Pixiq

Does anyone remember the COLD WAR? 

I grew up in the dust of the Atomic Age. It has been one of the subjects of my photography for decades.

The images in the gallery represent some of my new works, commemorating the 60th anniversary of the first nuclear test in Nevada, January 27, 1951.

American Ground Zero is an amazing book by Carole Gallagher. Thank you, Mr. Avedon - is an astonishing account of her attempt to tell the truth about the nuclear test sites and the effects of nuclear fallout in the American west. Her book, American Ground Zero - The Secret Nuclear War -  is an extraordinary journey through one of the most troubling moments in American atomic history. Her blog is also called American Ground Zero. Carole Gallagher's photographs and text are a tribute to the people caught in the dust of nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950"s and 1960"s. She is my newest and most amazing friend. I feel that I have known her forever.

Here is a radio interview with Carole Gallagher on - If You Love this Planet - with Dr. Helen Coldicott.  00:59:00

January 27 will be the 60th anniversary of the first atmospheric nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site in the desert northwest of Las Vegas. This day is nothing to celebrate. It represents the beginnings of doomsday.

I once read an article in a magazine similar to Popular Science stating that atomic bombs could be used to create new harbors for ships and reservoirs or lakes and the blasts could be used to move a mountain.

In the 1950’s the world had gone nuts for the bomb. I remember that the bikini swimsuit was named after the Bikini Atoll where a few years earlier the bomb was tested in the Pacific.  There was "Atomic Style" which was used in designing everything from clothing, clocks and logos to children’s toys. The bomb had swept into popular culture. There were cafes and foods that had atomic names. There were hairdo’s and desserts and songs and art. It had been used to stop the war in Japan. The Atom Bomb was here and it was hot.

I also remember, as do most people growing up during the cold war, the civil defense warnings, the classroom drills and the fallout shelters with special signs that were to be used in case of an attack. I remember rich people building fallout shelters in their back yards. No one else could afford to. I remember the films and newsreels showing the bomb detonations and the devastating effects of the blasts. We were told to have a supply of food and water and to stay indoors. In school we practiced sitting under our desks or against the wall in the hallway.

Just in case.

I remember the threat of fallout from the testing in Nevada. I remember looking up at the sky to see if I could see the atomic dust clouds high above my home. There was talk about nuclear winter and burns and death. From the newsreels, I remember the shadows of those vaporized by the bombs in Japan. The world was crazy. We had enemies with Russia, communist China and communist Cuba. Fidel Castro was in our back yard. I remember the B47 and the B52 bombers at a nearby Air Force base that were always ready to respond to an attack. I remember ICBM’s and NORAD and Sputnik. I saw the movie Dr. Strangelove.

There was a nuclear arms race starring Gorbachev, Russia and the United States, the A-Bomb, the Hydrogen Bomb, long range bombers, short range bombers, nuclear canons, B52’s, Strike command, rockets, trajectories, target cities, silos, missile testing and crazy shit everywhere. I remember Kennedy and the Cuban Missile crisis. The bomb had changed the world and it was for the worse. Terror was the name of the game. It was the threat of total annihilation. It would mean the end of the world.

Years later, when I was in the Navy, we practiced for the possibility of giant tsunami waves that could be produced by a nuclear explosion and roll a ship over in the ocean. We had radioactive decontamination and survival drills. Why? I don’t know. Why would you want to survive?

Just in case.

Nowadays we take it all for granted. Life seems somewhat secure. We go about our daily lives as if the world was free of the bomb. The old Russia is gone and so is the Soviet Block, East Germany and the Berlin wall. But then there is England, France, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea and Syria and India and the old Soviet states with their bombs.

While there were previous tests at Alamogordo Trinity Site in New Mexico in 1945, the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific during1946 and Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific in 1948, the Nevada test site was used from 1951 to 1963 for a total of approx. 128 above ground tests. These ground and air tests created massive radioactive dust clouds that were carried by the winds across all parts of the United States during the years of active testing, causing radiation contamination of food supplies, water and air. 

Today, there are enough bombs in the world to equal thousands of Hiroshima explosions.

Years ago, as a teacher, I would hand out a sheet of paper to my students that showed the number of Hiroshima explosions that was carried by a single nuclear submarine. The number of dots seemed to fill the entire page. I wish I could find a copy so that I could put it in this article.

The following are the rough totals for countries with nuclear weapons:

"China: About 240 total warheads. 

France: Fewer than 300 operational warheads. 

Russia: Approximately 2,600 operational strategic warheads , approximately 2,000 operational tactical warheads, and approximately 8,000 stockpiled strategic and tactical warheads.

United Kingdom: Fewer than 160 deployed strategic warheads, total stockpile of up to 225. 

United States: 5,113 active and inactive [1] nuclear warheads and approximately 4,500 warheads retired and awaiting dismantlement. The 5,113 active and inactive nuclear warhead stockpile includes 1,968 strategic warheads , approximately 500 operational tactical weapons, and approximately 2,645 inactive warheads.

India: Up to 100 nuclear warheads. 

Israel: Between 75 to 200 nuclear warheads.

Pakistan: Between 70 to 90 nuclear warheads.

States of Immediate Proliferation Concern: Iran, North Korea, Syria"

Source: Arms Control Association - website

 

PEACE