Bogart, Larry

Larry [Herman] Bogart was among the earliest and most influential critics of using the atom to generate electricity, warning as early as 1963 that nuclear power plants were too complex, too expensive and too inherently unsafe to sustain anywhere in the world. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1914, Bogart attended Phillips Exeter Academy and spent two years at Harvard University. After serving under General George Patton in World War II, he became a public relations executive at Allied Chemical Corporation in the early 1950s. At Allied Chemical, Larry Bogart wrote many of the company's news releases and promotional materials, including those relating to the benefits of nuclear power.

After intensive research, study of government documents, and interviews with scientists active in the field, he came to understand the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. In the early 1960s, when he discovered aspects of nuclear power that deeply concerned him, Bogart founded the Conservation Center and eventually the Anti-Pollution League. In 1966, he founded the Citizens Energy Council, the first national citizen organization opposed to the proliferation of nuclear power.

Bogart set out to organize study groups throughout the northeast to raise opposition to nuclear power plants proposed for Stamford, Connecticut; Tivoli, New York; Lake Champlain and Vernon, Vermont; Wiscasset and Sears Island, Maine; Newburyport, Ipswich and Rowley in Massachusetts; and North Kingston and Charlestown, Rhode Island. He advised groups that fought the construction of nuclear plants in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. He worked closely and tirelessly with citizens at the grassroots level throughout the United States, including California, Oregon, Michigan, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.

Larry Bogart worked for many years out of an office in Washington D.C. in order to regularly inform legislators about the harmful effects of nuclear energy on public citizens, and to curb further federal subsidization of nuclear technology. In the 1970s he worked at the state level, editing a number of newsletters and giving hundreds of talks and workshops. As National Coordinator of the Citizens Energy Council, he offered to "debate the nuclear power question with any scientists or executives before any public group".

According to the many citizens, public policy researchers and scientists that worked with him, Larry Bogart was instrumental in galvanizing public opinion, working at times with individuals and regional coalitions, against the hazards and human costs of nuclear power. He is often credited with founding the American anti-nuclear movement.

Larry Bogart died on August 19, 1991 when he was struck by a vehicle outside his home in East Orange, New Jersey.

From the guide to the Larry Bogart Papers, 1958-2001, (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries)