“It Is a Day of Judgment”: The Peacemakers, Religion, and Radicalism in Cold War America

Abstract

This article argues that Christian beliefs and concerns shaped the political culture of anti-nuclear activism in the early years of the Cold War. It focuses in particular on the origins of the Peacemakers, a group founded in 1948 by a mostly Protestant group of radical pacifists to oppose conscription and nuclear proliferation. Like others who came of age in the interwar years, the Peacemakers questioned the Enlightenment tradition, with its emphasis on reason and optimism about human progress, and believed that liberal Protestantism had accommodated itself too easily to the values of modern, secular society. But rather than adopt the “realist” framework of their contemporaries, who gave the United States critical support in its Cold War with the Soviet Union, radicals developed a politics of resistance rooted in a Christian framework in which repentance for dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the first step toward personal and national redemption. Although they had scant influence on American policymakers or the public in the early years of the Cold War, widespread opposition to nuclear testing and U.S. foreign policy in the late 1950s and 1960s launched them into leadership roles in campaigns for nuclear disarmament and peace.

Peace as a Minor, Grounded Utopia: On Prefigurative and Testimonial Pacifism

“…Facing fierce opposition from the state and opprobrium from society, these groups sought to turn themselves into catalysts of transformation. Given the widespread patriotism in the immediate aftermath of World War II and the concomitant attrition of pacifist sentiments, their strategy involved the creation of small-scale cells that internally adhered to the kind of peace and democracy they wished to spread across society (Danielson 2015).…”

“…Like Gandhi, the radical pacifists maintained that nonviolence was ultimately more efficacious in prompting social transformation than violent resistance. Associating the pacifist calling with the underground activities of early Christians, A. J. Muste, a Dutch-born leader of the Peacemakers and vehement critic of the emerging doctrine of Cold War realpolitik (Danielson 2006), assessed the situation in rather bleak terms: "It seems altogether likely that building a radical pacifist movement of any size will be a tougher and slower job in the U.S. than anywhere else. .…”

“…They bravely stood up against a political establishment and a societal mainstream that identified peace with cowardly appeasement; they experimented with ways of cooperating that intended to maximize inclusion and horizontality; they were fearless in their use of nonviolent forms of protest. Through their anticipation of a peaceful future, these groups performed a critical function in the postwar era (Danielson 2008). Later, they would have substantial impact on the civil rights agenda and especially on Martin Luther King Jr. 10 Yet, the radical pacifists were also working through precisely those contradictions that permeated the wider public in the United States after World War II (and even today).…”