Comment by hydrogen7800
3 months ago
>Casinos, hotels and inns flaunted their north-facing vistas, offering special “atomic cocktails” and “Dawn Bomb Parties.”
What a time...
3 months ago
>Casinos, hotels and inns flaunted their north-facing vistas, offering special “atomic cocktails” and “Dawn Bomb Parties.”
What a time...
If you’re in to this period Atomic Cafe is a great watch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atomic_Cafe
I'm convinced this kind of thing is 90% of the inspiration for the Fallout franchise.
I think a lot of folks who haven’t looked in to pop culture and pop science in the ~1950s assume a lot more of Fallout is totally made-up than really is…
Starting with the fact that every one of those novelty songs on the soundtrack were actual period songs. “Atom Bomb Baby” might not have been a huge hit (or maybe it was, I can’t seem to find info), but it’s period music: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout/comments/3tzsma/update_ama_...
I don't know if I'd say it was the inspiration, as that is probably better credited largely to the book, "A Canticle for Leibowitz", and the "Mad Max" films. But the Fallout franchise certainly makes plenty of satirical reference to the Atomic Craze.
Those bombs are still pointing at the same cities…you may still get to take part!!
Makes me wonder how many living people on earth have seen a nuclear explosion with their own eyes. It can't be very high, maybe 1-10 thousand? Not a number you would want to see increase, to be sure.
Interesting question.
Somewhere between 400,000-550,000 (the number varies greatly depending on source) US servicemen (Army, Navy, and Marines) participated in nuclear tests from 1946 to 1962. As of 2024, about 10,000 were still alive.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/studiog/news/military-veteran...
The French used between 15,000-30,000, but the actual number is secret.
I couldn't find numbers for the Soviet testing program. The Chinese used over 100,000 laborers for their first tests according to Wiki.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_veteran
About 10,000 seems right.
Wouldn’t all of the people watching this from Vegas and LA count?
More disturbingly, around 600,000 people in Japan.