A New Vision of Security: Remembering Randall Forsberg

The field of weapons research and arms control policy has long been a bastion of male dominance. For a woman not only to enter the field but become a prominent and highly respected member within it is no small achievement. And, for any member of this highly academic and, some would say, stultifyingly arcane field to try to integrate the "academy" with the messy, politically charged world of citizen activism was, and by and large still is, unheard of. Aided by a brilliant mind, an ample supply of stubborn determination, and a passion for creating a more just and peaceful world, Randall Forsberg did both.

"Randy," as everyone called her, died of cancer in New York City on October 19th at the age of 64. I was fortunate enough to have one last conversation with her, by phone, a week before her death. Her voice was quieter and her speech a bit slower than usual, but she seemed strikingly at peace, with herself and the world.

Randy said she was both grateful and relieved that the Brookline-based Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies (IDDS) which she had founded in 1980 now has an ongoing institutional home at the City College of New York where two years ago she was offered a chaired professorship in political science. She also said she continued to feel proud of what all of us had accomplished with the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign of the 1980s, of which she was the principal initiator, mentor, and spokesperson. She said "the Freeze" had been the highlight of her life.

I first met Randy Forsberg in early 1980 when I began attending a series of meetings she hosted across the street from the United Nations headquarters in New York. She and her co-workers at IDDS, the think-tank she had started in Brookline, MA, had brought together representatives from the American Friends Service Committee, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Clergy and Laity Concerned, Mobilization for Survival, and other peace and religious groups to discuss ways of -forging a new, revitalized disarmament movement.

A Call to Halt the Arms Race

As an arms control expert immersed in the work, and often the company, of other such experts, it was to her great credit that she understood early on that any real progress in slowing and stopping the arms race would come not from experts but from an engaged citizenry. She further understood that in order for ordinary citizens to be -mobilized, they needed to be presented with a concise, straightforward, comprehensive, and, above all, compelling proposal that was immediately comprehensible to non-experts. Thus, in 1980, she penned "A Call to Halt the Nuclear Arms Race," a document which rapidly became the touchstone for the nascent Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign.

In chilling terms, the "Call" laid out the growing risks created by the escalating US-USSR nuclear arms race and argued persuasively for a "mutual, verifiable halt to the testing, production, and deployment" of all US and Soviet nuclear weapons and their delivery systems - in short, a "freeze" on the arms race. This was characterized as an essential first step that would allow deep -reductions in the nuclear arsenals of both sides and, eventually, the abolition of all such weapons. In Randy's own far-sighted mind, it could also one day lead to the abolition of all national military forces.

With newly elected President Reagan repeatedly threatening to use nuclear weapons against the Soviet "Evil Empire," the "Call" caught on like wildfire among peace, religious, labor, and community groups all over the country. And Randy, with her warmth, poise, and dignified self-assurance, proved to be its most eloquent and effective advocate, whether on national television or speaking to local Freeze audiences.

The Activist's Peace Researcher

Her ability to translate often complex, highly technical, defense-related issues into ordinary terms was especially impressive. But equally impressive were her insights about the larger, less tangible issues. For example, in a brilliant speech she gave at a Freeze conference in St. Louis, she drove home the point (still valid today) that until we were able to offer the American people a new vision of security to take the place of the sense of security they derived from a commanding US nuclear arsenal, we would never achieve nuclear disarmament.

By 1982, the "Freeze" proposal had been endorsed by 370 city councils, one or both houses of 23 state legislatures, hundreds of national organizations, and 2.3 million petition signers. That same year it passed as a ballot initiative in 9 of 10 states and 34 of 37 cities and counties, which constituted the largest single referendum in US history. In June of 1982, "Freeze the Arms Race - Fund Human Needs" became the official rallying cry for what historians claimed was the largest political protest in US history: a demonstration in New York City's Central Park that drew nearly a million people.

Although the Freeze Campaign gradually lost steam in the ensuing years and an actual freeze on the nuclear arms race was never achieved, released government records make clear that the Campaign had a major influence on both the US and Soviet governments (including the removal from Europe of both sides' highly provocative intermediate-range nuclear missiles). It's also clear that it had a major impact on the lives of millions of mostly "middle American" Freeze supporters for whom the Campaign provided an initial entry point into peace and justice activism. Indeed, Randy had much to be proud of.

Thank you, Randy. We'll miss you.

To Get Involved

Randall Forsberg Scholarship for Peace Research,
checks to: 21st Century Foundation, memo "Randall Forsberg Scholarship" to:

Attn: Rosemary Weiss,
CCNY, Shepard Hall, Room 154
138 Street and Convent Avenue
New York, New York 10031, www.idds.org.