The arrival of American nuclear ships to New Zealand
The USS Truxton was second United States ship to come to New Zealand. It was not received well by New Zealanders after the incident with the USS Texas in 1983 which was nuclear power and violated New Zealand's anti nuclear idealology. The USS Texas was unbeknownst to New Zealanders the first of many nuclear powered warships to come to New Zealand. The USS Texas, sparked anti nuclear rallies which were held on both land and sea, especially when the arrival of a nuclear powered ship arrived in New Zealand waters. The next ships to arrive in New Zealand waters were the USS Long Beach and USS Truxton. These ships were received with protestors sailing around the
ships in an attempt to stop them from entering the ports. There was obviously still controversy surrounding the nuclear powered USS Texas. The 1976 visit of the two cruisers had attracted so much attention that the Civil Defence on both occasions had to create a public safety headquarters for the duration of each visit that year, and the years to come.
Actions were once again taken against the other visits by nuclear propelled ships like the USS Pintado in 1978, and the USS Haddo in 1979. However this time what was different was the fact that New Zealand had ultimately decided that it was nuclear free and would remain so. New Zealanders were aware of the risks created by nuclear weapons and testing through the testing affects on the Marshallese people and the islands of Mururoa and the Mururoa protests that followed suit. However despite the pleas of the people to stop the ships, and not come in with nuclear weapons and reactors, the United States policy was to neither "confirm or deny" made New Zealanders edgy and anti American.
What followed of this was the fact that New Zealanders no longer felt threatened by the Soviet Union as seen by the United States, and New Zealand opinion was augmenting in favour of banning the ship visits, and continued to percolate amongst the mind set of many New Zealanders. New Zealand's fear of the Soviet Union was gone, and been replaced by nuclear weapons. Then the Government at the time led by Robert Muldoon of the National Party saw the visits as an important continuation of the ANZUS treaty and agreement, which continued to anger and frighten New Zealanders, of the possibility of an unexpected catastrophe.
ships in an attempt to stop them from entering the ports. There was obviously still controversy surrounding the nuclear powered USS Texas. The 1976 visit of the two cruisers had attracted so much attention that the Civil Defence on both occasions had to create a public safety headquarters for the duration of each visit that year, and the years to come.
Actions were once again taken against the other visits by nuclear propelled ships like the USS Pintado in 1978, and the USS Haddo in 1979. However this time what was different was the fact that New Zealand had ultimately decided that it was nuclear free and would remain so. New Zealanders were aware of the risks created by nuclear weapons and testing through the testing affects on the Marshallese people and the islands of Mururoa and the Mururoa protests that followed suit. However despite the pleas of the people to stop the ships, and not come in with nuclear weapons and reactors, the United States policy was to neither "confirm or deny" made New Zealanders edgy and anti American.
What followed of this was the fact that New Zealanders no longer felt threatened by the Soviet Union as seen by the United States, and New Zealand opinion was augmenting in favour of banning the ship visits, and continued to percolate amongst the mind set of many New Zealanders. New Zealand's fear of the Soviet Union was gone, and been replaced by nuclear weapons. Then the Government at the time led by Robert Muldoon of the National Party saw the visits as an important continuation of the ANZUS treaty and agreement, which continued to anger and frighten New Zealanders, of the possibility of an unexpected catastrophe.
Key Historical Idea
The key historical idea that came out of this action was that New Zealand was also now not only an independent nation, but also not afraid to embraces the differences of another diplomatic state like the Soviet Union which in turn worried the United States. This in itself led to the downfall of the ANZUS agreement, but to the majority of New Zealanders it was seen as a sacrifice that had to be made in order to secure a safe nation free from the threat of a nuclear fallout or accident. The arrival of the American Nuclear Naval ships saw the largest mobilisation of New Zealanders for the anti nuclear protests, with citizens getting out on their boats to protest. The fact that America would neither confirm or deny is what sparked outrage and movement, many saw it as the fact these were our allies and that they wouldn't take heed of our choices to be nuclear free, and chose to come into our ports. This was for many, along with the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior the crux of the matter surrounding anti nuclear in New Zealand.