Many of you joined us for the Nov. 4 conference on “Presidential First Use of Nuclear Weapons: Is it Legal? Is it Constitutional? Is it Just?”
Above is a 6-minute video showing the conference highlights. The link to the video is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr-bXzvgQBw&index=1&list=PL2SOU6wwxB0vZEgAvRotf9-INc9nA8t02
The edited transcripts of the talks were published this week in Public Books: http://www.publicbooks.org/virtual-roundtable-on-presidential-first-use-of-nuclear-weapons/ Public Books is a widely read online journal (the median age of its readers is 24-25).
Right now, the most important step you can take to prevent presidential first use of a nuclear weapon is the one you will hear the speakers (including former Secretary of Defense William Perry) identify in the 6-minute video: support HR.669 and S.200 by contacting your representatives and urging them to become co-sponsors of the bill that prohibits the president from launching a missile in the absence of a Congressional Declaration of War. Of nine Massachusetts representatives in the House, only Reps. McGovern, Clark, and Tsongas have cosponsored so far; especially if you are a constituent of Reps. Capuano, Kennedy, Moulton, Lynch, Keating, or Neal, please contact them! You can use this page to send your message, or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Once the injuries occur, we won’t be able to undo them. Please act now to prohibit presidential first use. Please ask your friends, neighbors, and co-workers to act as well – especially if their representatives in the House or Senate aren’t yet co-sponsors.