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The
Larry Bogart Archives Memorial Book
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His generous
spirit will be sorely missed, but we
can take heart and
solace that his
inspiration will continue in many
minds and hearts.
~ John W. Gofman,
Ph.D, M.D.
|
January 20,
1914
August 19, 1991
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Preface
On August 19,
1991, a good man, Larry Bogart, graduated from Planet
Earth -- no doubt
with highest honors.
Under
his low-key guidance,
the people of this country defeated over 100 proposed
nuclear plants. He
raised funds to stop the dread reprocessing center at
Barnwell, South Carolina,
a dirty process which would have, after a fashion,
"closed" the nuclear
fuel cycle.
He
personally headed
off the breeder, a plutonium maker, cooled with liquid
sodium, which flames
upon contact with air...he drove it out of 6 proposed
locations in the
state of New York and a 7th in Pennsylvania, down into
Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
home of all things nuclear...and in due time the
scientific community said
not only no, but hell no...
Thousands, literally
thousands of us came to know Larry one-on-one through
the Citizens Energy
Council, as he conscientiously chronicled the nuclear
age with his one-
man publication. I take no small pride in being
included in his Honor Roll
for "civic responsibility" which helped to stop the
spread of nuclear power...and
there are nearly 400 of us who worked closely with
him.
He
didn't think so,
but time may show that what he did was enough --
minuscule, like a walnut
moving in its shell, as his teacher Gurdjieff used to
say -- but that little
bit was enough.
~
Joy McNulty
Introduction
Larry
often said, "I
am going to sue them for mental anguish!" What could
be more anguishing
than to know, so clearly, as he did, that we are on
a path that will ultimately
make oxygen dependent life on Earth impossible; that
will destroy the protective
immune system of humans and animals; that is
throwing long-lived poisons
into our air, water and food; and that is developing
elaborate plans to
poison space.
As
soon as Larry understood
what was going on back in the early 1960`s, he
dropped the comfort of his
high paying executive salary and devoted himself to
the task of averting
disaster. His life was a testament to the highest
aspirations of service.
Larry
was right. Radioactivity
IS seeping out all over -- into everything. For
example, barrels of radiation
waste dumped 30 years ago into the oceans off the
coast of Massachusetts,
New Jersey, California and other spots, are now
breaking open, resulting
in massive fish kills which will surely lead to
other impacts. Everyday
releases from the world's 400-some nuclear power
plants accumulate in human
bodies. Previously unknown infectious
diseases, resulting from weakened
immunity, are emerging -- now ratified by a recent
announcement of cases
of patients with "AIDS" symptoms but, with no virus!
And "Lyme Disease"
with no tick!
Larry
understood what
we are headed for.
What
can we do to carry
forward his work? Larry never gave up -- to his last
day when he was on
the way to the post office to circulate still more
critical information
among his wide range of friends.
As
Larry never gave
up, we must not give up. The power of life, combined
with the power of
our Faith will create a turn in the path we are now
on, and an alternative
to the devastation we face.
"Faith can move
mountains."
~ Sara
Shannon
I
never met Larry,
but have been a subscriber to his newsletter for over
20 years. I
depended on his understanding, insights, conviction,
impy sense of humor
and fearless and wise use of strong adjectives and
adverbs. What
will we do now?
It
was wonderful
that Larry could inspire and work with all those
people whose understanding
of nuclear physics, statistics, medicine, etc. enabled
them to know what
they were talking about. Larry knew that we all
needed each other
and strove to bridge the gap.
I
could go on
and on-as I'm sure could many others. Maybe our
best stories should
be compiled into a memorial book for Larry.
~ Joanne
Ashley
Sometimes
looking into his beautiful China-blue eyes, so full of
heavenly lights,
would cause me to take a deep uncomfortable measure of
myself. Other
times, I would find real contentment just sharing a
room with him.
Our connection was often without words or shared ideas
or interests, and
inconstant, but at the time of his passing, I knew
that I had lost a real
friend.
I'll always remember
the helping hand he extended me at what he correctly
perceived as difficult
times for me. His love and concern for our son, Tino
meant something that
I' ll always cherish, and I'll never forget how much
he was loved by this
very special man.
From this time
on, we in his family, will sense a void in our
gatherings where this extraordinary
and perplexing man once was. He is sorely
missed.
~ Susan
Bogart
Larry's Daughter in law
I love
him and I'm
sad about it.
~Tino
Bogart
Larry's 3 year old
Grandson
Larry
will always be
with us. His information and encouragement
helped us successfully
fight the establishment of an immense nuclear power
park in northern Minnesota.
As he gave himself for others, Larry led a holy quest
to protect the planet
and its inhabitants from nuclear fission. May
his spirit live forever.
~Elaine
Chesley
You must believe
firmly as I do that, in the not very distant future,
Larry will be recognized
nationwide as the extraordinary patriot, visionary,
humanitarian and successful
antinuclear activist that he was. He was the
wake-up call for us
all and the most important and appropriate thing we
can do in his memory
is to push on with the struggle, gathering support and
strength to banish
the nuclear menace in all its forms forever.
Nothing
less will do in love for Larry and his leadership.
~Kits
Culver
Larry Bogart:
A mind and hand of steel, unswerving on one issue; the
central issue of
our generation and those to come -- nuclear
power. Larry's stance
caught me up and has carried me on since 1966.
His materials are
now among my papers at the University of New Hampshire
Library.
~Annette
B. Cottrell
Larry and I go back a
very long
time...Larry was a man who understood. I am
saddened by this great
loss.
~Eileen
Jenkins
There are simply
no words to express my measureless gratitude to Larry
for his generous
assistance to us in our (eventual) defeat of plans to
install nuclear power
in Wisconsin.
When we began
our struggles in 1973, he came to feed our
impoverished minds with an endless
stream of information and fill our quaking hearts with
such courage and
determination that, a year later, the impeccably cool
chief PR official
of Wisconsin Electric pounded the table in fury and
declared LAND "the
absolute worst grass-roots anti-nuclear bunch in the
whole country."
Without Larry,
there would probably be no nuclear plant moratorium in
Wisconsin today
and thousands of radiation victims would be dead,
dying or unborn.
I
felt honored
to have known Larry. His superior qualities of
mind and heart were
always blended with that quality which is the hallmark
of the truly great
-- absolute humility.
I
know that through
the efforts to preserve his lifework, he will not be
forgotten.
~Gertrude
Dixon
The quotation is spoken by
Horatio as
Hamlet is dying, if memory serves me.
I cried when I read it in
high school.
I cry now.
"Now cracks a noble
heart,
Good night, Sweet Prince
Flights of angels sing
thee to thy rest."
~Mary B.
Miller
The first
time I heard his name was when a long-since forgotten
acquaintance called
and told me that I should send some of the fact sheets
I'd compiled against
atomic power plants to a man by the name of Larry
Bogart who was quoted
in the New York Times as saying that atomic power was
the answer to New
York's air pollution problems. I remember
thinking there was one-chance-in-a-million
that I could affect someone so strongly in favor of
the atom.
A
few days later
I followed through and was surprised and delighted to
hear Larry say that
he had indeed read my material and would like to
discuss it. At the
suite of offices he had at the time in the UN Plaza
building (money flowed
in then, as now, to anyone proclaiming the virtues of
the atom), he told
me that he had begun to have misgivings, and that
there were a few questions
especially troubling to him; my fact sheets and the
items that I'd collected
added to these concerns.
He
said he couldn't
promise me anything except that he would seek answers
to the questions.
It was only a few weeks before Larry invited me to
attend a meeting and
news conference held in a church near his
office. He announced then
that he had been wrong in promoting atomic power as
the solution to anything,
that it was a dangerous technology being poorly
handled, and that from
then on he would be promoting safer, saner energy
alternatives.
This honest statement
and the commitment that came with it affected me
beyond any words I have
to explain. How many people are honest or humble
enough to admit
having been in error and willing to correct their
course? I knew
that I had found a rare treasure -- a man I quickly
came to honor in a
way I had previously honored only my own father.
Larry proved
to be that one-in-million I thought that he would have
to be to respond
in so positive a way. But he was
one-in-a-million in many other ways
as well.
His values
were so completely spiritual, and how refreshing that
in an age where most
people -- and sadly even those who consider themselves
"good" people --
really worship the god of money. It was not long
before Larry had
to leave the suite of offices and learn to work from
his home and largely
on a shoestring.
Indefatigable
and gifted in public speaking, he quickly made
converts in virtually every
state. His letters and articles, the books he
contributed to, the
wonderful newsletters, his testimony before Congress
and various licensing
boards, his dedicated work and encouragement to others
...these go far
beyond the ability of any single person to know or
remember.
I
honestly don't
think that any single human being has done more to
alert the public to
the hazards of nuclear power than Larry. No one is
more indebted to Larry
than I am because it was he who saw the possibilities
for a book in the
materials I brought to him in 1967. This led to
my publication of
Perils of the Peaceful Atom, with Richard Curtis as
co-author.
Larry also introduced
me to many other wonderful people -- some living some
departed, but who
will live on as he will in minds and hearts of all who
knew them.
The grief that
we feel is a natural reaction to our loss, but it is
overcome by the belief
that for Larry, as for all who do God's work on earth,
death is not the
end of life but a transformation to eternal
life. And hence our temporary
loss is, I believe, Larry's eternal gain. A
friend with whom I shared
a few of my most precious memories said that when God
calls someone like
Larry it is to continue, on a higher plane and under
infinitely better
circumstances, work that person had started on earth.
I
remember that
Larry was pleased to be "on the side of the angels"
with regard to nuclear
power. I think that he is much closer to them
now and able to accomplish
even more for the preservation of a livable
environment on earth.
So while we will all deeply miss the wonderful friend,
companion, leader
and spokesman Larry was, I hope that all who knew him
will join me in thanking
God for the enormous privilege of having known and
loved him.
To
his family,
I can only extend heartfelt sympathy and the hope that
remembering how
much Larry had meant -- will always mean to so many
people -- also brings
a measure of comfort. Not only for what he did,
so tirelessly and
faithfully, but for the example he set and the
inspiration he will always
be. REST IN PEACE AND JOY, MY GOOD FRIEND, MAY GOD BE
WITH YOU ALWAYS
~Bette
Hogan
If
my late husband,
Dr. Joseph Meiers, were here today he would wish me to
add a tribute to
his friend, that indomitable fighter for the
environment and opponent of
nuclear energy, as Larry spoke so eloquently at his
memorial six years
ago.
So
in his name
and in mine, let me say how grateful we have been to
have the friendship
of and opportunity to cooperate with this brave and
dedicated man, Larry
Bogart.
~Annie
Dix Meiers
I don't
think Larry and I ever met. If we did, it was
for a thirty second
handshake at Critical Mass in 1974.
Nevertheless, he has been a presence
in my life for almost 20 years, beginning in 1972 when
we formed the North
Anna Environment Coalition and began to draw upon his
expertise for our
long, long opposition to those fault-sited reactors.
His information
and inspiration were invaluable, but the most
memorable mail that he ever
sent me was a postcard with two words: DON'T REST!
He
himself certainly
never did, even when age, infirmity and discouragement
might have slowed
other people.
The
planet has lost
one of its major protectors.
~June
Allen
No believer in death, yet I
mourn
for the loss that is ours.
But for you Larry, our
unique herald,
I do not perceive that
you will cease
from striving.
With fervor and with
hope in your new mode
of being
I salute you!
You were and are a
gentle-man
in the full first sense
of that name.
You were and are a
priest
more real than many
purported so to be.
I discern you on the
ramparts of the Spirit
resuming, after a
respite, your barely
uninterrupted watch
over this well beloved
planet, guiding
us ever;
and I pray
that illuminated by the
far-glowing light
of conviction
we may carry forward
unestranged
your warning, imbuing all
whom we meet
with the awareness that
you, Larry,
were the first to kindle.
~Mariquita
Platov
Larry Bogart
was a foremost member of our movement against the
horrors of nuclear power.
He will always be remembered as a leader in the Hudson
Valley opposition
to Indian Point and for his tireless opposition to an
atomic facility at
Cementon. His counsel inspired thousands...
So
I feel saddened
by his passing, but also eternally grateful that God
led me through life
to my meeting with Larry Bogart in 1977. Since
that time, we've been
close friends, but now I can hope to emulate this
great teacher and learn
more deeply.
Through the dedicated
work of Larry Bogart, the world had been warned of
impending nuclear disaster;
now it is our responsibility to fight on. With
love, gratitude and
thanks to one of the greatest people I've ever
met. God bless you,
Larry.
~Michael
Walsh
...Of course, those
of us left
behind will miss his physical presence, but his spirit
is and will be with
us in peace, love and light.
~Ed
Pearson
I
didn't know
Larry for long, but it was a privilege--a real
inspiration--to know him
at all. I'm sorry that he didn't live to see his
complete victory.
~John
G.H. Oakes
There is
no truer martyr than Larry to the cause of ridding the
world of its most
dire peril. His dedication will shine to the day
of nuclear extinction
OR salvation.
~Milly
Clapp
I believe
that in time many more thousands of individuals will
come to recognize
and appreciate Larry's service to humanity.
I
never had the
opportunity to get to know Larry on a more personal
level, but our association
in the cause of putting an end to radioactive
pollution was one that was
enlightening and supportive to me. I always
admired his ability to
pinpoint what was quintessentially important in the
voluminous information
he amassed. I will miss Larry's communication
and his presence in
the continuing fight for a healthy and peaceful world.
~Miriam
Goodman
Larry Bogart
was of course an inspiration to me. While our
long periodic phone
visits let me take advantage of his extraordinary
store of knowledge, they
also restored my hope that we can win -- that we can
shut down all nuclear
power plants, and that people can make a difference.
Because Larry
kept bouncing back with energy and determination--and
hope--he forced the
rest of us to keep trying. His encouraging and
sometimes complimentary
comments to me were invigorating and challenging.
I
don't know
how many of us were leaning on his shoulders. I
just know I was.
~Kay
Drey
The light that
shines from you heart has touched many others...the
world needs more people
like you.
~Aurora
Burnell
We
feel as if
we have lost a family member. His place will be
very empty, but we
must carry his message to all who will listen.
~ Irene
and Leon Dickinson
It is with
profound heartfelt Christian love I offer my prayers
in behalf of our dear
and beloved friend Larry. Truly, he has been an
example par excellence
to our fragile humanity. I shall continue to thank god
for his enlightenment.
~John
Nickolitch, St. Mary's
Friary
Larry Bogart's
contribution was not limited to his unequaled effort
in slowing down significantly
the proliferation of nuclear power. He will be
remembered, perhaps with
greater fondness, as a person who strove to practice
the golden rule on
a cosmic scale.
~Robert
Cobb
We share
the gratitude for Larry's patience, imagination,
creativity, common sense,
foresightedness, and grit...His pulling us together
across the continent
meant we couldn't fail. And I don't believe we shall.
Larry was great!
~Faith
Young
I
first met Larry
in 1980. We were introduced by a poster hanging on the
wall in Anna Gyorgy's
office at Critical Mass. The poster was a rather
eye-catching front
page of the Des Moines Register, proclaiming a
catastrophic atomic disaster
at
Indian Point, and the panic
that has resulted
in the Northeast. The paper as dated 2 years into the
future.
The poster caught
my attention. And I wanted to meet the creative,
imaginative designer.
For I was trying to catch the attention of General
Electric before GE's
reactors popped a containment. I confess that I was a
novice about these
dangers, atomic, Larry was repeatedly recommended as
being the most knowledgeable
source. When I read John Gofman's book Irrevy, I
noticed that it was dedicated
to Larry Bogart. So I just HAD to meet this wise
person.
Larry poured
a flood of information through my mail box in the last
10 years. I've learned
more than I ever WANTED to learn about radiation
hazards. But he also inspired
me to work harder than I ever wanted to stop the
radiation-mongers. Each
year he helped me draft new stockholder proposals to
submit to GE. And
he accompanied me to talk personally to Chairman Jack
Welch, to help educate
GE about the hazards they generate.
GE
immortalized
Larry Bogart and another anti-nuclear giant, Leo
Goodman, in GE's magazine
reporting the stockholder meeting that was held in
Richmond, Virginia in
1982. GE showed a closeup photo of these two dignified
"stockholders" attentive
to the proceedings. If GE ever does de-nuclearize and
"Bring Good Things
to Life", it will be in large part due to the direct
and indirect influence
of Larry Bogart.
Larry has certainly
changed and enriched my life, and I want to publicly
express my love and
appreciation of his influence.
~
Pat Birnie
Whenever
I turn on the stove, go out into the sun, swim in the
Gulf, I will always
think of Larry. Restoring our energy with the use of
natural resources,
no nukes, no coal, less oil, this was his dream. And
it WILL become a reality
because of Larry and all those he inspired to think
and act good, green,
healthy and pure.
His persistence
and tenacity made one work that extra hour, give up
that second meal, think
positive, and most all, stand up and shout, "ENOUGH IS
ENOUGH!"
We
must question
authority, we must educate the little guy, the poor
guy and most of all,
the mixed up greedy bums in Washington.
Women WILL change
the world, a statement made, followed and believed by
Larry Bogart. He
will always have a special place in my heart. And if
God is willing, I
will be around to see his dream fulfilled.
Wherever you are,
Larry, I know we will receive a newsletter any time
now!
~ Betty
Schroeder
Larry
Bogart...Modern Age Atlas
By Dorothea Seeber
Larry Bogart entered
this world an old soul with attributes refined and
burnished. He was equipped
with a brilliant mind, an educated heart, and
phenomenal patience, endurance,
and courage.
As a young boy,
when he wasn't buried in books, Larry spent hours in
the woods establishing
close relationships with plants and small animals.
By the age of 12 he
had developed his religious nature to the point
where his Lutheran pastor
asked him to preach at the Sunday evening services.
At that time he expected
to become a priest. This changed in favor of writing
and publishing at
Harvard where he was Secretary of The Crimson and
reported football games
for the Boston Globe.
This flair for
the creative sprang into full bloom after Larry left
Harvard and became
reporter, editor and publisher of 4 local newspapers
on Long Island. Then
came the war and with it a critical challenge in
Larry's life.
By this time
Larry had a wife and son and was therefore not
eligible for the draft.
He took a job overseeing quality control in the
manufacture of proximity
fuses for the Navy. When he discovered
irregularities in the process and
imperfections in the product, he reported them to
his boss, the manager
of Works Progress, who rebuked him soundly. "If you
won't report this,
I will," Larry told him.
"You wouldn't
dare," was the response.
"I can't see
sending defective equipment to our men whose lives
depend on it. So, if
you don't, I will."
"You'll be sorry."
"I promise you,
I shall do it." And he did.
So Larry was
fired and 3 days later was drafted, despite the
protest of the local chairman
of the Draft Board and of the Army Major who had
asked to have Larry in
his command so
that he could write some
of his army manuals.
But in the special order from on high Larry was
branded "troublemaker,"
immediately sent abroad and put in the front line
near Metz. He found himself
in a squad of 120 men who were ordered to attack
after they had swum across
the Moselle River. When the attack was over, 23 men
were alive and Larry,
a lowly private, had become commanding officer.
Subsequent harassments
by the Army are too numerous to mention.
Larry was a man
of contrasts. At home with the savants, he was
equally compatible with
the far less gifted. Essentially a man of peace with
love of gardening,
birds and animals, books, and music, and with active
concern for people
in need and compassion for those suffering, life's
blueprint led him into
25 years of strife.
As Vice-President
in charge of public relations at Allied Chemical,
Larry had an opulent
salary and an expense account that afforded visiting
VIPs lavish hospitality
at restaurants and theaters. He also had a staff of
34 to implement his
ideas.
What changed
Larry's secure way of life was the self-revelation
that man's enthusiastic
embrace of atomic fission could lead to dire
consequences for humanity.
From then until his death there were two motivating
thoughts; the probability
of ill and dying victims of nuclear power, land
timelessly unusable, societies
snuffed out. The other, how to oppose nuclear power
successfully and to
substitute one of the many alternatives. This effort
continued for 25 years.
A psychic once told Larry in 1959 that he would
always have just enough
money for his work but never any for himself. And so
it was. For example,
he cut his own hair, wore $3 shoes from garage
sales and drove a
hand-me-down gift car which expired on April 20th.
It is impossible
to provide a complete picture of this indefatigable,
totally committed
worker. He traveled the country from coast to coast,
a veritable Paul Revere,
stripping nuclear propaganda to the bare bones of
truth. As citizens learned
of threats to health from radioactive emissions, of
nukes built on earthquake
faults, nukes built in populated areas with no
evacuation solutions and
no solutions to nuclear waste, they formed hundreds
of activist groups.
As a result, the construction of 80 plants has been
prevented. Larry effectively
furnished the leadership in providing authentic
information, printed
materials, speakers,
funds and modus operandi.
Countrywide cohesion
has been effected through Larry's biweekly bulletin
which he started 25
years ago. These imparted vital information as did
his many lectures. So
great was the impact of his bulletin received in New
Zealand that a woman
from Aukland came to New York last year to volunteer
her services (free)
for 3 months. And work she did -- no matter what the
assignment.
Many conferences
in different parts of the country have been the
creation and inspiration
of Larry. One such was a two day session held in the
Senate Auditorium
on Earth Day, 1970, for members of Congress. Eager
to impart impassioned
warnings on the grave risks of nuclear domination of
our society were 14
scientists, each an expert in his own field. Among
them were Gofman, Tamplin,
Huever, Martel.
This has been
no ego circuit for Larry. Actually it had increased
agony for him as knowledge
of the frailty of the operation of both plants and
operators has been extracted
from official files. His nightly sleep had been
shattered since he learned
that reports of nuclear accidents (such as TMI 2 the
week of 3/22/90) would
be kept from the public and that 19 plants are now
on the critical list.
Because people at home and abroad sent him such
information as the increasing
incidence in leukemia around nuclear facilities, he
felt personally responsible
for potential innocent victims -- especially the
children. At this point,
however, many of the fighting groups had settled
back in exhaustion, despair
or cynicism, which left him to plan ways and means
for getting the word
out and to coordinate whatever efforts raised their
heads. "No use going
on," they'd say. "The controllers are too powerful,
too rich." "Maybe it's
the Dutchman in me," replied Larry, "but I can't
give it up. Too much at
stake."
In spite of undeviating
dedication to saving humanity wherever threatened,
Larry Bogart always
found time for the small cog in the Universe needing
some expression of
concern and love.
Reflections of
Larry
Karin Westdyk
Read at Memorial
Service September 14,
1991
I want to begin
my comments with a statement made by Larry's little
Grandson, Tino, who,
when asked how he was feeling about losing his
abuelo, replied simply and
eloquently that he loved him and he was very sad.
Tino speaks for
us all.
We all loved
Larry and we will all miss him.
While thinking
about doing this,
I worried about how I was going to be strong enough
to say all the things
that need to be said about Larry without breaking
down.
I
called upon God and
I even called upon Larry to send some strength.
The response
in unison was,
that I would find it within myself.
Larry is
definitely with
the angels..... and all the things that need to be
said about Larry are
here in the faces and hearts of those whose lives
and work Larry has touched
and inspired.
No question about
it, Larry was an inspiration to most of us here.
I would like to
read the last paragraph of a letter which was sent
to Florence, the woman
Larry always referred to as his bride. It was
written by Christopher Cole,
a member of the student Environmental Club at
Fordham University, and a
total stranger. He was apparently inspired to write
the letter after he
had read about Larry's life and death in the New
York Times.
After noting
Larry's great strength, and describing him as a man
obviously ahead of
his time, he adds for Florence, "Most importantly,
is the fact that your
apparent self-sacrifice, dedication and resolve to
support him in his uphill
and undoubtedly frustrating mission is so admirable.
Mr. Bogart has made
a significant and lasting contribution that will
benefit all mankind and
I know that he couldn't have done it without you! "
We all, everyone
here, thank you Florence and your sons, daughters
in-law, and grandsons
for all the sacrifices we know you have made.
While searching
the library of my mind for the right words to use to
describe Larry, tenacious
and kindhearted were always at the top of the list.
And, In talking
to the many who have called to express their
feelings about Larry, I have
heard the word "genius" more than a few times to
describe him.
Florence and
I had a conversation the other day while we cleaned
out the sunporch, one
of the many stations throughout the house Larry
chose to use as an office
and to store his many books and papers. As we both
gazed at the massive
disarray around us, we agreed how difficult it can
be to live with a genius.
Before, I left
with the van filled with part of what will one day
be the Larry Bogart
Memorial Library, my friend gave Florence a loaf of
home made sour-dough
bread. She held it and remembered that she and Larry
had made plans to
retire to New England, and spend leisurely days
baking bread together.
We know, that it would have been some bakery, and we
are sorry it did not
happen for Florence and for Larry.
You will hear
the words of Dr. Ernest Sternglass. Although
Florence has requested that
our words do not only focus on Larry's work, it
would be hard for Ernest
to speak of anything else. Like Larry, who was
the man who first
inspired Ernest to go public with his findings,
Ernest is consumed by a
sense of urgency and motivated by a devout
dedication to justice.
Larry would be pleased by Ernest's words, and
flattered that he was being
credited with inspiring the most recent Russian
revolution.
Lately,
when I think of Larry, I think of the garden he
tended with love and great
joy. He wanted his ashes to be sprinkled on his
tomato plants.
And I think of
the plants he carefully dug and put in pots and old
coffee cans for the
trip to my own garden. These will always be there to
remind me of his kindness
and generosity.
He always had
a smile, a little present, and most of the time, a
solution.
Just a few days
before the accident, he was at my office and met
Sandra Ramos, another
outstanding human being who works to make the world
a better place in the
area of halting domestic violence. Larry had a
solution for her. Wearing
that familiar glint in his eye that seemed to
radiate from his soul, he
said that he would help establish an anti-battering
brigade -- a sort of
all male vigilante troop to go out and batter the
batterers. She said she
liked the idea and Larry said he'd join the brigade.
Larry's brigade
probably would have done more to curtail domestic
violence than all other
measures thus far tried.
In the course
of a lifetime, few of us are fortunate enough to
know and to learn from
one of the truly special individuals that grace this
earth with their presence.
Larry was one of these individuals and has lit the
way for many others.
Larry was described
as "one in a million" by Elizabeth Hogan, the woman
who had sent him some
fact sheets about atomic power plants in the
mid-1960's, which started
him on the long and difficult journey he chose.
She describes
Larry's values as being completely spiritual and
provides us with these
comforting words. "The grief we feel is a natural
reaction to our loss,
but it is overcome by belief that Larry, as for all
who do God's work on
earth, death is not the end of life but a
transformation to eternal life.
And hence, our temporary loss is Larry's gain. When
God calls someone like
Larry, it is to continue on a higher plane and under
infinitely better
circumstances, work that person has started on
earth.
Though we will
deeply miss this wonderful friend, companion, leader
and spokesman, I hope
all who knew him will join me in thanking God for
the enormous privilege
of having known and loved him.
To his family
I can only extend heartfelt sympathy and the hope
that remembering how
much Larry has meant, will always mean, to so many
people, also brings
a measure of comfort. Not only for what he did, so
tirelessly and faithfully;
but for the example he set and inspiration he will
always be." (unquote)
Our loss is profound,
but we must console ourselves -- for Larry's
presence on this Earth was
truly a gift to us all --to his family, his friends,
his co-workers and
to the hundreds of thousands of people who will not
be forced to live downwind
from a nuclear reactor because he cared.
Elizabeth closes
her message with these words for Larry...
"REST
IN PEACE, MY GOOD
FRIEND,
MAY GOD BE WITH
YOU ALWAYS".
Comments by Dr.
John Gofman
Read by Debbie Bogart
September 14, 1991
Larry Bogart has
been an inspiration to countless thousands of
people, myself emphatically
included, with his passion for truth and justice.
Always a tireless
worker in an uphill struggle for humanity...
Always preserving
his sense of humor and his twinkle...
His generous
spirit will be sorely missed, but we can take heart
and solace that his
inspiration will continue in many minds and hearts.
He added a very
great deal to all that counts in life.
~John
Gofman
Friend of Larry
On the Life of
Larry Bogart
by Dr. Ernest
Sternglass
Read by Debbie Bogart
September 14, 1991
As those of us
who have had the privilege of knowing Larry Bogart
are honoring his memory
at a time when the world has suddenly been
transformed and the cold war
has ended in a manner that none of us could have
anticipated, it is fitting
to reflect upon the amazing way in which Larry's
efforts to warn of the
danger of nuclear reactors contributed to this
startling revolution.
Although it was
a handful of atomic scientists led by Albert
Einstein, Bertrand Russell,
Albert Schweitzer and Linus Pauling who first warned
of the danger of nuclear
war in the 1940's and 50's, no one in the scientific
or medical community
expressed any public concern about the danger
presented by the peaceful
atom. Despite the fact that studies of the potential
consequences of a
nuclear reactor accident had been carried out by
scientists at the Brookhaven
National Laboratory during the 1950's for the Atomic
Energy Commission,
the results had been kept secret. The enormously
large number of deaths
and economic damage to society that would result
were so great that it
would have aroused widespread public concern at the
very time when our
government had already decided to proceed with
the construction of
the first commercial nuclear reactor to generate
electricity at Shippingport
near Pittsburgh.
As we now know
from declassified records obtained under the Freedom
of Information Act,
this decision was taken by the Executive Branch of
our government in order
to counteract the rising concern of the public about
the rapidly accelerating
testing of ever more powerful nuclear weapons and
the fallout that had
irradiated Japanese fishermen in the Pacific after
one of the early hydrogen
bomb tests during the height of the cold war.
Tragically, the
fear of Communism combined with the fervent hope
that the peaceful atom
would atone for the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
persuaded the vast
majority of scientists, engineers and physicians
that nuclear weapons are
necessary. It seemed that nuclear reactors which
promised cheap, clean
and limitless sources of energy in a world that
would eventually run out
of fossil fuels had to be built. Thus, an
overwhelming consensus of expert
opinion, perceived military threat, and ignorance of
the full consequences
of low doses of radiation from releases into the
air, the water and the
diet led a handful of political leaders guided by
their scientific advisers
to suppress the results of the Brookhaven Reports,
and to proceed with
a vast program of nuclear reactor construction
unchecked by public scrutiny.
An analogous
fear of western military and industrial superiority
persuaded the leaders
of the Soviet Union to undertake a similar program
of reactor development
for both military and civilian nuclear
reactors and to keep knowledge
of the true extent of the dangers from radioactive
releases from their
people. But because the Soviet Union possessed a
much smaller industrial
and scientific base than the U.S., because secrecy
was easier to maintain
in their police state, and because any criticism or
expression of concern
about nuclear testing or reactor safety was much
more severely repressed,
their program proved to be far more fraught with
serious accidents and
radiation exposures of both workers and the public
than in the U.S.
In the absence
of any knowledge of the true danger, all over the
world the peaceful atom
was perceived as a great boon, holding promise of an
end to an unlimited
supply of energy to light the cities, run the
factories and irrigate the
deserts to make them bloom. Enormous investments
were made by the oil industry
and the major banks in uranium and the means to
produce nuclear fuel that
would be certain to replace coal, gas and oil in all
industrial societies.
In the face of
all these powerful forces favoring the rapid
development of a large nuclear
industry, it took enormous courage and insight for
Larry to examine the
dangers of nuclear reactors when they were first
brought to his attention
by Mary Louise Weik. But once he had convinced
himself of the validity
of concerns about the safety of the large nuclear
plants that were being
rushed into operation, he dedicated himself
completely to the task of warning
and organizing the public with the tools that he,
among all other concerned
individuals knew best how to use the public media
that had been kept in
ignorance of the full extent of the danger.
Although Leo
Goodman to whom Larry went for information had been
the first to intervene
against the licensing of a nuclear plant on behalf
of the union leader
Walter Ruether, it was Larry who recognized the need
to organize grass-roots
opposition if the enormously powerful forces pushing
for the massive construction
of thousands of untried large reactors were to be
stopped. He also recognized
the need to involve concerned scientists who
previously had only been worried
about the effects of radioactive exposures to bomb
fallout, and thus, by
1970, managed to mobilize individuals such as John
Gofman and Arthur Tamplin
as well as myself in the effort to educate the
public.
Within the next
few years the opposition to nuclear plant
construction and licensing by
local citizens grew enormously, fueled by the
increasing efforts
of Larry to organize local citizens, publish
newsletters, arrange news
conferences and mobilize scientists and physicians
who had been unaware
of the dangers of reactors such as George Wald and
Henry
Kendall, whose newly
organized Union of
Concerned Scientists provided vital engineering
know-how to bring out the
technical details of reactor safety problems.
The battle to
halt the further construction of reactors was
finally joined by Ralph Nader,
who organized the first Critical Mass Conference in
1974. Beginning in
the U.S. and then all over western Europe,
demonstrations and sit-ins multiplied,
eventually involving many thousands of ordinary
individuals, both young
and old, representing a new kind of peaceful
revolution that the industrial
world had never seen before. And although the effort
to end the operation
of all nuclear reactors did not succeed, no new
reactors were ordered by
electric utilities in the U.S. after 1978, the year
before the accident
at three mile island vindicated Larry's deep
concern. As a result of the
enormous efforts in organizing the citizen's
opposition to nuclear reactor
construction begun by Larry, only about a hundred
are now operating in
the U.S. instead of the one thousand that had been
planned by the nuclear
establishment.
Thus, Larry achieved
ninety percent of the goal that he had set for
himself, but the full fruits
of his efforts have exceeded anything he could have
imagined. We now know
that it was the grass-roots opposition to nuclear
plants that sprang up
in the Soviet Union after Gorbachev's call for
Glasnost, which grew enormously
after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, that fueled
the nationalist movements
in the Ukraine and other republics of the Soviet
Union, having spread there
from the U.S. and Western Europe. And, on the very
day that Larry died,
August 19, 1991, it was the desire to be freed from
the arbitrary power
of an inhuman technocratically oriented central
bureaucracy that gave the
people of Moscow and Kiev the courage to protest and
man the barricades
in order to gain their freedom.
I like to think
it was Larry's fighting spirit that helped Boris
Yeltsin and the young
people of Moscow to end the Communist tyranny and
with it the threat of
nuclear war that has been hanging over the world for
nearly half a century.
And with the end of the need for a nuclear deterrent
in sight at last,
we can now hope to realize Larry's dream of freeing
the world from the
danger of all forms of nuclear energy, for our
children and the generations
to come.
From the Natural
Rights Center
Newsletter, Fall 1991
By Albert Bates
Larry Bogart died
last month. Most people never heard of Larry Bogart.
Larry Bogart founded
the American antinuclear power movement. Sure, there
was Linus Pauling
and Albert Einstein, and John Gofman. But at a time
when most of those
guys were advocating forging warheads into
reactor-domes, Larry Bogart
was pounding the pavement outside Consolidated
Edison. Larry goes back
to the very beginning, when even the atomic
scientists thought nuclear
power would be cheap, safe, and clean.
Leo Goodman,
David Comey, June Allen, Jeannine Honicker, Pat
Birnie, Harvey Wasserman,
Judy Johnsrud, Faith Young, Joe Harding, Bob
Alvarez, Kitty Tucker, Sam
Lovejoy, Karen Silkwood, Ralph Nader...you can't
name an antinuclear pioneer
that wasn't in some way, directly or indirectly,
influenced by Larry Bogart.
Larry Bogart
was a self-made maverick: a muckraking journalist in
Long Island, a whistle
blower in a defense plant, and a "troublemaker" in
the Army. At the front
near Metz, his commanders tried to get rid of him by
ordering him to swim
the Moselle River under fire and take an enemy
stronghold. When the position
was finally taken, only 23 of his 125-man squad were
alive and Bogart,
a private, had become the squad commander.
As a Vice-President
of Allied Chemical. Larry had an opulent salary, an
expense account and
a staff of 34 to implement his ideas. He gave all
that up in the 1950s
to blow the whistle on nuclear power. He bought $3
shoes at garage sales,
cut his own hair, and drove a hand-me-down gift car.
For 25 years, he spent
all his time, and all his money, just spreading the
word.
Back before there
was a Natural Rights Center there was the Shutdown
Project. Before that
there was the Catfish Alliance. Larry Bogart wove
the disparate threads
of southern anti-nuclear sentiments into that
coalition. Lao Tsu said,
of true leaders, when their work is accomplished,
the people will say,
"We did this ourselves!" Many of the people who came
from 8 southern states
to form the Catfish Alliance (slogan: "No Nukes
Y'all) never heard
of Larry Bogart or knew that he had provided the
spark that became their
bonfire. In a way, Larry was the inspiration for the
creation of our Center.
His no-minced words newsletter, which cost $10/yr --
but only if you could
afford it -- and changed names almost every issue,
was a constant treasure-trove
of research and cutting-edge thinking into alternate
energy futures. Larry
did more than curse the darkness, he cast light.
As I look back
over the past several years, I marvel at the
accelerating pace of our success
as an environmental movement. Recycling has taken
root in virtually every
community. You can go to McDonald's and eat a
meatless meal, from a recycled
paper container. No sooner did we raise an alarm
about global warming than
there was enormous coalescing of nations and peoples
in an attempt to reverse
the destruction. A U.N. global warming convention,
modeled on the Montreal
ozone treaty that paved the way, is in the offing.
Even the rainforests
may yet be served.
The exception
to the rule is nuclear power. It is as if, by the
force of billions of
squandered dollars, we are determined to keep a part
of ourselves frozen
in time -- stuck in the late '40s and early '50s.
For the past
ten years we've argued in court that nuclear energy
is unnecessary because
of the exponential rate at which energy-efficiency
breakthroughs are being
accomplished. In megawatts, as in computers and
semiconductors, the price
of the next new step keeps plummeting, even as
the speed and quality
of innovation skyrockets.
In the memory
of Larry Bogart we dedicate this issue of Natural
Rights -- and rededicate
ourselves -- to that fight which he began.
"And the light shineth
in darkness; and
the darkness comprehended it not."
....John
1:5
From a letter sent to
Larry shortly
before his passing
I
have long intended
to write you concerning your "retirement," though I
know that this retirement
is more apparent than real... It seems the
appropriate time for a few words
of reverent awe as well as great appreciation for
such prodigious achievement
in this seemingly profoundly indifferent
environment.
What
Leo Szillard was
to the nuclear arms race, Pete Scoville was to
nuclear arms control, and
Paul Erlich to the deterioration of the natural
environment, you have been
to the far more insidious (and less apparent to the
public) danger of nuclear
power.
I
continue to marvel
at the inexhaustible eloquence of your
newsletters. You have done
all that any one man could have done -- and are
still doing it. Anything
that I could put into words would be woefully
inadequate to encompass it,
but I do send my recognition of what has taken place
over these years.
~
Allen S. Orton
January 25, 1990
Larry's Notes on
Retiring, found amongst
his books and papers
"In going to the
back bench, I wish to acknowledge the invaluable
help from scores of remarkable
women, especially Mary Hutchinson and Dorothea
Seeber, who have given almost
50 years of their lives to this work, and to my wife
of 50 years, Florence,
who has given me unfailing support and freedom to
give my best energies
to the task."
~ Larry Bogart,
1914-1991
This is a living document.
If you have a special
memory of Larry Bogart and would like it to be added,
please email nirakenna
at yahoo.com.
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