Activist Bonnie Gordon was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 9, 1942, the daughter of Viola and Richard Tussey. After attending Bowling Green State University, she settled in Cleveland with her husband F. Rodney Holt in 1962, and she soon became active in a number of local civil rights, antiwar, and socialist organizations. As a result of her position as secretary of the Vietnam Resolution Committee from 1966-1967 she met and married her second husband, ACLU lawyer Jerry Gordon. In June 1970 the National Peace Action Coalition was founded in Cleveland, with Gordon as one of its five national coordinators. During its early months NPAC continued to be headquartered in Cleveland and during this period she was one of the national staff.
