The Gazette’s article about the current gathering of parliamentarians at the United Nations during the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons quotes U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern as saying: “Without large-scale citizen movements, I fear that we will continue to move in the wrong direction and see the unraveling of all nuclear agreements, a renewed nuclear arms race, and even the actual use of nuclear weapons.” [“McGovern’s UN message: Ditch nukes,” Gazette, Nov. 28]. McGovern, I was told, was especially moved by his meetings with the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
To press for U.S. government action, McGovern has introduced H Res 77, a House resolution calling for five actions:
■Negotiation with the other nuclear-armed states toward verifiable, enforceable, timebound elimination of nuclear weapons.
■Renunciation of first use.
■The end of sole authority of the president to launch a nuclear attack.
■Taking the weapons off hair-trigger alert.
■Canceling plans to spend trillions of dollars to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal.
To date, no member of the U.S. Senate has introduced a companion resolution to H Res 77. Please call on Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren to do so.
Henry W. Rosenberg
Northampton