CNVA was one of the first American peace groups to focus on nonviolentdirect action including civil disobedience. Its purpose of organizing imaginative and dramatic protest demonstrations on both land and sea attracted radical pacifists and called the attention of the American public to the atrocities of nuclear warfare. CNVA's first protest action was a vigil held outside the atomic weapons test grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1957. In the second half of its existence CNVA efforts began to focus on Vietnam. The organization allied its resources with other American peace groups. As other American peace groups adopted CNVA's methods of dramatic and nonviolent demonstrations, its own numbers and support waned. In the fall of 1967, CNVA voted to merge with the War Resisters League, which became reality in January 1968.
Held at: Swarthmore College Peace Collection [Contact Us]