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A little sailboat with an impressive pedigree pulled into New Haven, Connecticut's harbor in early June to spread its message calling for a world free of nuclear weapons. The boat named "Golden Rule" first sailed the South Pacific in 1958, with a crew of four Quakers who intended to disrupt U.S. atmospheric nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands. The crew was arrested in Hawaii and prevented from disrupting the nuclear tests, but the incident made international news and contributed to the signing of the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1963.

Sixty-five years later, that very same boat has been refurbished by Veterans for Peace and is sailing up and down both the East and West coasts and through the U.S. heartland on rivers and lakes in a voyage called the Great Loop. On their journey, a rotating three-member volunteer crew gives talks about the ever-growing risks of nuclear war and call for a nuclear-free world. The "Doomsday Clock" is set closer to midnight now than at any time in its 76-year history.

At a program on the windy shores of Long Island Sound organized by Veterans for Peace and the Greater New Haven Peace Council, atomic Army veteran Hank Bolden of Hartford, Connecticut told an audience he was one of the young soldiers used as guinea pigs to study the impact of nuclear bomb radiation on the human body. He noted that his entire unit undergoing this experiment in 1955, deployed just 2.8 miles from the atomic bomb blast, was Black.

HANK BOLDEN: I was exposed to ionizing radiation so badly that when the bomb was dropped, you hold your hand up, you could see the bones in your hands, you know, that's how bad that was. When they sent you out for this particular mission, they never told you what it was that you were going to be proud of. I have all the cancers that go along with being exposed to ionizing radiation. And I was diagnosed in 1990 with multiple myeloma. And at that time I was given three and a half to four years to live. I think I beat the odds, you know, because I'm now 86 years old.
MELINDA TUHUS: That was atomic veteran Hank Bolden, Golden Rule captain Kiko Johnston-Kitazawa grew up in Hawaii and has a boat building business in Hilo. He has helmed the Golden Rule on several legs of its recent journey, including from Hawaii to the West coast and also on much of the inland route. He sailed it from New York City to several stops along the Connecticut coast, including New Haven.
KIKO JOHNSTON-KITAZAWA: Not only am I not a veteran, I'm not even a member of Veterans for Peace. But I do their captain role because I support most of their points and like to be able to educate people about the dangers of nuclear weapons. In Hawaii because especially my hometown of Hilo, probably over 40 percent of the people there when I was a kid were of Japanese descent. And so Hawaii people learned really early what had happened in Hiroshima, even though the occupation forces kept the press out of there for a little while afterwards. And because Hawaii people had relatives living there, some were stuck there during the war, others went there with the occupation army of the United States. So they got word back pretty quick, what it's like to be under a nuclear bomb. So I think in many areas of the United States, if you bring up that maybe this wasn't a good thing to have happened, you'll get the argument that well, it saved millions of lives over an invasion and it was necessary and it was justified, or at least the lesser of two evils.

In Hawaii, mostly everybody would say, "No, that was not okay."
MELINDA TUHUS: Captain Kiko picks up the story of the original Golden Rule and her crew. They weren't able to go to the Marshall Islands, but their being jailed led to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty - atmospheric test ban treaty.
KIKO JOHNSTON-KITAZAWA: So the failure was a success. And then the boat was sold because it had served its purpose and it went through several other owners. Eventually, it was derelict in Humboldt Bay and it sank in a gale and they dragged it up on the beach and we were gonna burn it. And somebody from Veterans for Peace chapter up there recognized, "Hey, that's that boat that was back in 1958." So they asked the shipyard owner, "Can we have a year in your shipyard to rebuild it?" And a combination of wooden boat enthusiasts, Quakers and Veterans for Peace members rebuilt it under boatyard guidance over five years and relaunched it and went off to do education.
MELINDA TUHUS: Bill Good is a middle-school science teacher from Ohio. He's a veteran but not a member of Veterans for Peace, at least not yet. He did some earlier support work for The Great Loop and is spending much of his summer vacation volunteering as part of the three-member crew.
What would you say in a sentence or two is the goal of this whole voyage?

BILL GOOD: The end goal would be evolution of nuclear weapons, but I think more our thing is to raise awareness. I tell people we're kind of two generations removed from the Cold War and so the kids that were born in the '90s and raised in the '90s aren't familiar with that Cold War mentality that we grew up with. And now they're the parents. You have another generation, their kids and we don't talk about and we don't teach about, and you don't hear about in the news about these nuclear weapons, but all the nuclear weapons are still here and there's still a threat to life on our planet.

For more information, visit the Veterans For Peace Golden Rule Project webpage at
vfpgoldenruleproject.org.

For the Golden Rule brochure, visit
vfpgoldenruleproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Brochure-2021-10-Rotary.pdf.

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Historic Cold War-Era Peace Boat Sails Again to Demand Nuclear Abolition

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Atomic Veteran Hank Bolden, Captain Kiko Johnston-Kitazawa, and crew member Bill Good talk about the voyage of the Cold War-era peace boat "Golden Rule," sailing again to demand nuclear abolition.

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History of the Golden Rule - VFP Golden Rule Project

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The Golden Rule was the very first of the environmental and peace vessels to go to sea. In 1958, a crew of anti-nuclear weapons activists set sail aboard her in an attempt to interpose themselves and the boat between the U.S.

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The 39-foot wooden ketch Golden Rule has docked in Portland, where its crew will make a plea for nuclear disarmament during a series of events this week.

The Golden Rule's "Peace Sailing Tour" of the eastern U.S. is organized by Veterans for Peace, which was founded in Maine.

The crew is traveling to 100 locations along the eastern half of the United States to educate communities about the ongoing global danger posed by nuclear weapons.

"Nuclear weapons are still here and are still a threat to life on this planet, so that's why I decided to get on board and maybe bring some awareness and bring that back to a topic of discussion," said veteran activist and crew member Bill Good. "We need to start thinking about how can we get rid of nuclear weapons, and this is a great way to do it."

Between 1946 and 1958, the United States organized 67 nuclear tests on the Marshall Islands and the surrounding area. In response, a group of Quaker activists set sail aboard the Golden Rule to the Marshall Islands to stop the U.S. from conducting nuclear testing in the region. However, the ship never made it as the U.S. Coast Guard arrested the crew.

In 2010, the Veterans for Peace restored the boat and has sailed it throughout the United States. Flags of 68 nations decorate the Golden Rule, representing the nations that have ratified the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The crew members hope to raise visibility and pressure the U.S. government to sign the treaty.

"I feel like all of us that are here today are doing it for all the future generations of kids," said Peggy Akers, a nurse during the Vietnam War and member of the Veterans for Peace.

The Golden Rule will continue her journey in Maine with stops in South Portland and Bath before heading south to New York City.

Follow the boat's journey via share.garmin.com/GoldenRule.

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Historic peace ship Golden Rule visiting Maine with message of nuclear disarmament

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The crew is traveling to 100 locations to educate communities about the ongoing global danger posed by nuclear weapons.

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Photo by Helen Jaccard By Ann Wright and Helen Jaccard
Sixty-one years ago in 1958 the Golden Rule and her intrepid crew sailed from Los Angeles to stop U.S. atmospheric nuclear weapons from being exploded in the Marshall Islands. Under orders from the U.S. government, the Coast Guard stopped the boat in Honolulu and arrested the captain and crew, who spent 60 days in jail.

Now, 61 years later in 2020, the Golden Rule, is back in Hawaii and is ready to sail to the Marshall Islands and beyond on her continuing mission to prevent a nuclear war. With Veterans for Peace as her sponsor, the Golden Rule and crew are planning to leave Hawai'i in late-February and sail to the Marshall Islands and then on to Hiroshima, Japan for the 75th commemoration of the horrific U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

The six months that the Golden Rule has been in Hawaiian waters has been a terrific experience for all involved, and the educational mission has been very successful. The Golden Rule has visited five islands, staying on the Big Island, Maui, Oahu and Kauai for one month each and on Lanai for one week. Golden Rule spokespersons Helen Jaccard and Zoe Byrd have given over 50 presentations to Quaker gatherings, Buddhist temples and missions, Unitarian congregations, Rotary clubs, peace groups and students of all ages.

The Golden Rule has received fantastic press coverage in Hawaii! From the beginning, in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai'i, there were radio interviews and front-page articles and photos in the Hawaii Herald Tribune, and some on TV! The Maui News covered the Golden Rule in four articles, including a front-page photo, and again there were a few radio interviews. In Honolulu, the Golden Rule received major TV, radio and newspaper coverage, with the biggest Hawaii-wide media, the Hawaii Star Advertiser, the Hawaii News Now TV and Hawaii Public Radio.
Challenging Nuclear Madness and Militarism in the Pacific!
At all of its port stops, the Golden Rule and her crew tell people about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which was passed by the United Nations General Assembly 122-1 on July 7, 2017. As a result of the Golden Rule's presence, Honolulu joined dozens of other cities in urging the U.S. government to ratify the TPNW. The resolution of the Honolulu City and County also welcomed the Golden Rule to Hawaii and affirmed the Back from the Brink principles:
Take away the President's sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear strike.
Declare a no-first-use of nuclear weapons policy.
Take the ICMB nuclear missiles off of hair-trigger alert.
Stop funding the $1.7 trillion nuclear "modernization" program.
Golden Rule crew members have also been learning about how the Indigenous cultures and environment of the Hawaiian Islands - and many Pacific island nations - have suffered greatly from the presence of U.S. bases, war games and bomb testing. Marshall Islanders continue to suffer from high rates of cancer, the result of 67 U.S. nuclear bomb tests in their islands. There are serious problems on Guam and Okinawa as well, and growing resistance.

To show our respect, the Golden Rule asks for permission from Indigenous leaders before arriving at any port. Indigenous leaders often welcome us with moving words and ceremony. Ann Wright, Helen Jaccard and Gerry Condon were honored to be received by the Elders at Mauna Kea, and to present them with the flag of Veterans For Peace.

One of the most meaningful events in Oahu was sailing with 9th graders on both the Golden Rule and the traditional Hawaiian sailing catamaran Kānehūnāmoku in Kane'ohe Bay. Students from Halau Ku Mana Charter School are mostly Hawaiian natives in a school that emphasizes Native Hawaiian culture. The Golden Rule really puts smiles on people's faces!

The vision of the VFP Golden Rule Committee is to continue our Pacific voyage on to the Marshall Islands, the original destination of the Quaker crew in 1958. To then sail on to Guam and Okinawa, two island nations that have been devastated by fighting in World War II and the dominating influence of U.S. military bases to this day. And finally, to sail on to Japan, in time for the August 6-9 75th anniversary commemorations of the U.S. nuclear bombings of the civilian populations in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Please Help Us Complete this Historic Voyage for Peace
We are poised to make this history voyage. We have a solid boat and a great captain, who have proven themselves in the 20-day voyage from San Diego to Hawaii. We have a mission that is being well received wherever we go. We have made contact with key people in the Marshall Islands, Guam, Okinawa and Japan, who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Golden Rule. But we need your help too.

We need to raise $30,000 to cover expenses for the Golden Rule's Pacific voyage. These funds will cover our safety inspection haul-out in Hawaii, insurance, airfare for the captain and crew, captain's pay, docks, fuel, food and other logistics.

If we don't have at least $30,000 by March 1, we may not be able to continue. We have been raising money as we go. We have no corporate sponsors or deep-pocket angels. We do have many dedicated supporters like you who have made mostly modest donations to help us continue this unique mission for peace.

The story of the Golden Rule, her sister ship the Phoenix of Hiroshima and the Japanese fishing boat The Lucky Dragon are well-known in Japan. The Japanese people will be very happy to see the Golden Rule sail into Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This voyage is a remarkable opportunity for Veterans for Peace and other organizations and individuals to lift up our voices for peace and nuclear disarmament.
You can help the Golden Rule fulfill her destiny. You can be a vital part of Golden Rule story. Please contribute today!

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Golden Rule Peace Boat Is a Big Hit in Hawaii: Urgent Need for Funds for Pacific Voyage

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CODEPINK is a feminist grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.

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In 1958, Friends Journal was a weekly publication and published frequent updates about the status of the Golden Rule, a ship that protested United States nuclear testing in the Pacific. To learn more, read The Golden Rule Shall Sail Again in the August 2013 issue of Friends Journal.

February 8, 1958

Albert Bigelow, of Cos Cob, Conn., left New York City on January 27 for Los Angeles, Calif., on the first leg of the projected 6,500-mile journey to Eniwetok Island, site of the Atomic Energy Commission's announced April series of nuclear weapons tests, which we reported in our January 25 issue (p. 56). He is captain of the 30-foot ketch Golden Rule, now berthed at San Pedro, Calif., scheduled to sail for Eniwetok about February 9. With William R. Huntington, of St. James, N. Y., and two others who share their deep concern over the nuclear arms race he will sail on or about April 1 into the bomb-test area and remain there, come what may, as a challenge to the conscience of the American people.

The voyage is sponsored by Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, a committee of leaders of American pacifist organizations. On August 6-7, 1957, the twelfth anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, the same group sponsored a nonviolent challenge to nuclear bomb explosions at the AEC's Nevada test site. Bigelow and ten others were arrested at that time for attempting to enter the test area.

February 22

The nationwide petition campaign against nuclear weapons tests has been extended to February 25 to permit signers to "unite spiritually" with the four-man crew of the Golden Rule, which sailed on February 10 for the Atomic Energy Commission Pacific test area.

The campaign was launched Christmas Eve by the American Friends Service Committee as one of its peace action projects. One spokesman for the A.F.S.C. said recently that the petition campaign was being extended so that "it would provide a channel of expression for concerned people."

The Board of Directors of the A.F.S.C. at its January meeting offered moral support to the voyage of the Golden Rule. Recognizing that a member of the A.F.S.C. Board of Directors (William Huntington) would be a crew member, they said:

While the A.F.S.C. has not been asked for organizational support of this project, we see the action of our Friend and colleague as being in the tradition of individual Quaker witness throughout the history of the Society of Friends. Recognizing therefore that William Huntington and his fellows feel called of God in this venture, we ask God's blessing on an enterprise which seeks to bear witness at a point where the A.F.S.C. in other ways is trying itself to bear witness.

More than 25,000 signatures have been returned to the Service Committee so far in the current campaign and orders for blank petitions continue to arrive with every mail. Many personal letters have been received along with small contributions to cover the expense of getting out the petition.

Petitions can be ordered free of charge from the national office of the American Friends Service Committee, 20 South 12th Street, Philadelphia, Pa., or from any of its eleven regional offices.

March 1

As we go to press we learn from newspaper items that the ketch Golden Rule, about whose voyage to the Eniwetok nuclear tests we reported in several earlier issues, has had to return from a point 700 miles off the California coast because of severe damage suffered in a bad storm. The youngest member of the four-man crew, David Gale, Fallsington, Pa., is reported to be ill. The other members are Albert S. Bigelow, William Huntington, and George Willoughby. It is planned to start the journey again after repairs have been made.

March 29

Are you sensitive to opportunities for direct action on disarmament, such as the voyage of the Golden Rule, participating in or supporting such acts as you feel led?

April 5

The 30-foot ketch Golden Rule, which had been forced back after a first try on February 10 by severe storms in the Pacific, left San Pedro, Calif., on March 25. Three of the former crew members are again on the boat this time; they are Albert Smith Bigelow of Cos Cob, Conn.; William Reed Huntington of St. James, Long Island, N.Y., and George Willoughby of Blackwood Terrace, N.J. All three are Friends. Orion Sherwood, a 28-year-old science teacher at Oakwood School, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., has joined them. He is unmarried and belongs to the Methodist Church.

On the way to the area where atomic bomb tests are scheduled to be made, the Golden Rule will stop at Honolulu to replenish supplies. The Non-Violent Action Committee Against Nuclear Weapons (825 E. Union Street, Pasadena, Calif.) is raising $40,000 by individual contributions to cover the cost of the voyage of the Golden Rule and of a protest trip of delegates to England and Russia.

April 26

On Friday evening at a public meeting in the auditorium of the Ethical Culture Society, Don Murray, the movie actor, and representatives of the Indian and Japanese UN Delegations spoke. Telephone connections were got to the Golden Rule, and three wives of crew members (why do none ever mention their heroic partnership?) heard from their husbands that the ketch was 700 .miles out in the Pacific, weather bright, and all hands well. Mutual support of Pacific sailors and New York walkers was conveyed.

May 10

According to newspaper reports, the United States Coast Guard intercepted on May 1 the ketch Golden Rule and took it in tow a short time after it had set sail from Honolulu to Eniwetok in an attempt to enter the atomic testing area in the Pacific. The crew, consisting of Albert Smith Bigelow, William Huntington, George Willoughby, and Orion Sherwood, were arrested. They had been forbidden to leave port but defied the military order. After their arrest they pleaded not guilty, refused to furnish bail, and were held in jail.

May 17

On May 7 the four crew members of the ketch Golden Rule, Albert Smith Bigelow, William Huntington, George Willoughby, and Orion Sherwood, were sentenced by Judge Wiig in the United States District Court of Honolulu to 60 days in prison or one year on probation for criminal contempt of Court because of their having disobeyed the recent order restricting traffic in the Pacific atomic test area. The defendants chose to serve the jail term.

Following the arrest and conviction of the crew, an increasing number of demonstrators belonging to the Committee of Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons camped inside the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Commission at Germantown, Md., in an attempt to see Admiral Lewis Strauss, Chairman of the AEC, and his four colleagues on the Commission. They have started a hunger strike and rejected an offer to have one of the Commissioners meet one of the demonstrators. Among the demonstrators is Mrs. George Willoughby of Blackwood Terrace, N. J., wife of George Willoughby, crew member of the Golden Rule.

The Committee for Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons supports the crew members and the Germantown demonstrators in their attempt to arouse the conscience of the public to an awareness of the dangers in the use of nuclear weapons and their continued testing.

May 24

On May 1 and 2 groups protesting the arrest of the Golden Rule crew demonstrated at federal buildings in Boston, Mass.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Pasadena, Calif.; Washington, D. C.; the United States Consulate in Montreal, Canada, and the United States Embassy in London, England.

Lawrence Scott, of the Committee for Non-Violent Action Against the Use of Nuclear Weapons, awaiting entry into Russia, delivered a letter to the United States Consulate at Helsinki, Finland, protesting to President Eisenhower the jailing of the crew of the Golden Rule.

Newspaper clippings and other information illustrating the growing movement against nuclear warfare are solicited by the editors of FRIENDS JOURNAL.

May 31

The accounts of the Golden Rule and other activities supported by the Committee for Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, such as the "sit-in" at the Atomic Energy Commission's headquarters and the attempted visit to Russia of a delegation of five, have added a new note to the story of contemporary pacifism. It would be unrealistic to rate these ventures as a victorious campaign of major significance. They are, nevertheless, episodes worthy of note and respect. The good wishes and prayers of a great many Friends accompanied the crew of the Golden Rule and those who held a "vigil without food" in order to obtain an interview with Lewis Strauss at the AEC headquarters. But from the beginning many of us had entertained some doubt as to the advisability of the experiments, questioning their effect on the authorities and public opinion.

June 7

The Middle Atlantic Region of the American Friends Service Committee will sponsor two week-long vacation institutes this summer. The first of these will be located at Holiday Hills, Pawling, N.Y., and is entitled, "A Search for New Directions." This will have primarily an adult program, although provisions will be made for children. The Pawling Institute will be held from July 11 through 18. Faculty members include Albert S. Bigelow, architect, former Housing Commissioner, State of Massachusetts, and skipper of the Golden Rule; Amiya Chakravarty, author and lecturer, formerly secretary to Gandhi and Tagore, Professor, Boston University, recently returned from a round-the-world trip; Hugh B. Hester, Brigadier General, U.S. Army, retired in 1951 after 34 years of military service, student of international relations, recently interviewed Khrushchev during visit to Russia; Bayard Rustin, leading American exponent of Gandhian nonviolent action, secretary to Martin Luther King; and Norman Whitney, National Peace Secretary, AFSC, Friend, world traveler, former professor, Syracuse University.

June 14

According to information received from the Committee for Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, the crew of the Golden Rule made another attempt to sail into the restricted area of the Pacific which is reserved for the testing of atomic weapons. Before leaving, Albert Bigelow was arrested for contempt of court and sentenced to sixty days in jail. On June 4, William Huntington, George Willoughby, Orion Sherwood, and James Peck, New York City, a new member of the crew, sailed out from Honolulu but were towed back by the Coast Guard after having traveled five miles. William Huntington, George Willoughby, and Orion Sherwood were sentenced to sixty days in jail, a penalty which they are now serving. James Peck, not having been involved in the earlier attempt, was also sentenced to sixty days in prison, but was released on probation.

June 21

The Committee which has sponsored the protest sailing of the Golden Rule called for nation-wide support of the crew, all five of whom are now in jail in Honolulu. In a public statement the Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons said:

Reverse this course. The Golden Rule sits idle in its slip in the Ala Wai Yacht Basin in Honolulu. The crew have been stopped and are in jail. The tests have not been stopped. The nuclear arms race goes on. We call on President Eisenhower to stop the tests in the Pacific immediately. Free the men of the Golden Rule.

The Committee reiterates the moral and nonviolent character of the Golden Rule project:

The intention of the men in the Golden Rule was to make a moral witness against the nuclear tests, and they were prepared to face the risk of radiation nonviolently, exposing no one but themselves to injury, refraining from any positive acts of interference with the tests, in order to call attention to the far greater injuries of all kinds being done by the tests and by nuclear war preparations in general. Government agents have acted as they have because they do not want to face the moral challenge of four harmless men sitting quietly in a tiny boat near the scene of a huge nuclear blast.

When the Golden Rule sailed from San Pedro on March 25, there was no law against sailing in the open seas in the Marshall Island area. The Committee states:

The government of the United States has exercised its power to stop the crew of the Golden Rule, though we are convinced it has no right in law or morals to do so. On general principle and on the basis of traditional concepts of national sovereignty and freedom of the seas, the position of the United States in staging nuclear tests in the open ocean outside its own territory is indefensible. If the United States does so in the Pacific, on what grounds is the Soviet Union or some other country forbidden to do so in the Atlantic?

The sponsors of the Golden Rule call on members of Congress and of the courts, the President and his associates, the armed forces, the labor movement, the press, the churches, and all elements in our society to ponder the issues raised when the crew of the Golden Rule can be jailed by the power of administrative decree.

July 26

Clarence E. Pickett's choice of inspirational passages, read shortly before the evening addresses [of the 1958 Friends General Conference Gathering] were given, proved his discerning judgment. It was more than timely that on Thursday night he chose to interrupt his series of biblical quotations, especially the sequence of passages from the Letters to the Young Churches, by reading part of a letter by William Huntington, written from prison in Honolulu, where he is confined with the other crew members of the Golden Rule.

August 9

Lyle Tatum, chairman of Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, and the crew of the ketch Golden Rule have announced the termination of the Golden Rule project against the nuclear tests in the Pacific. The following statement was received from the crew of the Golden Rule, now serving sixty-day jail sentences in Honolulu:

When we sailed the Golden Rule for the bomb test area, we stated that we would proceed as far as possible. We sailed from San Pedro to Honolulu. Twice we have attempted to sail from Honolulu to the Marshall Islands bomb test area. Twice we have been stopped by government action.

The second time we were sentenced to sixty days in prison. We are still in jail. It is, therefore, impossible for us to sail again before the end of the present tests. Hence we must regretfully announce that we have proceeded as far as possible and have been stopped.

At the same time the crew of the Golden Rule announced their backing of Dr. Earle Reynolds, former Antioch College anthropologist, who is captain of the ketch Phoenix of Hiroshima, which left Honolulu June 11, bound for Japan via the nuclear testing area. Aboard the boat, a 50-foot ketch, is the Reynolds family, including two teenage children, and a Japanese crewman, Niichi Mikami. Before sailing, Earle Reynolds issued a statement which said in part:

This trip is the culmination of a four-year voyage around the world. By this final trip we are calling on the people of the United States to examine their government's policies and actions which are now gravely suspect in the eyes of the world.

Lyle Tatum, in Philadelphia, stated that the end of the Golden Rule project does not mean the end of opposition to nuclear testing on the part of Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons.

From the Honolulu City Jail, Albert Bigelow, William Huntington, George Willoughby, Orion Sherwood, and James Peck sent a letter to President Eisenhower, again urging that he use the powers of his office to stop the current series of tests in the Pacific and "to start turning the course of history away from nuclear warfare."

On June 28 the Golden Rule protest ship was sold to an undisclosed buyer. The asking price was $16,000, but the price actually paid was not divulged. The money will be used to pay costs of the project.

August 23, from "Letter from Japan" by Jackson H. Bailey

The vernacular as well as the English-language press has given extensive coverage to the voyage of the Golden Rule, but unfortunately the deeper implications of this protest are not dealt with, or even recognized by the general public. There is popular acclaim for this evidence of opposition in America to the tests since support for a test ban is almost universal here. Japan is caught between Soviet test radiation brought over by winter winds from Siberia and American radiation brought from the Pacific by the prevailing summer winds. The underlying spiritual implications, however, of man's responsibility, first to God and second to his fellow man, whomever and wherever he may be, to which the actions of the crew of the Golden Rule are, I believe, intended to witness, are as little considered here as elsewhere.

September 13, from a report on Pacific Yearly Meeting

Quite by accident the Phoenix of Hiroshima docked in a slip in Honolulu harbor near that of the Golden Rule. Crews of the two boats had not known each other before. Earle and Barbara Reynolds of the Phoenix, with their two children Ted and Jessica and Japanese crewman Nick, were so impressed by what the Golden Rule was trying to do that after much consideration they decided to go on with the same effort after the other boat had been stopped.

This story of the unexpected contagion of their own witness was the main burden of the very modest report which Orion Sherwood brought to Pacific Yearly Meeting (August 6 to 10, 1958) at Redlands, Calif., only a few days after he and the other crewmen of the Golden Rule had been released from jail in Honolulu. Orion Sherwood stated that Barbara Reynolds, who is a writer, has written an article about the Phoenix experience which so far has not found publication in a national magazine.

October 4, letters to the editor

Your editorial on "The Church and Atomic Warfare" speaks with refreshing forthrightness and clarity on ecumenical sanctioning of atomic warfare. It is a challenge of faith and steadfastness for the Society of Friends in maintaining our peace testimony in the face of wavering deliberations and pessimism. It is also an inspiration that a non-Friends family, the Reynolds, carried through the concern for the intercepted voyage of the Golden Rule in protesting further atomic testing.

Betty Pennock, Medford, N.J.

October 11, from "Friends Peace Testimony" by Mary Cary

Willingness to suffer any consequences of their action was shown by most groups. The Golden Rule crew disregarded dangers of radiation and storms, and calmly met their prison sentences. The sit-down fast group endured hunger quietly during their entire demonstration. Firm, patient persistence won the day when Admiral Strauss appeared to talk to them.

December 13

The crews of the Golden Rule and Phoenix, the two ketches which sailed to protest the Eniwetok nuclear tests last summer, left Friday, November 28, for Geneva, Switzerland. They went to encourage and urge the delegates of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain to act promptly and decisively to end nuclear-weapons testing. They and the Committee for Non-Violent Action believe that "the moral pressures which convinced governments six months ago that the Geneva Conference should be called must now make themselves felt again, and more strongly."

Flying from Honolulu to represent the Phoenix are Barbara Reynolds, recently skipper during the 60-day, 4,500-mile, headwind passage from Kwajalein to Honolulu, and Niichi Mikami, Japanese bosun. (Earle Reynolds, skipper of the Phoenix, is under six months' sentence. His passport has been impounded as a condition of bail, pending appeal.)

They will join Golden Rulers Albert Bigelow of Cos Cob, Conn., William Huntington, mate, of St. James, Long Island, Jim Peck, seaman, of New York City, and George Willoughby, bosun, of Blackwood Terrace, New Jersey. The Golden Rule crew served 60 days in Honolulu jail last summer.

Albert Bigelow, skipper of the Golden Rule, said:

The hopes of mankind are centered in Geneva. World-famous moral leaders and scientists have pleaded that nuclear tests be stopped. Each nation has indicated its good intentions for the success of the conference. The anxious hearts of humanity yearn for the end of nuclear tests. We sailed into the Pacific to speak to the conscience of men. We go to Geneva to say now is the time to encourage and support the men at Geneva!

December 20

The voyage of the Golden Rule will be told in a book being written for Doubleday by Albert Bigelow, skipper of the vessel which protested the nuclear tests in the Pacific.

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Friends Journal 1958 coverage of the Golden Rule - Friends Journal

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In 1958, Friends Journal was a weekly publication and published frequent updates about the status of the Golden Rule.