You Can Help Reduce the Nuclear Threat
An incredible opportunity has emerged in the 2008 presidential election campaign: both candidates have publicly supported the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. Now we must keep them to their word.
Nuclear Weapons Facts
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The 25,000 nuclear weapons worldwide are one of the gravest, most immediate threats to humankind, and the only threat to the survival of the United States.
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The United States and Russia have over 95 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
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Nine countries possess nuclear weapons, and, if the world remains on its current path, more will follow.
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One nuclear weapon detonated over Minneapolis would kill some 120,000 people within hours (Click here for details).
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A bomb detonated over Denver would kill everyone within one mile of the explosion (Click here for details).
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Unless things change, eventually, terrorists will get and use the bomb.
What the Presidential Candidates Are Saying
- “This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons.”
-Senator Barack Obama, 7/24/08 - “A quarter of a century ago, President Ronald Reagan declared, ‘our dream is to see the day when nuclear weapons will be banished from the face of the Earth.’ That is my dream, too.”
-Senator John McCain, 5/27/08
What the Next Administration Can Do
- Announce it is U.S. policy to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons
- Declare that the sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons is to deter and, if necessary, respond to the use of nuclear weapons by another country.
- Unilaterally reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal to less than 1,000 total warheads.
- Call for further global nuclear weapons reductions and meet within 6 months with Russia and within one year with other nuclear weapons states.
Our Campaign in the News!
Union of Concerned Scientists' billboards developed for this campaign were removed from the Minneapolis and Denver airports following a complaint from Northwest Airlines that the Minneapolis version was “scary” and “anti-McCain.” Addressing Senator McCain in Minneapolis and Senator Obama in Denver, UCS placed these otherwise identical billboards to coincide with the Republican and Democratic conventions. The ads urge the two presidential candidates to reduce the nuclear threat and cite www.reducethethreat.org.
Additional Information
