Many thanks to Arnie Alpert – coordinator of the N.H. American Friends Service Committee – for his recent report on New Hampshire’s call for action to reduce the nuclear threat (Sunday Monitor Forum, Mar. 24). Not only N.H.’s Legislature but many communities as well have passed resolutions for the United States to embrace a “no first use” nuclear policy and oppose development of new “low yield” weapons and, more generally, the dangerous revival of the nuclear arms race.
Many towns, such as Durham, Portsmouth and Warner, have approved such resolutions in the last few months.
Alpert makes clear just what the threat is and why these local movements are important in preventing global catastrophe. The movements – organized with the help of N.H. Peace Action, AFSC, Union of Concerned Scientists and others – are going on in many states but are especially important in New Hampshire as the state with the nation’s first presidential primary.
But currently few citizens, including presidential candidates, have an understanding of this threat (few recall Cold War nightmares); in the interests of a nuke-aware electorate, we must be prepared to press the candidates on their willingness to slow the dangerous and unaffordable nuclear “modernization” and lead the way to a nuclear-free world per our longstanding treaty obligations. We must get and stay informed on this issue.
I urge all in preparation for this year-long presidential campaign to contact N.H. Peace Action or the AFSC (both in Concord) for info on the rising nuclear threat and what a candidate must be willing to do to earn your vote.
RAY PERKINS Jr.
Concord