American Notes Demonstrations

As they hiked across the George Washington Bridge in New York last week, 800 tired but exuberant activists of the Great Peace March, a transcontinental trek in support of nuclear disarmament, celebrated the fact that they had finally made it from coast to coast. The marchers, about 400 of whom had made the more than 3,200-mile trip that began in Los Angeles 237 days earlier, ranged from sprightly children to Franklin Folsom, 79, who celebrated his golden wedding anniversary with his wife along the route.

The demonstration trod a hard road, almost collapsing twelve days after it began when the original sponsor, a group called Pro Peace, ran out of funds. But after forming their own corporation and raising $500,000, much of it in donations of $20 or less, the walkers took their plea for a nuclear freeze to small towns across the country. Once in New York City, they taped a Phil Donahue show and visited the United Nations. Next and last stop: Washington on Nov. 15.