A restored sailboat that peace groups say played a big role in ending atmospheric nuclear bomb testing will be in Milwaukee and Racine for the next few days.
The Golden Rule will be outside Discovery World on Milwaukee's lakefront Sept. 1, then docked nearby in Lakeshore State Park Sept. 2-4, before sailing to Racine and being docked there Sept. 5.
The Golden Rule, a 34-foot wooden ketch, set sail in 1958 to interfere with nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.
The four Quaker peace activists on the boat stopped for supplies in Honolulu, where the crew was arrested and prevented from continuing. Peace activists say the arrests sparked worldwide awareness of the dangers of nuclear radiation.
Other efforts continued, and according to the National Archives, culminated in the signing of the Limited Test Ban Treaty by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After U.S. Senate approval, the treaty that went into effect on October 10, 1963, banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water.
The sailboat, now owned by Veterans for Peace, is nearing the end of a 15-month journey around the central, southern and eastern United States to raise awareness about what the peace movement feels is the growing danger of nuclear war and to build support for the abolition of nuclear weapons.
Many activists are also worried about ongoing U.S. military aid for Ukraine, in its fight against Russia.
A ceremony Friday morning welcomed the Golden Rule to Milwaukee.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson issued a city proclamation designating Sept. 1-4 "Golden Rule Days." In remarks, Johnson says, "All of us have a responsibility to take up peace as our cause. And, we've got to work to address that, no matter the means of delivery of violence. It could be the guns that maim and kill people in our community on a daily basis. Or, even on a global scale, where nuclear weapons have the potential to pose great destruction to people and countries all across the world."
Helen Jaccard, Golden Rule Project Manager, says there's hope of avoiding "A nuclear exchange" between nations. Jaccard adds, "We need to work within the belly of the beast to bring about a universal, irreversible, verifiable reduction, and ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons."
Jaccard also calls on Congress to pass several measures, including H.Res 77, the so-called "Back from the Brink" resolution, making nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of U.S. national security policy.
Mark Denning, a Native American educator, also spoke at the Friday morning event. He says thousands of people attended the Milwaukee Air and Water Show in July, where the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron was a headliner.
Referring to the Golden Rule, Denning says, "So we should ask ourselves. Where are the thousands? Where are the people lined shoulder-to-shoulder to speak of peace? To rid this world of the machines of war?"
Pam Fendt, of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, says Laborfest attendees at the Maier Festival Grounds on Labor Day, September 4, will be encouraged to visit the Golden Rule.
