Thinking Big

Imagine the scene on May 25, 1986. In the Midwest, 5,000 Americans are marching together for disarmament. The huge procession, which set out from Los Angeles for Washington on March 1, treks across the flatlands pursued by television cameras, supply trucks and spectators. At the same time, another awesome spectacle is taking shape: from one coast to the other, people are lining up side by side and clasping hands to form a huge human chain against hunger.

These two events are not mere pipe dreams. Encouraged by the interest in social causes demonstrated by last summer's Live Aid concert for African famine relief, organizers are making careful plans and asking celebrities and ordinary people alike to participate in the two megahappenings.

The bigger of the two extravaganzas will require the cooperation of 6 million to 10 million people. Dubbed "Hands Across America" by its organizers (the same USA for Africa group that produced We Are the World), the event is proposed as a 4,000-mile handholding chain running through 17 states and four time zones. On Sunday, May 25 (Memorial Day weekend), volunteers would link up at 3 p.m. EST in a line starting in Manhattan, crossing to Elizabeth, N.J., and winding through Washington, Chicago and St. Louis. The handholders will bypass the Rockies by swinging south through Fort Worth to Phoenix, then on to Los Angeles, where the last person in the chain will dip a toe in the Pacific.

USA for Africa President Ken Kragen has already lined up Tina Turner, Bill Cosby, Pete Rose, Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie to lend support, and Coca-Cola has signed on as the first sponsor. Kragen hopes to raise some $50 million; in the first days after it was announced, "Hands" raked in some $365,000 in $10 to $35 telephone pledges from enthusiasts around the country who called 1-800-USA-9000.

Almost as ambitious is PROpeace, an 8 1/2-month, 5,000-person cross-country walk for global nuclear disarmament. Conceived by David Mixner, a former political consultant to Gary Hart, PROpeace will be supported by a movable city of 2,500 geodesic tents and six mobile kitchens providing an estimated 3.8 million meals over the course of the march. Madonna, Rosanna Arquette, Martin Sheen, Rob Lowe and Leonard Nimoy join a mock march in PROpeace's public-service TV advertisement. About $20 million should cover costs, says Mixner, and so far about $2 million has been raised. Though 11,000 prospective marchers have received applications, some may find the path of peace too taxing: each marcher will be asked to find sponsors willing to contribute about $3,000 toward the event's expenses.