During the Cold War, Joan Bokaer of Ithaca, New York, was 'paralyzed with fear' when she heard a speech about the medical effects of a nuclear war. For the next three years she tried not to think about the reality of the arms buildup and instead, to concentrate on more pleasant things.

But one evening she went to a play she didn't know would be about nuclear war. She thought she was going to see a comedy. She was even less aware on that night, that her life was about to take a distinct turn.

One scene depicted the aftermath of a nuclear exchange. The stage was empty except for a child in the corner crying for her mother. 'That scene broke through all my fear and numbing and I sobbed for hours,' says Bokaer. 'That night my own image of a nuclear war surfaced in my mind; it was Ithaca in the aftermath and I couldn't find my daughters. It was so vivid. All of a sudden, it all became very real to me.' Bokaer quit her job as a first grade teacher to work full time for peace.

Bokaer spent 3 years painstakingly investigating the history of the arms race and the people who are involved. As a single parent, she had to cash in her teaching pension to keep her family going. It was a time of belt-tightening and no money for 'frills' like medical insurance.

During that time, she tackled the military, economic, and psychological issues that propel the arms race beyond the requirements of defense. She researched reports, books, articles and government documents which present the views of the major players in the U.S. defense establishment in their own words.

'What I found out and continue to find, is a real discrepancy between what our government is saying in the media and what its ‘real' objectives are,' she says. According to Bokaer, there are many powerful people in our government who believe the US can win a nuclear war if our casualties are kept below 20 million. Joan points out that the Pentagon's Five Year Plan--leaked to the New York Times--forecast this 'winnable' nuclear war strategy.

Some of those who believe a nuclear war can be won are members of a group called the Committee on the Present Danger. (The 'present danger' was defined as the Soviet Union.) Several members, she points out, were in key cabinet positions or served in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

A private group, the large and influential American Security Council, which was made up of former military and CIA officials, used the media, Bokaer said, to 'confuse the public into believing there's an ever greater need for more and more weapons.' Considerable funds were made available to the Council by major defense contractors. And, 'since most of us are not experts,' Bokaer said, 'our perceptions of the Soviet Union will be influenced by who is telling us about them. Those who profit do the telling.'

As Director of Citizens' Network, with offices at Cornell University, Bokaer started speaking to about 100 groups a year, explaining why nuclear war was not inevitable.

'Teaching was good preparation for the work I'm doing now,' she said. Her understanding of effective speaking and group dynamics and her persistent research help her reveal the forces behind the arms race and show people how they can help stop the arms buildup. 'It's a mistake to think that only scientists and the academics can understand the political, economic and technical issues of the arms race,' she says.

One speech, entitled, 'Nuclear Weapons; Who's in charge?,' is about first strike and what keeps the arms race going. Others are titled, 'From Fundamentalism to First Strike' and 'The New Right, the Religious Right, and the Armageddon.'

Joan Bokaer says she listens carefully. It is her ability to listen with an open mind, observers say, that characterizes her effective, non-threatening, approach to a threatening and potentially overwhelming topic. 'I have a real desire to understand where other people are coming from,' she says. 'I try to walk in their shoes.'

Before talking with a member of the Committee on the Present Danger, for instance, she'll arrive early to sit in the lobby outside his office. There she tries to imagine, from his point of view, what it might feel like to be interviewed by her. Once she is in his company, she asks to understand his perspective. She does not argue. She does not edit.

With a briefcase full of facts, and an ability to convey complex and controversial information to a wide spectrum of audiences, Joan carries what she has learned to city clubs, peace and social justice groups, colleges and church groups. Time permitting, she breaks for discussion during her presentations. 'With this kind of information you have to give people the chance to react,' she says. 'I ask them to pair up and talk about what they've heard and what they're thinking. There will be silence for a moment, and then the noise level rises to a dull roar.'

According to Joan, three main ingredients keep the U.S. side of the arms race going: a profit motive which leads to an intentionally misinformed public; the exploitation of our deep-seated fear of getting hurt and our need to protect ourselves, which results in 'worst case' scenarios about the Soviets; and people's remarkable ability to create rational-sounding arguments built on faulty premises.

'We focus on the details and lose sight of the whole,' she says. She quotes officials and academics who, for instance, admit that nuclear war is a terrible thing, but says that it's mostly 'just a physics problem' or those who say that we can't have arms control because 'the treaties would be dangerous.' Or those who construct elaborate arguments based on the premise that the USSR has already achieved first strike superiority. 'Not so,' says Joan, citing reliable data, known to those making this argument, that prove this is not so.

Given that so many people feel powerless in the face of the arms buildup, one might wonder what keeps Bokaer going. 'Once my image of nuclear war surfaced, there was no turning back,' she says. 'It didn't matter how hard it was going to be. Fortunately, I discovered that working for peace is much more fun than hiding from war.'

'I'd love to be in charge of the arms control negotiations,' she says. 'I'd have everyone bring their families and then meet in small groups to talk about their hopes and dreams and how they got hurt somewhere along the line. They would talk for days. Then we would brainstorm how to get out of this mess.'

Joan Bokaer has specific suggestion for what each of us can do to begin to reduce the chance of a nuclear war. 'At the minimum,' she stresses, 'join a peace group, preferably one with a national focus. That way, even if you don't have time to work for peace, you can give money for lobbying and you can get a regular newsletter, an alternative to the information in the media. Be informed. It's hard to trick people who have knowledge.'

UPDATE: In 1990, Joan Bokaer worked with the International EcoCity movement, organizing A Global Walk for A Livable World—one hundred people walking from Los Angeles to New York. She also organized the Third International EcoCity Conference in Senegal, West Africa. In the year 2000, she founded TheocracyWatch to speak out against the religious right's influence on the Republican Party. You can see her work at http://www.theocracywatch.org/