Talk:Nuclear Freeze campaign

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Memorablename, Austinmclean7, Wgehrke, Lampetisdrummondii.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 01:43, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Format
Hey guys, I'm trying to think how we should format the page. Obviously we have to answer the who, what, when, where, and why questions. I think it's also important to analyze the political impacts of the campaign. Whatever topics we address about the campaign in the United States, we should try address the same topics in the Soviet Union. Austinmclean7 (talk) 01:51, 4 April 2018 (UTC)


 * I was thinking a background section (which has been added), a section detailing the freeze movement with subheadings about Randall Forsberg, the political side of the movement, and the more grass-roots side of the movement like marches and education, a section on criticism, and a section on the impact of the campaign. There should also probably be a section about the international impact/corresponding movements in order to broaden the focus of the article. Wgehrke (talk) 20:36, 8 April 2018 (UTC)
 * For context, it would likely go: Background, Nuclear Freeze Movement in the United States (Randall Forsberg, Political Change, Marches and Advocacy), European Activism, Criticism (Ronald Reagan, ...), 1984 Election, Legacy. Or something along those lines, with the titles and exact subheadings subject to change. Wgehrke (talk) 20:46, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

add an "outcome" section
what were the results of this campaign? did anything change?

These seem like important considerations for the page — Preceding unsigned comment added by This-is-name (talk • contribs) 03:05, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

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 * NuclearFreeze.png

Impact
I haven't looked at this article in a few years....and there have been some additions since I last looked. In the introductory section, this statement is made: "The movement quickly gained enormous public support and, together with antinuclear allies abroad, played a key role in curbing the nuclear arms race and preventing nuclear war." [and later] "As a result, Reagan and his presidential successor, George H.W. Bush―pressed by movement activism on the one hand and Gorbachev on the other―were drawn into the most substantial burst of nuclear arms control and disarmament ventures in world history. The INF Treaty, the START I and START II Treaties, and important unilateral disarmament actions followed. By the early 1990s, the United States and the Soviet Union had ceased the testing, development and deployment of nuclear weapons. Moreover, they had substantially reduced their nuclear arsenals, ended the Cold War, and dropped their threats of nuclear attack. These dramatic changes, though sometimes attributed to other developments, in fact owed a great deal to the great popular uprising of the early 1980s that was launched by the Nuclear Freeze campaign and its overseas allies."

This is sourced to Arms Control Today which is a publications of Arms Control Association.

This represents a number of issues on multiple levels (which I plan to address)....but mainly: RS & NPOV. Needless to say, the heavyweight Cold War historians don't share this view. (Most Cold War texts mention the movement in passing (if at all). This group fell off the radar by the mid-80's.) I think this needs to be (at the least) noted as the opinion of the writer (if it is mentioned at all).Rja13ww33 (talk) 14:24, 17 August 2020 (UTC)


 * I altered the section on THE BACKGROUND of the nuclear freeze movement. It claimed that Reagan said nuclear war was winnable. Even the cited source doesn't say that. It only says the "great powers" claimed that. Reagan didn't claim nuclear war was winnable. He said he thought Soviet leaders had concluded it was. In the NY Times, on 10/22/1981, it said this: "Mr. Reagan went on to criticize Soviet leaders, asserting that their military doctrine was based on the theory that a nuclear war is possible and they believe it is winnable."Rja13ww33 (talk) 19:19, 17 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Ok, I think I've got the vast majority done of what I wanted to get. I still included the POV that the Freeze had a big impact on events....but i qualified it by noting that it was an opinion of "Others". I felt it was inappropriate for the LEAD. The majority/heavyweight POV out there (as I noted) does not back this with any RS I am aware of. It might be worthwhile to note some of the other Western peace movements that back this POV (aside from the Arms Control Association). Any comments....let me know. I'll probably keep tweaking it for a bit longer.Rja13ww33 (talk) 22:34, 17 August 2020 (UTC)