nuclear-news

AUDIO Annotations: The NEH Preservation Project   http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/neh-preservation-project/2012/jul/25/brighter-100-suns-preparing-nuclear-attack-new-york-city-1951/  Brighter Than 100 Suns: Preparing for Nuclear Attack in New York City, 1951, July 25, 2012 
By Emily Vinson  Five years after the U.S. Army Air Force dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Cold War-era New York officials were preparing for the worst case scenario, an atomic bomb detonation over New York City.

In response to the Cold War threat of nuclear war the New York State Civil Defense Network produced an informational radio series titled Plan for Survival, hosted by Bill Leonard. The program informed New Yorkers of the enduring threat of war and encouraged them to enroll in Civil Defense training.

This episode, “The A-Bomb and its Effects,” opens with the ominous sound of a ticking clock, followed by the Earth-shattering rumble of an atom bomb blast….
……..”90 seconds after an atomic air burst there will be no danger from radiation within the City at all.” He reassures listeners that only in cases of a water or land burst is there a great danger of radiation. Even those who survived the attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki are plagued with inconvenient symptoms such as sterility that lasted “only a few months.” And only 40 cases of cataracts were reported.
. In the second featured Plan for Survival episode, the 38th in the series, reporter Lockwood Doty asks men and women of New York state what they would do if the bomb fell; most of the answers are disappointingly incorrect. Once again, listeners are reminded that survival is the responsibility of each individual.  http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/neh-preservation-project/2012/jul/25/brighter-100-suns-preparing-nuclear-attack-new-york-city-1951/

July 29, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized