th Century.
The rise of Women's Strike for Peace marked to change in anti-nuclear sentiment from the fringes to the mainstream.
A student-sponsored anti-nuclear weapons demonstration drew 5,000 people to Washington, D.C. in February 1962, surpassing all expectations.
The Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 where the U.S. and the Soviet Union squared off over the placement of missiles in Cuba, spurred more demands to de-escalate.
In 1964 a partial test ban treaty was signed by the United States, Soviet Union and Great Britain—three of the four nuclear powers at that time. France has never signed the treaty. The treaty banned atmospheric testing but permitted underground testing.
Other treaties followed in the coming years to limit the type and number of nuclear weapons. However, President Donald Trump pulled out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in 2019. The treaty had been signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
This marked the first step backwards in nuclear arms control since the 1964 nuclear testing agreement was signed.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsjDjYsZp
The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection.