THE COLD WAR BEGINS
After a momentary alliance to defeat Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States resumed their fierce clash of social ideologies after World War II. The USSR’s efforts to spread communism and the United States’ attempts to contain it carried global tensions to unparalleled levels.
PROPOGANDA COMIC BOOK COVER MEANT TO SPREAD FEAR OF COMMUNISM IN THE UNITED STATES, 1947. COURTESY OF OERTX REPOSITORY
AS CONFLICT ROSE, THE RACE FOR ARMS REVIVED, ONLY THIS TIME BETWEEN THE FORMER ALLIES OF WORLD WAR II. MANY WEAPONS OF INCREDIBLE CAPABILITIES WERE DEVELOPED, BUT NO WEAPON POSED A GREATER THREAT TO GLOBAL STABLITY THAN THE ATOMIC BOMB.
SOVIET DEVELOPMENTS
After witnessing the bombings of Japan, the Soviet Union ordered the immediate initiation of the development of nuclear weapons. On August 29th, 1949, the USSR successfully tested its first atomic bomb, the RDS-1.
THE RDS-1 BOMB, 1949. COURTESY OF CNTBTO IGOR VASILYEVICH KURCHATOV.
IGOR VASILYEVICH KURCHATOV, "FATHER OF THE SOVIET ATOMIC BOMB", COURTESY OF CNTBTO
RDS-1 TEST BOMBING, 1949. COURTESY OF COMPREHENSIVE NUCLEAR-TEST BAN TREATY ORGANIZATION (CNTBTO)
CRATER CREATED BY CONTINOUS TEST BOMBINGS AT SEMINPALATINSK. COURTESY OF CNTBTO
FEAR
The newly developed atomic bombs that now both nations possessed intensified panic and fear accross the world, as the possibility of a world-ending nuclear war inched closer to becoming a reality.
EMERGENCY SHELTER DESGINED TO PROTECT OWNERS FROM NUCLEAR BOMBS. COURTESY OF JOURNAL STORAGE
INTERIOR OF SHELTER. COURTESY OF JOURNAL STORAGE.
The efforts taken to provide protection from nuclear bombs were rarely effective; anyone in the near the vicinity of a blast would be completely incinerated. They were, however, a way to bring a false sense of security and to pacify the fear of the public.
BOOKLET ISSUED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO INFORM THE PUBLIC ON HOW TO SURVIVE AN ATOMIC ATTACK, 1950. COURTESY OF OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
CIVIL DEFENSE FILM PRODUCED TO TEACH CHILDREN HOW TO ACT UNDER AN ATOMIC ATTACK, 1951. COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
EXEMPLIFICATION OF COMMONLY PUBLICIZED "DUCK AND COVER" PROCEDURE TAUGHT TO AMERICAN CHILDREN, 1951. COURTESY OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
THE RUSSELL-EINSTEIN MANIFESTO
NATIONAL HISTORY DAY 2022: DEBATE AND DIPLOMACY
EVAN McCRACKIN, REN GIUSTI, AND JUSTIN YANG