The promise of internationalism. US anti-nuclear activism and the European challenge

In the early 1980s, buoyed by the growing popularity of anti-nuclear sentiment at home, and motivated by massive demonstrations in Western Europe, anti-nuclear organizers in the United States were suitably optimistic. Many realized the impact a mass movement against nuclear weapons in the United States could have, both domestically and internationally, and strove to develop strategies to maximize the size and scope of this movement. The prospect of collaboration with activists in Western Europe seemed an ideal means to forge an international alliance opposed to both superpowers’ nuclear arsenals and the deployment of weapons that threatened the safety — indeed the survival — of the world. This spirit of internationalism, however, struggled to find an application in a movement so focused on domestic strategies, at the local, state, and national levels.