Retracing the 1986 Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament
Forty years ago, I walked across the United States. From Los Angeles (well, Barstow, actually) to Washington, DC on the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.
It was 1986 and the cold war was in full conflagration. I was 20 years old and a college sophomore. I didn’t know if I was going to make it to adulthood. The US and the Soviet Union were in a nuclear arms race—each building up enough weapons capable of destroying the world several times over. The fear of nuclear proliferation was ever present. I had nightmares all the time. Images of Hiroshima played on a reel in my head. I had so much anxiety about it, that my mom worried about me, had my high school priest reach out to try and calm my fears.
I didn’t understand how my fellow students could just go on with their days-prepping for exams and fraternity parties as if everything was fine. I was a history and journalism major at Syracuse University.
I joined the campus anti-nuclear group and started to get involved with local peace organizations. We marched at the Seneca Army Depot—a local stockpiler of nuclear weapons. We joined forces with other groups on campus, like the active anti-apartheid movement, calling for our university to divest its financial ties to the racist South African government.
Being involved in these groups helped my anxiety. I started to feel like working together we could make a difference.
One day I was walking to class and I saw a sign that said, “Don’t just take history, make history.” It was a promotion flyer for the Great Peace March. Something inside me just lit up. I took that flyer off the bulletin board and just knew I had to be a part of it.
A few months later I was boarding a plane for the very first time—I’d never been west of Ohio. I was on my way to Los Angeles where I’d be dropped off to walk back.
The experience of walking across America shaped my whole life. I wouldn’t have done half the things I’ve done if I didn’t have that experience at such a formative time in my life—including traversing the country solo in my RV at age 60.
This year 2026, I’ll be headed to the 40th Great Peace March reunion in New York State. On my way there, I’ll be retracing as much of the route as I can and stopping at key points along the way.
I invite you to come along on this trip with me. Let’s see what I remember, what I uncover and who I run into along the way.
