Antinuclear Weapon Movement

The nuclear arms race spawned a reaction known as the antinuclear weapons movement. One of the first such movements developed in Japan in 1954 in opposition to U.S. testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific Ocean. In 1955, more than one-third of Japan’s population signed a petition against nuclear weapons. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the antinuclear weapons movement expanded to other countries, particularly to the United States and Western Europe. On June 6, 1982, some one million people demonstrated in New York City against the creation, buildup, and possible use of nuclear weapons.