Congress and the Nuclear Freeze: An Inside Look at the Politics of a Mass Movement - Hardcover

Waller, Douglas C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0870235591 ISBN 13: 9780870235597

Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press, 1987

Synopsis

Early in 1982 a group of lawmakers introduced into both houses of the U.S. Congress a resolution calling on the United States and the Soviet Union to negotiate a mutual and verifiable halt to the nuclear arms race. It was a bold measure and one that sparked intense debate between members of Congress and the White House over the conduct of U.S. arms control policy. This book is an inside account of that legislative battle, told by a congressional aide who was in the thick of it.

About this title

About the Author:

Douglas Waller is a veteran magazine correspondent, author and lecturer. Formerly, he was a legislative assistant to Senator William Proxmire, specializing in arms control. He was also a legislative director for Congressman Edward J. Markey, the House sponsor of the Nuclear Freeze Resolution. He is coauthor with Markey of Nuclear Peril: The Politics of Proliferation.

Review:

Congress and the Nuclear Freeze is a detailed and dramatic account of the legislative struggle to enact the Nuclear Freeze Resolution. It is also the story of the unusual public campaign that launched the effort and brought it before Congress and the country. As a key congressional aide experienced in arms control and deeply involved in the battle, Douglas Waller is in a unique position to analyze the issues and recount the struggle, from the initial days of the grass-roots movement in community centers and church basements across the country to the final climactic debates in the Senate and House of Representatives... In these pages, [he] gives us a vivid and definitive account of this essential period in our recent history, on the issue that matters most to our future history.

(Senator Edward M. Kennedy)

How the Reagan administration's nuclear war-fighting plans frightened even its supporters--leading to the Freeze Campaign, the first American mass movement for nuclear arms control. Waller presents an insider's view of legislative maneuvering and partisan politics, illuminated by flasher of high drama. A tactical primer for future arms control legislation.

(Carl Sagan)

If we are ever to find a way to turn back the nuclear juggernaut, we must analyze vigorously no only what went right but also what went wrong with the nuclear freeze movement. This book helps us apply the lessons of the past to the promise of the future. Doug Waller has made an immense contribution to that effort and to the historic record. This is must reading for anyone who wants to know what really happened behind the scenes.

(Senator Mark O. Hatfield)

A fascinating inside look at the Congressional politics of the Freeze Resolution.

(Paul Warnke, former Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency)

A lively, informative, personal account of how the nuclear freeze movement pressed its case in Congress. Its strength flows from the author's participant observation, which leads to some important insights about how a grass-roots movement tries to make headway on Capitol Hill.

(Thomas E. Mann, Executive Director, American Political Science Association)

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0870235591
• ISBN 13: 9780870235597
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368