Michael Smith writes about the social and political origins of the “atomic age” that permeated postwar American culture. As nuclear energy was seen as both a diplomatic advantage and potentially beneficial source of energy, the US government, following the patterns set in the Manhattan Project, wanted to develop programs to establish and promote civilian nuclear energy. In the early stages of development, questions arose from scientists and the public ranging from as simple as “what is our country’s direction with nuclear energy” to as worrisome as “what will happen in the event of a nuclear power plant accident?”

Because it was still unclear to many what the possible outcomes and consequences of different levels of nuclear power plant accidents could be, the US Government encouraged the “Atomic Energy Commission,” or AEC, to embark on marketing campaigns from the 1950s-1960s in order to foster public support for nuclear energy, and, by extension, a preventative sense of forgiveness in the event of an accident. In their marketing campaigns, the AEC targeted children and families through pamphlets, films, TV shows, and other promotional materials to “explain” nuclear energy in an informative but positively-skewed manner. Even Walt Disney produced their own piece of propaganda, known as Our Friend the Atom (220). At this point, nuclear energy, and specifically the notion of the “peaceful atom” was well-recognized by Americans, as evident in their tendency to include the word “atomic” in their daily life in as many ways as possible (219). In the postwar period, the atom worked “for us” as a “docile servant.” (just as the way in which the railroad or a steam ship worked “for us” in the 19th-century) Nuclear energy was not advertised as its true form - something chaotic and possibly unpredictable, but rather, as something useful - like a new kitchen appliance.

Today, when I think of advertising that is intended to promote a public good or uniform way of thinking, I think of the environmental movement, such as children's and family programming that promotes tenants of sustainability: such as recycling, reducing waste, or simply being active in one's community. But it is interesting to see that the modern origins of this way of advertising have many roots in the promotion of the atomic age or the “peaceful atom,” because nuclear energy - peaceful or otherwise - is so hotly contested. Still, for all its problems, I still find something oddly enchanting about the infinite wonders and possibilities of the cartoonized “atomic age.” (==Glynnis Farleigh)

The idea of the atomic bomb was challenged for 3 reasons. #1- There was no adequate monitoring and follow up testing #2 Radiation was approached as a short term danger instead of focusing on the growing long term internal exposure #3 the evidence of fall out was suppressed and began to induce health problems. - All 3 of these combined are issues that may not have been seen immediately, but now we understand the consequences. It is causing problems still to this day that we as a society may try to ignore. Locations still cannot be visited due to the radiation. If we had known immediately the consequences would we have continued to develop this? - Haley Denehy

In this chapter of Pursell, Michael Smith discusses the effects of post Manhattan project and the governments wishes to pursue a nuclear power that the public were approve. Nuclear power was the “producudt of federal promotion objectives in the 1950s and 1960s.”(p.210) I understand the push that civilians wanted to have the control of nuclear projects, why the Atomic Commission came in to play, but why did the government also push for civilian approval? It is not like they needed their permission. The government did it before, why did they continue to pursue this approval? – Erika Mabry

Isao Hashimoto’s art video “1945-1998,” made in 2003, is a 14-minute video that shows bomb every known nuclear bomb detonation across the world. (excluding North Korea) In that 53 year span, 2,053 bombs were detonated. The website notes that Hashimoto used no specific language when making his video, and instead, chose to display detonations using a colorful burst accompanied by a sound unique to that country. Hashimoto chose to create this map in order to showcase the omnipresence of nuclear power to those who may be unaware. While we see detonations in the UK, China, India, and Pakistan towards the end of the video, these numbers pale in comparison to the US and USSR, due to their engagement in the Cold War nuclear arms race.

The “global” nature of this video is important as it showcases how a secret government project in 1940s America permeated not only American, but global culture - touching both military and civilian and violent and peaceful aspects of life worldwide. (==Glynnis Farleigh)

At first, I was confused as to what the video was showing. However, once I discovered that it was showing all the nuclear bomb detonations I became extremely intrigued. I started paying close attention to the countries and their colors and realized that the US was always ahead and had more than anyone else, finally ending with 1032 of 2053. There were 2053 nuclear bombs set off between 1945 and 1998 making that number is so much higher than I ever thought. This video opened my eyes to the sheer amount of nuclear bombs that I had no idea existed. Certain years also had more or less than others. Between 1950-1961 the amount was virtually silent along with 1993-1998. However, in 1958 alone there were more than I ever expected. This video was published in 2003 and I am curious to know how many more have occurred since. - Haley Denehy

Mutually Assured Destruction has never been so apparent to me until I watched this video. Hashimoto showcases the immense amount of nuclear power that the world has created in the fifty years between 1945 and 1998. The sheer amount of nuclear power is overwhelming; especially when looking at less developed or unstable countries who hold this power. -Kim Eastridge

When first watching this video, I was not sure what I was looking at. I then read below and saw it represented the number of nuclear explosions conducted throughout the world from the years 1945-1998. I never realized how many nuclear explosions have actually occured throughout those years, or in general. These explosions are not talked about in school and seeing the amount in the piece of art is alarming. Over 2,000 bombs were set off in those years. That is 2,000 more that I was aware of. It is such a large number. The world was very secretive during those times as not many people realized that many nuclear weapons were set off. —Erika

The first thing that surprised me while watching the video was how disproportionate the amount of nuclear tests the United States conducted as apposed to the USSR. Up though the 70s the U.S. ran almost twice the amount of tests Russia conducted. I knew both the U.S. and the USSR took part in many tests but something else that surprised me was how frequent these tests occurred in both countries. I also found interesting the amount of tests conducted by France. Overall this video opened my eyes to the staggering amount of nuclear tests that have taken place globally.- Jack Sweetak

The entire multimedia art piece plays out almost like a song, with the different tones of beeps plays out as a morbid song that very well could have been the end of nations. 1981 seemed to be one of the most active years for nuclear explosions, obviously with USA and Russia having the most activity. When the late 1990s begins there is a gradually downtick in number of nuclear explosions with zero explosions in 1997. -John Liberty