Bradford Lyttle was born in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, and has lived there most of his life. His father was a Unitarian minister and professor of church history. His mother taught design in a Jersey City high school. Bradford attended Earlham College and the University of Chicago, where he obtained an M.A. in English Literature. For a time, he conducted a business designing and manufacturing medical equipment. A conscientious objector to war, he spent nine months in a federal penitentiary for non-cooperation with the draft. After being released, he decided to spend the rest of his life working in the peace movement. To give himself background for this work, he traveled around the world studying peace organizations and movements. He then worked in the Chicago peace program of the American Friends Service Committee After that, he worked with the Committee for Nonviolent Action, helping to develop projects opposing Atlas land-based nuclear missiles, and Polaris sea-based missiles. He then coordinated the San Francisco-to-Moscow Walk for Peace, and the Quebec-to-Guantanamo Walk for Peace. He worked with several anti-Vietnam War organizations, including the National Mobilization Against the War in Vietnam, the New Mobilization Against the War, and the Peoples Coalition for Peace and Justice. While taking care of his elderly parents for 17 years, he studied political science at the University of Illinois in Chicago and the University of Chicago. While at the UofC, he developed a mathematical probability model that proves that the failure of nuclear deterrence approaches certainty. The model led him to found the United States Paci¿st Party, and run several times for President under its auspices. After his parents' deaths, he participated in a number of peace projects in the Middle East, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and other projects that opposed drones and the manufacture and refurbishing of H-bombs. Skills he developed in the course of this work include photography, the creation of displays, offset printing, and sound reinforcement. He considers himself a Quaker, and attends a Quaker meeting and a Unitarian church in Chicago.
"Brad Lyttle's autobiography provides students, historians, and peace activists with an exceptionally valuable resource for understanding the U.S. peace movement in the decades following World War II. Brad has consistently distinguished himself as a capable, insightful and profoundly interesting activist who has played a significant role in organizing nonviolent direct action campaigns within the U.S. and beyond. As a committed pacifist, Brad Lyttle helped radicalize successive generations of U.S. activists. I can't imagine a more principled and courageous mentor and teacher than Brad Lyttle. "-Kathy Kelly