john was an early opponent of the vietnam war. seeing the dangers of the cold war and nuclear proliferation, he generously supported organizations such as project ploughshares. haas co-founded several organizations, including business executives for nuclear arms control (benac), professionals for nuclear arms control (pronac), and the project for nuclear awareness (pna). he was instrumental in supporting the chemical weapons convention, signed by president george h. w. bush and passed through the senate during president bill clinton's term of office. he supported the start treaty and the defusing of cold war tensions by mikhail gorbachev, bush (sr.), and clinton, and also the bipartisan new start treaty passed by the u.s. senate and president obama in 2010. since 2008, the john c. & chara c. haas award for international peace and social justice has been awarded in the names of the haas's.