Mary Clarke; Founder of Women’s Antiwar Group

Mary Clarke, 81, a founder and leader of the organization Women Strike for Peace. Clarke helped organize the activist group in 1961 to stage demonstrations that Nov. 1 to protest the testing and stockpiling of nuclear weapons. It was intended to be a one-time effort, but the group decided to continue to protest what it considered other threats to peace. A major and long-range project became maintaining a billboard in West Hollywood with poignant messages such as: “Our Son Tom Died in Vietnam Because a Politician in Washington Refused to Admit His Mistakes.” Others were: “Fascist Terror in Chile. No U.S. Aid!” and “Stop the Nuclear Arms Race Before We Go Broke or Go BOOM!” In 1962, Clarke led a delegation of 10 women to Jakarta, Indonesia, to talk with women from North and South Vietnam about the effects of U.S. bombing. She and two other women also went to Hanoi in 1967 in an effort to end the war. On June 24 in Los Angeles of heart disease and emphysema.