Anti-Nuclear Rally : Peace Trek Steps Off in ‘60s Mood

About 1,200 marchers for nuclear disarmament began a coast-to-coast trek across America on Saturday from the steps of Los Angeles City Hall, hauling along a “portable city” on what has been hailed as the Great Peace March of 1986.

In a scene reminiscent of the Vietnam and civil rights protests of the 1960s, hundreds of sympathizers carrying balloons, flowers and placards joined the marchers as they left Memorial Coliseum and trekked to a City Hall rally, raising their hands and flashing the peace sign as they sang, “All We Are Asking, Is Give Peace a Chance.”

Walking an average of 15 miles a day, six days a week, the marchers will spend 225 nights on the road in 15 states as they slowly wind their way across the Mojave Desert, over the Rocky Mountains, through the Great Plains and down New York City’s famed Broadway before joining thousands of others for a climatic walk to the Capitol Mall in Washington on Nov. 15.

‘Take the Bombs Down’

Actor Robert Blake, who vowed to walk all the way to Washington, said that no matter what obstacles the marchers may encounter along the way, the message that “America wants to take the bombs down now” has already been delivered.

Mayor Tom Bradley told the crowd gathered outside City Hall: “You will deliver a message not just to America, but around the world, that we march for peace.”

Noting that organizers of the Great Peace March of 1986 had difficulty getting liability insurance to protect marchers during the 3,235-mile hike, Bradley said, “This idea is bigger than any insurance company.”

The crowd roared its approval.

The trek began before noon from the park in front of the Coliseum, the main arena for the 1984 Summer Olympics, as David Mixner, the 39-year-old director of the group that organized the Great Peace March, yelled out, “Let’s go folks, across the country.”

The marchers shouted back in response and set out under gray skies, singing songs like “Amazing Grace” and “Down by the River Side . . . Ain’t Gonna Study War No More” as they moved five-deep through city streets, stretching out eight blocks and tying up downtown traffic.

They paused for about three hours at City Hall, crowding around a stage for an emotional rally featuring such celebrities as the rock group Mister Mr., singers Melissa Manchester and Holly Near and performers Teri Garr and Ed Begley Jr.

Major donors to the group included celebrities Paul Newman and Barbra Streisand, as well as businessmen like Harold Willens and Max Pavlesky, who have long helped support the peace movement.

“I gave my up house and my job in Boulder (Colo.) for this,” said Mary Ann Dickinson, 27. “I did it because this is direly needed. We’ve got to make people aware that there’s a loving world out there, and that we don’t need nuclear weapons.”

Many of the marchers wore flowers in their hair and peace patches on blue denim jackets, making the protest reminiscent of the late 1960s when thousands demonstrated against the Vietnam War.

‘Movement Is Still Alive’

“The movement is still alive,” said Jack Peters, a San Diego attorney who said he decided to suspend his law practice until the fall “because we’re talking life and death here.”

“I just think of it as an 8 1/2-month business trip,” said Fred Guerra, a 28-year-old social worker from Santa Cruz. “This thing is way more important than making a few bucks.”

Mary O’Reilly Brown, 63, from Pleasant Hill, Calif., said she had no hesitation about leaving her seven children behind.

“I thought it was a great idea for raising people’s consciousness,” she said.

The peace march was planned for nearly two years. About $20 million had to be raised to pay for what will constitute a portable city--2,500 tents and 70 trailers hauling kitchens, showers, laundry machines, generators and a mobile hospital.

The biggest cost of the giant peace demonstration is food, an estimated $9.5 million. A typical breakfast will require 625 dozen eggs, 375 pounds of potatoes and 40,000 ounces of juice, organizers predicted.

The traveling town includes a library, general store, day-care facilities, a radio station--even a portable church for religious services.

Planning Since 1984

The march was conceived in April, 1984, by Mixner, whose political involvement began during the Kennedy and Vietnam eras. He is also the director of PRO-Peace (People Reaching Out for Peace), which has a staff of 75 that has planned details of the march.

For weeks, many of the participants, all of whom needed a doctor’s approval, have been gearing up for the rigorous hike by walking about 18 miles a day. About 15% of the marchers are over 65 years old, 11% are military veterans and 30% are students.

They spent the first night of the march on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles.