Video US Conference of Mayors and Mayors for Peace

June 25, 2007

Click the link above to see the US CM video on Mayors for Peace

The US Conference of Mayors gathered in Los Angeles for their 75^h anniversary summer meeting.  For the occasion, the USCM produced ten “Defining Moment” videos to reflect upon its eventful history.   Introducing the video on “International Relations,” Executive Director Thomas Cochran described for the assembled mayors the close relationship that has developed in recent years between the USCM and Mayors for Peace.  The video features the visit of USCM President Mayor Beverly O’Neil to Hiroshima in 2005 and Mayor Akiba’s 2005 Peace Declaration which cites the USCM’s inspiring support for the 2020 Vision.

(Cochran’s introduction and the “Defining Moment” can be seen by clicking here and then sliding the video bar about one fifth of the way over.)
In a letter to the 2020 Vision Campaign Manager, Executive Director Cochran wrote on behalf of USCM, "We congratulate your organization for its 25th Anniversary.  As you know, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has a very strong record of opposition to the use of nuclear weapons, including having our President, Donald L. Plusquellic, speak at the United Nations on this topic in the spring of 2005.  We have been pleased to work with you in this regard."   (He refers to the Mayors Conference at the United Nations organized by Mayors for Peace in conjunction with the NPT Review Conference.  After stepping down as President of USCM, Mayor Plusquellic became a Vice President of Mayors for Peace.)

While at the USCM meeting, old and new members of Mayors for Peace got together with Campaign Manager Aaron Tovish to celebrate our anniversary and that membership in the United States had surpassed the 100 mark.  The celebration soon turned into a strategy session on how US mayors – with an assist from mayors around the world – could promote a more profound debate about nuclear weapons, war and peace, and climate change in the context of the upcoming 2008 federal elections.  One idea that sparked interest was convening World/Town Meetings in City Hall as a forum for citizens and candidates for federal office to discuss these global issues.  Written questions from mayors outside the United States could be used as international points of reference for the discussions.  It was agreed that we would need to move quickly and in concert with other mayoral networks that address the other global issues.