Inspired by Schweitzer and Einstein, he was dismayed by the destruction of the Vietnam War and the threat of nuclear conflict between the US and USSR. He set out to organize ordinary citizens to persuade governments to renounce war as a means of resolving international disputes and to abandon the so-called "balance of terror" of the arms race.
深受史懷哲與愛因斯坦人道精神所感召的他，眼見越戰造成的巨大傷亡、又看到冷戰時期，美蘇對峙、核戰一觸即發的危險，因而出來呼籲團結人民的力量，反對國家以戰爭來解決紛爭，以武器競爭來製造恐怖均衡。