Open Letter from Linda Hamilton to UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Dear Secretary-General Guterres,
I write to you not as an actress, but as a concerned citizen of the world. Decades ago, I portrayed Sarah Connor, a woman who saw the future and fought desperately to prevent a nuclear apocalypse. Back then, it was fiction. Today, I fear we are still teetering on the edge of that reality.
When The Terminator was released in 1984, the world was locked in a bipolar grip. The United States and the Soviet Union stood on opposite sides of a nuclear standoff, each capable of ending civilization with the push of a button. It was a world of fear, a world of fragile balance.
In Terminator 2, my character, Sarah Connor, was institutionalized for warning of a nuclear catastrophe. Her psychiatrist, Dr. Silberman, dismissed her fears as delusions of grandeur, as symptoms of bipolar disorder. But she was right. She wasn’t sick. She saw what was coming.
Today, the world is no longer bipolar. The Cold War may be over, but the nuclear threat has only multiplied. Many nations now possess the bomb. The weapons that once belonged to two superpowers have spread like a virus, and with them, the potential for catastrophe has grown. I fear for the children of the world.
Mr. Secretary-General, I implore you: Let us turn our nuclear swords into plowshares—not just in metaphor, but in action. Let us dismantle these weapons of destruction and repurpose them for the future of humanity. Imagine a world where the missile silos that once housed instruments of annihilation now launch satellites, space station modules, and ship parts for interstellar exploration. Imagine a world where the trillions spent on war are invested in the tools of life, not death.
And to America, my homeland, I say: Bury your guns, Mr. Trump. The world does not need more weapons, more war, more destruction. The people need land, seeds, and farm equipment. They need the means to build, to grow, to heal. End the Monsanto Madness before it is too late—before famine comes and claims what war has not.
The time for action is now. We have seen the horrors of the past, and we know the dangers of the present. But we also have a choice. We can continue down the road of destruction, or we can forge a new path—one where humanity thrives, not just survives.
Mr. Guterres, I ask you to lead this charge. The future is not yet written. Let us write it together.
With hope and urgency,
Linda Hamilton