June 15, 1955 - When the Civil Defense Administration attempted to hold a drill simulating a nuclear attack, 27 activists in New York refused to take cover. They handed out pamphlets reading: "We will not obey this order to pretend, to evacuate, to hide. In view of the certain knowledge the administration of this country has that there is no defense in atomic warfare, we know this drill to be a military act in a cold war to instill fear, to prepare the collective mind for war. We refuse to cooperate." The activists, including Catholic Worker Dorothy Day were arrested, and started a wave of protests against Operation Alert that culminated in the end of the drills in 1962. Photo: Dorothy Day (far right), Deane Mowrer (to her right), Ammon Hennacy (fourth from left), and others seated on a park bench at Washington Square Park, New York City, on July 20, 1956, in protest of the mandatory "Operation Alert" civil defense drill. Police subsequently arrested them. Photo by Robert Lax. From: http://go.mu.edu/1p6Qnun Read flier that was distributed: http://bit.ly/164QNbt
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