Citizen Diplomacy in the Nuclear Age – a personal perspective

We are all shaped by events and activities that we choose to participate in, or those that befall upon us. As the spirit of LinkedIn seems to be about allowing people to get to know each other better, through histories and backgrounds, I decided to share a bit more about some key things that happened in my teenage years. A truly formative phase - you learn a lot, and carry the knowledge forward. It helped shape me into how I am today as a professional, and a human being. Read on, if that would be of interest:

Speech at the Seattle Olympic Club, November 19, 2020

This week diplomats and friends celebrated the life of Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin. Once the doyen amongst envoys in Washington D.C., he had served as the leader of the Soviet mission for 25 years. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Russian diplomat carried messages to and from JFK and Nikita Khrushchev, and was instrumental in back-channeling information via Robert Kennedy that brought the world back from the brink of Nuclear annihilation. Later, Dobrynin developed an excellent understanding with Henry Kissinger, and helped pave the way to the Strategic Arms Limitation and Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaties, which were signed by Nixon and Brezhnev. Further, he played a key role on the path towards the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which Reagan and Gorbachev concluded. Anatoly Dobrynin would have turned 101 a few days ago.

38 years ago, I stood inside the Soviet Embassy, next to my classmate and fellow 12-year-young Katya Dobrynina, as we gave the pioneer salute and then were honored to shake hands with President Ronald Reagan – as Ambassador and grandfather Dobrynin observed, smiling warmly. Historically, that was part of an event, which became one of the turning points from the harshness of the Cold War, towards a thaw in the relationship of the Nuclear Superpowers. For the first 2 years of his administration, Reagan had refused to meet with the chief Russian diplomat – and here they were, having a conversation a few feet away from where I stood.

While ultimately those, who were in the highest offices in the White House and the Kremlin solidified the turnaround from adversarial to friendly relations, Citizen Diplomacy played a key role in driving change.

A few months after becoming one of the first Soviet children that Reagan had encountered, I learned of Samantha Smith. The 10-year-young girl from Maine was so concerned with the threat of Nuclear War, that she decided to get some answers from the Soviet leader. Samantha wrote a letter to Yuri Andropov – and he answered. In 1983 the American school-girl was invited to visit the Soviet Union and see for herself – were Russians warmongers? Thanks to media coverage on both sides of the Atlantic, TV screens were filled with the smiling faces of children from both sides of the Iron Curtain. The kids’ faces were frowning only when they talked about their mutual fear of the Atomic Bomb. Two years later, I was honored to meet Samantha in person, and act as her host and interpreter amongst other children at the Soviet Embassy, when she brought hundreds of letters from American kids with wishes of peace.  

In October 1983, nearly 3 million people across western Europe and the United States took to the streets in peaceful protests against Nuclear missile deployments, and demanded an end to the arms race – and politicians took notice. On the 10th of that month, President Reagan, along with millions of U.S. citizens, viewed a Hollywood-produced television film about a portion of America being destroyed by Nuclear weapons - “The Day After”. In his diary, the President wrote that the movie "left me greatly depressed".

I was horrified by “The Day After” the same night that Reagan was. A few months later, when I was 13, I found myself on American TV, during a live hour-long show, that was presented by CBS as “Children talk about Nuclear War”. It was intended to bring together Soviet and American kids. It turned out to be my sparring match, on the airwaves of Washington D.C., with a hawkish, grey-haired American general, who had been the former deputy director of the CIA, and later the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Lt. General Daniel Graham was a surprise and unwelcome last-minute addition to the program – and he proceeded to try to pick on me, as the only Soviet on the main stage. With a few moments left before the first commercial break, the General brought up a relatively unfamiliar treaty, which he alleged that the Russians treacherously broke. Thankfully, I had done my homework. With the TV producer counting down seconds before the pause in the show, I retorted: “General, we don’t have aircraft carriers, we have helicopter carriers”. Graham’s face reddened, and projected a look of acknowledgment and defeat. The kids and citizens in the audience laughed, cheered and applauded. And after the commercials, the children went back to talking about Nuclear Disarmament, with the General fading into the background.

In 1985 and 1987, my words as a citizen-diplomat were broadcast to more TV-viewers. During one evening in the winter of ’85 all three of the Washington D.C. stations reported in their evening news broadcasts that "exchanges like this today between American and Soviet students may be a start on the road to peace between the two countries". Amongst a gathering of schoolkids, where the main theme was "are you afraid of Nuclear War like we are?", a young Brian Williams showed me as I stood up, and finished my appeal with: “We want peace with you”. I don’t know for a fact if President Reagan was watching that night, but it is known that Ronald and Nancy always enjoyed watching the evening news together, when they could.

In the winter of ’87 I got a chance to stand up and speak about bettering relations with British citizens, including a young Tony Blair, during a TV broadcast, which was the Moscow-London Space Bridge. As that program started, the initial question from an Englishman was: “do you really think that we are warmongers?”. The answer from the Russians was a resounding “no”, and there were many smiles and lots of warm laughter from both sides throughout the long exchange.

The first space bridge was sponsored by computer pioneer Steve Wozniak. On September 5th, 1982, a TV-link via satellite was established between the Soviet Union and the United States. The participants in that space bridge could see each other, ask questions and receive answers – with Nuclear War being a hot topic. 180 million people in the USSR watched these programs.

Which brings us to today. Modern technology allows for the bypass of expensive satellite/space connections. For example, Cisco WebEx can provide on-demand/instantaneous collaboration, online meeting, web conferencing and videoconferencing capabilities. Skype Translator voice interpreter can translate conversations in 10 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese (Mandarin), Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Arabic, and Russian; the text translator is available in more than 60 languages for clear, seamless instant messaging.

Citizens have far more means for peaceful communication at their disposal than at any time in history. And they should use them, just like the good people behind the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a coalition of non-governmental organizations. In July 2017 – following a decade of advocacy by ICAN and citizens around the globe – an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations adopted a landmark global agreement to ban nuclear weapons, known officially as the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. On January 22, 2021, the treaty will enter into force.

But that doesn’t mean that on the 23rd of January of next year, the 9 nations, who are known to have Atomic Arsenals, will simply comply with the will of the majority of the United Nations. That’s why I continue my personal crusade. Two years ago, I started www.nomorenukes.org and https://www.facebook.com/nomorenukesdotorg in order to provide more help to Citizen Diplomats around the world. It's up to us to call on Governments to: 1. Freeze - no new Nukes are needed 2. Reduce - 100 Nukes are enough to destroy life on Earth through the ultimate climate change 3. Eliminate Nuclear Weapons – they are useless, expensive and extremely dangerous. Reagan and Gorbachev got it right, when, at the outset of their Atomic Weapons reduction work they proclaimed: “Nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”. Citizens of the world - let’s do our part.

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I was 12-years-young, when I stood in the honor guard and got to salute, and then shake hands with President Reagan, as he “visited the Soviet Embassy ...to express his condolences on the death of Leonid I. Brezhnev. He also used the occasion to express the desire that the United States and the Soviet Union “live in peace.” https://www.nytimes.com/1982/11/14/world/reagan-visits-the-soviet-embassy.html

10-year-young Samantha Smith talks about her letter to the Russian leader, on ABC Nightline, 1983 https://youtu.be/ZGp1BixRnTo

“Children talk about Nuclear War”, CBS, September 1984, I was 14 when I spoke https://youtu.be/grdR06kYJdE

"Exchanges like this today between American and Soviet students may be a start on the road to peace between the two countries"; TV news coverage by Brian Williams, others, winter of 1985. I was 14 when I spoke https://youtu.be/hlOa8loene4

Space Bridge examples: Citizen's Summit between Leningrad and Seattle in 1985, opens with "we are worried about nuclear missiles": https://youtu.be/-GcP-asqXP4. Moscow – London in 1987 https://youtu.be/qdHxqsbiEU0 first question “do you really like think that we are warmongers?” – I was 16, when I participated and spoke

Nuclear Freeze Rallies around the world in the 1980s https://youtu.be/KkOm_fvl68w