| October 3, 1967 Thich Nu Tri, a Buddhist nun, immolated herself in protest of the repression of the Government of (South) Vietnam. It had denied participation in recent elections of peace and neutralist elements. Buddhist leaders thus boycotted the elections, and the Ngo Dinh Diem regime received only 35% of the vote. Within four weeks, three more nuns followed Thich Nu Tri’s example (among them Thich Nu Hue and Thich Nu Thuong), all in an effort to bring peace to the their country, split in two and caught up in a war with their countrymen in the North, and the escalating presence of U.S. troops. |
October 3, 1967 Woody Guthrie, 1912-1967Folksinger/songwriter Woody Guthrie died in New York City at the age of 55. He had spent the last decade of his life in the hospital, suffering from Huntington’s chorea. Woody called his songs “people’s songs,” filled with stinging honesty, humor and wit, exhibiting Woody’s fervent belief in social, political, and spiritual justice.  Extensive bio with photos and Woody’s writing |
| October 3, 1972 The SALT I treaties, which placed the first limits on nuclear arsenals, went into effect. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks succeeded when U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev agreed to limit anti-ballistic missile systems, and to freeze the number of intercontinental and submarine-based missile launchers (1,710 for the United States, some of which had multiple warheads, and 2,347 for the Soviet Union). |
| October 3, 1981 Irish republicans at the Maze Prison near Belfast, Northern Ireland, ended seven months of hunger strikes that had claimed 10 lives. The first to die was Bobby Sands, the imprisoned Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader who initiated the protest on March 1—the fifth anniversary of the British policy of “criminalisation” of Irish political prisoners.  Prior to 1976, Irish political prisoners were incarcerated under “Special Category Status,” which granted them a number of privileges that other criminal inmates did not enjoy. Despite Sands’s election (while an inmate) as member of Parliament from Fermanagh and South Tyrone after the first month of his hunger strike, and his death from starvation a month later, the government of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would not give in, and nine more Irish republicans perished before the strike was called off. The dead included Kieran Doherty, who had been elected to Parliament in the Irish Republic during the strike. In the aftermath, the British government quietly conceded to some of the strikers’ demands, such as the rights to wear civilian clothing, to associate with each other, to receive mail and visits, and not to be penalized for refusing prison work. |
| October 3, 1994 The United States and South Africa signed a missile non-proliferation agreement committing South Africa to abide by the The Missile Technology Control Regime, and to end its missile program and its space-launch vehicle program. More about MTCR |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october3
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