Linus Pauling and the International Peace Movement Narrative  
Home | Search | All Documents and Media | Linus Pauling Day-By-Day
Oslo
<  42  >

Through the spring of 1961, the Paulings spent much of their time organizing, writing invitations, arranging travel, and finding ways to pay for their Oslo peace meeting. Pauling convinced Bertrand Russell, Albert Schweitzer, and twenty other notables to act as sponsors for what he was calling the "Conference to Study the Problem of the Possible Spread of Nuclear Weapons to More Nations or Groups of Nations." Everyone called it the Oslo Conference. The gathering drew sixty scientists from fifteen nations, including four from the USSR. Everything went smoothly, and the result, the "Oslo Statement," called for an end to the spread of nuclear weaponry, a complete test ban, and the study of ways to transition from military to nonmilitary economies. A public reading of the statement drew some five hundred people to Oslo’s great Aula meeting hall. "Everything has gone along almost perfectly," Pauling enthused when it was over. "The Aula meeting was grand." The event was capped with a torchlight parade through the streets of Oslo.

Previous Page Next Page


See Also: "Oslo Statement." May 7, 1961. 
See Also: "Rally for Peace." May 10, 1961. 
See Also: Letter from Linus Pauling to Nikita Khrushchev. October 18, 1961. 
See Also: Letter from Nikita Khrushchev to Linus Pauling. October 27, 1961. 

Click images to enlarge 

Picture
Group portrait of participants at the Oslo Conference. 1961.


Page 1
List of Oslo Conference participants. April 10, 1961.

"The real success of the conference was the uninhibited exchange of views. Participants left the conference with a greater understanding of the points of agreement and division. I was impressed by the evidence of goodwill, and by the determination of all who attended the conference -- particularly those from the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. -- to reach agreement."

Walter Boas
July 1961
Home | Search | All Documents and Media | Linus Pauling Day-By-Day