Rustin, Bayard, 1912-1987

Abstract

Charles Bloomstein (1913 - 2002) was involved in a number of organizations that promoted civil rights, as well as peace. He was a conscientious objector during World War II, and served in Civilian Public Service (CPS) for three years.

Overview CNVA was one of the first American peace groups to focus on nonviolentdirect action including civil disobedience. Its purpose of organizing imaginative and dramatic protest demonstrations on both land and sea attracted radical pacifists and called the attention of the American public to the atrocities of nuclear warfare. CNVA's first protest action was a vigil held outside the atomic weapons test grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1957. In the second half of its existence CNVA efforts began to...