Throughout the Cold War the prevailing military doctrine was “Mutually Assured Destruction”,
this is a theory of deterrence which saw the Western and Eastern Blocs pointing nuclear weapons at each other
in order to prevent their enemy from using those very same weapons on themselves.
The MAD acronym was no accident, Donald Brennan coined the term in 1962 while working at a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.
He came up with it ironically in order to assert that holding weapons capable of destroying humanity was, well, mad.
At the bottom of the world, a small nation agreed,
and fast forward to 1987 and New Zealand would come to pass the “New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act”,
effectively writing into law that all of its territory would be a nuclear-free zone.
A status which remains to this day.
But in the 1980s this was no ordinary position, it was, well, mad.
So how did New Zealand get to this position?
This will obviously be the topic of this video, but before we get to that, I’d like to mention that this video is part of Project Mad,
a group collaboration from creators who are, well, mad - about the cold war, so once you’re done here, check out the full playlist.
New Zealand had been under the protection of America’s nuclear umbrella since 1951
when they joined Australia and the United States and signed the “The Australia, New Zealand and United States Security Treaty”.
It was under the ANZUS treaty that New Zealand committed troops to fight with the Americans in Vietnam.
But this proved to be an unpopular war and the antiwar movement laid the foundations of anti-nuclear sentiment worldwide.
Needless to say, nuclear weapons were a key part of American military doctrine, and implicit in this deal was the American nuclear deterrent covering New Zealand.
However, New Zealand’s remoteness from the rest of the world lends itself to obscurity,
it’s world-renowned for being forgotten by cartographers after all,
and this obscurity makes it an unlikely target for a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union.
But, the remoteness of the Pacific also made it an ideal location for Nuclear testing,
the United States, along with its British and French allies, made frequent use of pacific remoteness for this purpose.
However, it became apparent that any fallout from tests posed a danger to the people nearby,
so in 1963 the British, American and Soviet governments agreed to ban atmospheric tests,
but every story needs a bad guy and in this story, that role is played by the French,
who were among the nations which did not agree to ban such tests.
New Zealanders though, soon came down with a severe case of “not in my back yard” syndrome.
The Mururoa Atoll in French Polynesia became the centre for both the french tests and the protests against them.
Beginning in 1972, yachts attempting to disrupt the French tests sailed through the exclusion zones in French Polynesia.
The sometimes heavy-handed enforcement of these exclusion zones bolstered anti-nuclear sentiment back in New Zealand.
Nothing like a little police brutality to get a protest movement off the ground right?
With the anti-nuclear movement growing New Zealand and Australia took France to the International Court of Justice
in an attempt to prevent atmospheric tests in the South Pacific.
France however didn’t show up to their court date, arguing the court manifestly lacked jurisdiction,
but the court still gave a preliminary ruling against France.
The New Zealand Prime Minister Norman Kirk responded to France’s disregard for the ruling by sending two navy frigates to the test area,
with a Cabinet minister on board for good measure, the government had now joined the protests!
This resulted in New Zealand gaining a little taste of success,
in 1974 the new French president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, ordered that the tests move underground, but protests would still continue.
As an ally of the United States, it was natural that American navy ships would visit New Zealand Ports,
but these visits also provided an ideal backdrop for protests.
The American policy was to “neither confirm nor deny whether these vessels were carrying nuclear weapons.
But with Kiwi’s at the bottom of the world not really feeling any fear of the red scare,
it seemed to some the more likely scenario for a nuclear detonation on New Zealand soil would involve an allied bomb - and an accident.
As David Lange once quipped: “there’s only one thing worse than being incinerated by your enemies, and that’s being incinerated by your friends”.
Opposition to nuclear-armed ship visits rose from 32% to 72% between 1978 and 1983
when the nuclear-powered frigate USS Texas sparked protests with her visit.
On the 12th of June 1984, then Labour MP, Richard Prebble introduced the “Nuclear Free New Zealand Bill”,
which called for the exclusion of nuclear-powered ships from New Zealand waters.
At the time National held a slim majority in parliament, but one of their members Marilyn Waring crossed the aisle to support the bill from the opposition.
A typically drunk Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, responded to his underlings' disloyalty, by calling a snap election,
resulting in probably the most influential election in New Zealand History.
After a short campaign period, which Muldoon hoped would hurt his opponents more than himself,
a drive for change resulted in the both highest turnout in New Zealand History, and a change in government.
Labour had campaigned promising a nuclear-free New Zealand, and the new Prime Minister, David Lange, had no intention of going back on his promise.
In late 1984, the United States requested the destroyer USS Buchanan visit New Zealand,
she was an aging ship, but capable of launching nuclear depth bomb-equipped Anti-Submarine Rockets.
While under Muldoon, these ships not only welcomed but requested as it allowed him to send the police out to lay down the law on the protesters,
things would be different under Lange. The American’s totally misjudged the political situation Lange was facing at home.
Party and public opinion didn’t allow any wiggle room. Granting access to the ship would have been seen in New Zealand as folding to bullying from the superpower.
The ship wouldn't be allowed entry, and New Zealand would be thrust into the limelight as a disarmament champion.
Against all sensible advice, the sitting Prime Minister accepted an invitation to debate at the Oxford Union on the proposition that 'nuclear weapons are morally indefensible'.
With the help of the quick-witted Prime Minister the Ayes won the night, while also securing an extraordinary international reputation for New Zealand and its leader.
The debate provided a plethora of quotes and soundbites for the media in New Zealand to celebrate the victory,
but the victory in keeping New Zealand nuclear-free was not to be without cost. As the Prime Minister acknowledged at the Oxford Union:
“We have been told by some officials in the United States administration that our decision is not, as they put it, to be cost-free"
"that we are in fact to be made to pay for our action. Not by our enemies, but by our friends."
"We are in fact to be made an example of; we are to be ostracised, we are to be convicted of some form of heresy and put on probation.”
New Zealand's Labour government had no intention of unilaterally withdrawing from the ANZUS treaty.
If push came to shove, and the cold war were to become hot, New Zealand troops would undoubtedly have been available,
and continued military and intelligence cooperation outside of the Nuclear issue was, at least for New Zealand, entirely possible.
But no one was surprised that this proved unworkable for the Australians and Americans.
Australia feared that anti-nuclear sentiment would spread across the Tasman if New Zealand’s policy was allowed to stand without sanction,
and encouraged America to suspend New Zealand from the alliance.
America obliged - and severed military and intelligence ties with New Zealand, and in effect, the ANZUS treaty was in tatters
with US Secretary of State George Shultz confirming that the United States would no longer maintain its security guarantee to New Zealand.
All in all, they were, well, mad, and they wouldn’t have to wait long to demonstrate their contempt,
as New Zealand was about to be attacked.
Just a few months after the Debate, French Secret Service agents placed two mines on the GreenPeace Flagship, Rainbow Warrior, while she was docked in Auckland.
The resulting explosions killed Portuguese-Dutch photographer and crew member Fernando Pereira, and injured several others,
but I guess they did prevent that particular ship from interfering with french tests as it sank in Auckland Harbour.
While most of the French team escaped, two French Secret Service agents were arrested and charged with murder,
both pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and were sentenced to 10 years’ in prison.
To New Zealand, this was a Terrorist attack on home soil, and the fact it was committed by a supposed friend, only made it more shocking.
But one nation’s terrorist is another’s hero; and France wanted its agents returned.
And threatened to impose sanctions against New Zealand produce and block trade access to the European Economic Community to get their way.
The United Nations Secretary-General agreed to mediate between the two countries, and almost a year after the bombing, released a binding decision.
France would officially apologize, and pay 13 million dollars in compensation to New Zealand
and was ordered not to interfere with New Zealand’s trade negotiations; and their agents would be returned to France,
but would need to be “transferred to a French military facility on an isolated island outside of Europe for a period of three years”.
Binding though must mean something different in French, as in what was seen as rubbing salt into the wound in New Zealand,
both agents were returned to mainland France early, with France citing medical issues.
Back in mainland France they were subsequently decorated and promoted.
Terrorist attacks can have a profound impact on a nation, and this would be no exception.
For New Zealanders the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior demonstrated the need to be independent,
while France had worked to block New Zealand exports, traditional allies Britain and America had sat idly by.
It resulted in an upsurge of patriotism in New Zealand, and to be patriotic, a Kiwi must now be anti-nuclear.
Anti-nuclear sentiment had now become part of the Kiwi identity.
So in 1987, the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act passed through the New Zealand Parliament to enshrine this identity in law.
The United States Congress responded with the Broomfield Act, downgrading New Zealand’s status from ally to friend.
But that was a price New Zealanders were ready to pay, and by 1990 even National had adopted anti-nuclear policies.
The New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone would be here to stay.
This video was part of Project MAD, a group collaboration featuring educational videos all about the cold war.
So if you’re interested in cold war topics, and if you're, well, mad enough to have watched to the end, I’d bet you are, check out the playlist in all the usual places.
This video was made with the help of great people like you on Patreon.
The theme tune is by Richard jones And, as always, thanks to everyone who supports the channel.