the world had ever seen weapons of this caliber. Little Boy, the uranium bomb, was dropped on

Transcription

1 Velas 1 Pauline Velas Holder/Lopez Humanities: American Literature 27 September 2010 Duck and Cover In 1945 the United States dropped two bombs on two Japanese cities. It was the first time the world had ever seen weapons of this caliber. Little Boy, the uranium bomb, was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing around 140,000 and the plutonium bomb, Fat Man, was dropped three days later on Nagasaki, killing approximately 80,000 (Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered). The buildings were destroyed and many people suffered from radiation poisoning. This debris affected the entire globe, falling with precipitation, and entering the food chain when absorbed by plants and eaten by animals like cows and humans. (Pollution Issues) Nuclear technology was affecting people in all corners of the world, and would continue to do so for decades to come. Many people heard about how powerful these new weapons could be ever since the first nuclear test on July 16, 1945 made them a reality (Los Alamos). The success of the bombs not only provided new benchmarks in history, but it also it led to the nuclear age for the world. This new step in technology scared people and it led to fear and paranoia. It wasn t long before this initiated the Cold War. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were, not the last operation of World War II but, the first act of the Cold War. (Badash 60) The fear and paranoia associated with the nuclear age came not only from the actual bombs, but also from the media and popular culture during that time. After these events many people opposed nuclear weaponry and all that came with it. Then in the late 1950 s, during the Cold War, nuclear testing and development came to a rise.

2 Velas 2 This is the time when many of the protests against the use of nuclear technology began to take shape. A number of protests against nuclear technology started bringing more and more people together against the weapons. In the 1980's is when some of the largest protests occurred. In June of 1982, one million people joined together in a protest in New York City. Then, in 1983 where 600,000 participants held a demonstration in Berlin (anti nuclear protests). The United States started developing even stronger bombs. The new weapons were one thousand times more powerful than the ones used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ever since that occurred many scientists looked for ways to make the weapons even stronger (Pollution Issues). This meant that it could cause one thousand times more damage than it did before. The awareness of nuclear testing, development and possibility of war began to show up everywhere. It was portrayed in civil defense films, movies, songs, poems, and books. They talked about the first bombs, nuclear development, testing, nuclear power, and how it affected people. They gave points of view across the board, which caused much of the people within our own country and many others to become aware of why this needed to stop nuclear power. They wanted to feel safe again and not have to worry about an attack. The weapons created during the nuclear age gave many other countries as well as the United States, the power to destroy huge parts of the world. They all saw what the first bombs did, and since then scientists have been creating and testing even stronger ones. If any of the countries with nuclear power got into a war, it would be disastrous. The general public began to fear world annihilation. This fear of the unknown affects of the nuclear power fed the fear, paranoia, and distaste for nuclear weapons.

3 Velas 3 A well known example of paranoia filling people s minds was a film called Duck and Cover. This was shown to kids in 1952 during school, to prepare them in the case of a nuclear attack. It fed the fear of this nuclear war. It warned young and old about the possibility of a nuclear attack. It made it clear that an attack with greater strength then we knew was an actual realistic possibility. This wasn t the only civil defense video. There were others like Atomic Alert Elementary Version, Protect and Survive, Fallout and more. The purpose of the films was not to scare, but to help calm the people and also help them through an atomic attack. They showed people how to defend themselves in the case of emergency similar to Duck and Cover. The videos tried to inform many, especially the youth about the nuclear weapons, how to protect yourself, survive a attack and the affects it had. Some of those affects were death, radiation poisoning, thermal injury, blood disorders etc. There was also a film named Atomic Café in 1982, portrayed a compiled number of clips which included advertisements, radio programs, news reel clips and television programs that were being shown to the public. It brought the point across that we were entering the nuclear warfare era. It was made to show what the public understood from the media. There were many movies about this topic as well. Examples of movies during this time were: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), and The China Syndrome (1979) (List of Films about Nuclear Issues). These were a part of the Anti nuclear movement because the films brought truth to the public. They portrayed how all of this paranoia was affecting everyone. They brought up nuclear issues in a way that was available to the public. Each one brought a different part of the movement to life.

4 Velas 4 Dr. Strangelove focused on what would happen if one air force general goes completely crazy and orders a nuclear attack against Soviet Union. Although this movie was comedic, it did focus on an issue that the United States was facing. The issue was that if we start a war with these weapons it could and probably would cause an apocalypse. The China Syndrome reveals the problem with nuclear energy. It was about a reporter witnessing a nuclear power plant s meltdown. This movie brought to the public s attention that using nuclear to power our planet may not be such a good idea. This movie mirrored what happened in nuclear power plants during a meltdown. These movies didn t stop getting created. One was recently created in 2005, called The Mushroom Club. It was a documentary on the effects of the bomb on Hiroshima, almost 60 year later. Even after all this time had passed, what happened at Hiroshima is still important. The Cold war is over, but the legacy is not (Badash 1). The memories and feelings not just about the Cold War, but World War II as well, have stayed with many. As the anti nuclear movement became popular poetry and songs about the grief and devastation was being heard by the public. A poem Talk in the Dark by Denise Levertov shows what people needed to expect from nuclear weapons. Mass graves, says one, are nothing new. No, says another, but this time there'll be no graves, All the dead will lie where they fall. Except, says one, those that burn to ash. And are blown in the fiery wind, says another.

5 Velas 5 How can we live in this fear? Says one. From day to day, says another. Songs about nuclear weapons, energy and affects were being made as well. There was one called Atom and Evil by the Golden Gate Quartet and it brought up how this new creation has made something that was so innocent into something that hurts, kills and destroys. This is the story of Atom and Evil Their courtship is causin a great upheaval Now Atom was a sweet young innocent thing Until the night that Miss Evil took him under her wing Now Atom was an honest, hard workin man He wanted to help out the human clan But Evil got him drunk on prejudice and hate And she taught him how to gamble with Humanity s fate (So true!) Many books on nuclear power, issues and weapons also popped up. There are so many and a lot have been created recently. They range from the making of the first bomb, to the cold war, to disasters of nuclear power plants and so on. Books on this topic have changed a lot of views everywhere. Greenpeace, which is in great opposition to nuclear power, wrote a book of nuclear incidents. The different focuses of the books caused the anti nuclear movement to go in a different route.

6 Velas 6 The focus on just regulating the use of nuclear weapons shifted, to the use of nuclear power plants. A very well known nuclear power plant in Chernobyl had a huge incident. This involved many people, but in a different way than many might think. Unlike the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, people were not killed instantly by the incident. The initial blast of the power plant only killed one, but just like the bombing of the Japanese cities many died a couple weeks after. Thirty firemen and workers in Chernobyl died due to acute radiation poisoning, but they still were not the only people affected. Thousands of others received dangerously high amounts of radiation poisoning (Alexievich ix). After the Cold War many power plants using nuclear energy were created around the world. This made the attention of the use of nuclear power shift to the use of nuclear power as energy. Many believed that it can cause a lot more harm than it can do good. Not only because it affected so many people in Chernobyl, but it took only a week for Chernobyl to become a problem for the entire world (The Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident in Belarus). This just became another reason to eliminate nuclear power. All throughout the anti nuclear movement, there were oppositions to both the use of nuclear weapons and the use of nuclear power for energy. Both seemed dangerous to many people. Both caused a lot of controversy. Many people who worked on the initial bombs felt a mixture of both success and devastation. They built great weapons and advanced in technology, but then again they built powerful weapons that could destroy many. When weapons such as these became reality it shocked many. It wasn t something that could be hidden. The world was going to find out and it scared them. People began to fear world annihilation. The creation of the nuclear bomb was a big benchmark in history, but whether it is good or bad is still there.

7 Velas 7 Works Cited: Aleksievich, Svetlana, and Keith Gessen. Voices from Chernobyl: the Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster. New York: Picador, Print. "Antinuclear Movement - Effects, Environmental, United States, History, Types, World, Human, Power, Sources, Health, Oil." Pollution Issues. Web. 08 Oct < "Anti-nuclear Movement." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Sept < "Anti-nuclear Protest - Encyclopedia Article - Citizendium." Welcome to Citizendium - Citizendium. Web. 08 Oct < "Anti-nuclear Protest - Encyclopedia Article - Citizendium." Welcome to Citizendium - Citizendium. Web. 08 Oct < "Anti-Nuclear Protests by Sanderson Beck." Literary Works of Sanderson Beck. Web. 08 Oct < Badash, Lawrence. Scientists and the Development of Nuclear Weapons: from Fission to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, Amherst, NY: Humanity, Print. Dr. Strangelove, Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Prod. Victor Lyndon, Peter Murton, Bridget Sellers, Stewart Freeborn, Barbara Ritchie, Pablo Ferro, and Ken Adam. By Terry Southern, Peter George, Wally Veevers, Vic Margutti, John Cox, Leslie Hodgson, Laurie Johnson, Gilbert Taylor, and Anthony Harvey. Perf. Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, Tracy Reed, James Earl. Jones, and Shane Rimmer. Columbia Pictures Corporation Presents, "Duck and Cover" Produced by Archer Productions in Co-operation with the Federal Civil Defense Administration, Haines, Gail Kay. The Great Nuclear Debate. Toronto: McClelland and Stwart Limited, Print. Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered. Web. 08 Oct < "In The 80s - Songs About the Cold War From the 80s." In The 80s - Latest Additions to Eighties Music Pages. Web. 08 Oct < "List of Books about Nuclear Issues." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Sept <

8 Velas 8 "List of Films about Nuclear Issues." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 28 Sept < "Los Alamos National Laboratory: History: Building the Atomic Bomb: Trinity." Los Alamos National Lab: National Security Science. Web. 28 Sept < "Poetry and War - the Nuclear Age." Peace Pledge Union. Web. 08 Oct < "The Trinity Test, July 16, 1945." Department of Energy - CFO Home. Web. 28 Sept < "YouTube - Atom And Evil - Golden Gate Quartet." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 08 Oct < YouTube - Atomic Alert, Elementary Version (1951). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 08 Oct <