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Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Encountering The Atomic Age 80 Years After Hiroshima In Las Vegas
A 110-degree day in Las Vegas, a city dedicated to entertainment and capitalism, seems a strange place to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Yet Las Vegas has its own, long nuclear history, including 900 nuclear tests, tourists partying in the light of atomic explosions, and the sad story of nuclear workers and 'downwinders' exposed to radiation. This fascinating tale is told at the National Atomic Testing Museum, also known as The Atomic Museum, in Las Vegas. It is located just east of the Strip and north of Harry Reed Airport. We visited the museum on August 6, 2025, exactly 80 years after the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the world's first atomic bomb, 'Little Boy,' on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It is estimated to have killed 70,000-80,000 people instantly, the highest casualty rate in a day from a single weapon of any kind. When Japan did not surrender, the United States dropped a second bomb, 'Fat Man,' on Nagasaki on August 9th, killing between 60,000 and 80,000. The Atomic Museum had an exhibit to remember the victims, including a book, The Light of Morning, Memoirs of the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors. The Museum also provided special paper to make paper cranes, a long-time symbol of peace. On August 28, the Museum is doing a free Zoom, 'Remembrance for Hiroshima and Nagasaki,' with a Hiroshima survivor giving testimony. But the Atomic Museum does not appear to be apologizing for its subject, the history of nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons testing, and Nevada's role in the Cold War. One of the most compelling exhibits at the Museum is 'Ground Zero Theater.' Guests are ushed into a dark windowless concrete room uncomfortably suggestive of a fallout shelter. The red warning lights go out. In a moment, an enormous explosion fills the screen. Seconds later, the room shakes with the simulation of a nuclear test. In the video, we see soldiers in a trench sheltering from the blast. A retired scientist says he considers himself a soldier of the Cold War—and that they'd do it all over again. I could not help but remember the comments of my late father and father-in-law, respectively a young Navy aerographer and Army Signal Corps soldier. Each felt that dropping the bombs made the invasion of Japan, in which a million casualties were expected, unnecessary, saving their lives. President Truman, who ultimately chose to drop the bomb,called it the "most terrible decision that any man in the history of the world had to make.' Yet he added that "I'd do it again" and "I would not hesitate." Neither the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima nor the one that followed three days later at Nagasaki was developed in Nevada. The Manhattan Project, which developed the original atomic bomb, officially began on June 18, 1942 and was shut down on August 25, 1947. The Manhattan Project employed over 130,000 people throughout the United States, in Hanford, WA, Oak Ridge, TN, Chicago, IL and most famously, Los Alamos, New Mexico. The Atomic Age began there with the 21-kiloton Trinity explosion on July 16, 1945. The Atomic Museum documents much of the history around the creation, building and testing of The Bomb. One exhibit hall is dedicated to the role of Einstein in persuading President Roosevelt to build an atomic weapon before World War II, before the Nazis could create one. There is also much on physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the Manhattan Project in building and testing the weapon at Los Alamos. When Oppenheimer watched the massive blast, he quoted the Bhagavad-Gita; 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' (The Christopher Nolan film about him and the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer, won seven Academy Awards in 2024.) As for future wars fought with nuclear weapons, former Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev reportedly said, 'The living will envy the dead.' The museum has several (inert) atomic bombs, including a real 'Fat Boy.' The rotund bomb is similar to the one used in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Another room of the Museum, Atomic Odyssey, brings the world of atoms, reactions, and radiation to adults and STEM students alike. The exhibits, many hands-on, include 'Elemental People' who created new elements of the Periodic Table. There are also some off-beat nuclear efforts like a cargo ship and the Ford Nucleon, meant to be powered by a small atomic reactor. The museum is packed with 'atomic age' relics. These include bombs, rockets, drill bits used for underground tests, Geiger counters and Native American artifacts from the original desert inhabitants. There are also Pop Culture atomic-themed toys, films, comics, music and games. Post-World War II atomic tests were held in the Pacific, most famously at Bikini Atoll. (Yes, the bikini was named after the atomic blasts there.) But in December 1950, President Harry Truman designated a 680-square mile area of the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range as the Nevada Proving Grounds, later the Nuclear Test Site. The Nevada desert was chosen due to its large, government-controlled geographic area, ideal wind patterns, and low population density. Testing was considered safer there as fallout from atmospheric weapons tests would be carried away from populated areas by the wind. (Hence the term 'downwinders' for farmers, Native Americans, and other affected by 'downwind' radiation.) The Nevada Test Site was the site of 928 nuclear tests from 1951 to 1992. One room at the Museum features a family of all-American mannequins dressed in J.C. Penney outfits. A house like this was installed on the bombing range to test the destructive power of atomic weapons on civilians. Harrison Ford has a creepy encounter with such mannequins in 'Doom Town,' in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.' Nonetheless, Las Vegans proudly called their town "Atomic City,' a title used U2 in their video to promote their residency at the Las Vegas Sphere. The test site was 65 miles from Las Vegas, but the mushroom clouds could be seen up to 100 miles away. Naturally, Las Vegas capitalized on this phenomenon. After the first atmospheric test on January 27, 1951, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce cranked out press releases calling the Nevada testing site a new Sin City attraction. The Chamber even put out a calendar listing the times of upcoming detonations and where to see them. Ultimately 100 atmospheric tests took place. The Sky Room at the Desert Inn, with a panoramic view of the desert and sky, was a favorite watch spot, as was the roof of Atomic Liquors downtown. Politicians and celebrities on VIP seating watched the blasts , while ordinary tourists packed 'atomic box lunches' and had picnics as close to ground zero as they could get. Las Vegas businesses held "Dawn Bomb Parties' starting at midnight, where guests were said to drink and sing until the flash of the bomb lit up the dark sky. Typical of the era was a model known as Miss Atomic Bomb 1957. Photographers were doing a shoot. The unknown model had cotton cut into the shape of a mushroom cloud pinned to her bathing suit. The Museum currently has a room dedicated to Miss Atomic Bomb and one man's 25-year quest to discover her true identity. Guests can pose with Miss Atomic Bomb or 'become' her, with two cutouts. The outdoor explosion show ended in 1963, with increasing awareness of the impact of nuclear fallout. The Limited Test Ban treaty which forbade testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in space, and underwater was signed by the U.S., the Soviet Union and the UK. The Museum has U.S. and Soviet flags from a joint nuclear monitoring mission in 1989. When Russian scientists were taken shopping at a Las Vegas grocery story, they refused to shop as they thought all the abundance was U.S. propaganda. So they were taken to a second store where they finally accepted American capitalist reality.
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
80 years after Hiroshima, Trump's ‘gut' is in charge of the nuclear codes, and it's dangerous
Eighty years ago today, the innocent ways of the world, or as innocent as they could be, blew up. At 8:15 a.m. on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb from the infamous plane the Enola Gay on Hiroshima. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. It wiped out the city, caused untold suffering, uncorked a new era of terror that lasts today, and established a reality that a bomb had the capacity to annihilate societies, countries, and even the world.. As we solemnly mark this anniversary in 2025, there is one person in the world, Donald Trump, perhaps the most dangerous person, who will just shrug it off or puff his chest. This day means nothing to him. Trump is once again playing footsie with nuclear fire. But unlike Harry Truman, who wrestled with the horrific implications of dropping the bomb, Trump seems to see nuclear weapons as nothing more than oversized toys, pawns in his game of ego and chest-thumping.. I've long been fascinated by nuclear history and the Cold War. From watching Oppenheimer on repeat to devouring Cold War documentaries and books about how the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki dramatically flipped the course of history. We are who we are today because of what happened in 1945. The bomb continues to fester anxiety at the highest levels, and in countries around the globe. What always strikes me isn't just how powerful these weapons are, but how often we've barely avoided catastrophe. One misread radar. One haunting surveillance image. One botched transmission. One too-proud leader. That's all it takes. Just one slip-up. When the buttons were first pushed by Truman, it was in the name of peace. The next time a button is pushed it will be to start a war, and it will likely be the last time the button is ever pushed. And now we have Trump. We used to fear that North Korea would lunatically go first, and we still do. We were whipped up in a frenzy earlier this year that Iran was close to being able to complete the weapon. So Trump brazenly bombed Iran, without considering the reverberations of that aggressive action or what would happen next. He said Iran's nuclear weapon capability was 'obliterated.' It was not. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says Iran can still build the weapons, and only diplomacy will stop it. Do you think Iran would negotiate with Donald Trump? The most untrustworthy man in the world? Or that anybody else would? Last week, Trump ordered nuclear submarines to reposition near Russian waters after a petty online insult from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Instead of acting like a statesman, Trump threw a temper tantrum like a child; however, this tantrum involved throwing not a toy into the mix but a lethal weapon. That's how wars start: not by design but by miscommunication, miscalculation, or, in this case, a bruised ego. Trump 'toying' around with nuclear weapons isn't something new. Even in his first campaign, he seemed disturbingly enamored of nuclear weapons. He repeatedly asked, 'If we have them, why can't we use them?' We were horrified then, and we are more horrified now, because by now we know how far gone Trump's sanity is, and how off the charts his quest for power is. I'm sure Trump thinks he can just 'drop' the bomb and walk away. Nuclear arms should not be run by a simpleton. Without thinking, well, he's never thinking, he babbles and boasts about proliferation, suggesting more countries, including Japan and South Korea, should get the bomb. He even said he wouldn't rule out nuking Europe, 'because it's a big place.' It's like the argument about guns here in the U.S.:'More guns make us safer,' That phony slogan has been debunked many times. The same goes with nuclear weapons. If you put more nuclear weapons in more hands, you run the risk of more accidents and a better chance for Armageddon. Now, in his second term, Trump's nuclear fixation has only grown more reckless and more surreal. In just one day at the beginning of this week, there were two stunning developments. On Monday, Russia withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty over alleged 'direct threats' from NATO and Western missile deployments. Russia has lifted its moratorium on deploying short and medium-range nuclear missiles, the Foreign Ministry announced. Russia blames NATO's 'anti-Russian policy.' Medvedev, now deputy head of Russia's Security Council, echoed the warning on X, saying, 'This is a new reality all our opponents will have to reckon with. Expect further steps.' He did not specify what those steps might be, but we can only assume that it's saber-rattling in response to Trump's deploying nuclear subs in Russia's neighborhood. It's demagoguery like this that puts the world on a knife's edge. And on Monday, Trump's acting NASA administrator, Sean Duffy, who is also the Transportation secretary, said he would announce plans to put nuclear reactors on the moon. The justification was to better compete with China. But can you imagine a nuclear producing facility on the moon? And for what? Duffy wasn't clear. And knowing Trump, he wants nukes on the moon in order to launch them right back here on Earth. Ronald Reagan envisioned the science fiction of a 'Star Wars' defense missile system in space. Trump is taking this fantasy to a whole other level, and then some. Trump isn't content to militarize the Earth and blow it to smithereens; he also wants to destroy our galaxy or make some perverted history for himself. But Trump isn't a student of history. He likely has no clue what happened in Hiroshima 80 years ago or that 38,000 children were vaporized in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He probably isn't aware of the true terror of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was 16 years old in 1962 when it happened, so he was probably beginning to make sexually explicit comments to young girls, like the one that emerged this week, or tending to his bone spurs. And he certainly has no grasp of the countless close calls since, moments when human error, false alarms, or technical failures nearly unleashed the apocalypse. Like a 1983 incident that was prevented only because a single Soviet officer, Stanislav Petrov, disobeyed protocol and held off on retaliating against a false U.S. attack warning. There are dozens of these incidents that have been chronicled through Cold War history. They're not science fiction. They're grave reminders that we need a sober and literate person in charge. And that's the problem. Trump doesn't do sober reflection or isn't literate enough to read an actual history book. He does showmanship. He doesn't read briefing papers. He retaliates on a whim, not on intelligence, and he just shrugs his shoulders at experts and scientists. He treats nuclear weapons like his tariff strategy. If he thinks he's getting screwed over economically by a country, he jacks up tariffs to obscene amounts. If a leader of a country questions his manhood or U.S. military capability, he rattles on indiscriminately about nuclear war on Truth Social,and deploys nuclear subs. No thought process. No strategy. Just his 'gut.' And if you think about his 'gut,' filled with french fries, double cheeseburgers and Diet Cokes, that 'gut' isn't healthy enough to make any rational decisions, along with the empty head that goes along with it. Nuclear war isn't something to be bandied about. It's doomsday and extinction, all wrapped up in a nuclear arsenal that can destroy the world, even in a just limited detonation. You know what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Hundreds of thousands were killed. Skin melted off bones. Infrastructure disintegrated. And afterward, untold famine, radiation poisoning, collapse of society. It's what Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad-Gita, tried to warn us about when he said, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' Trump has already withdrawn the U.S. from arms control treaties, gutted the State Department, elevated impulsive sycophants to national security roles, and put a dunce like Pete Hegseth in charge of the Defense Department.. Truman's gut-wrenching decision to use the bomb changed the course of human history. It made us the keepers of our own demise. And that responsibility requires wisdom, a sharp sense of history, enormous restraint, and unbridled humility. Trump has none of these qualities. Which is why, 80 years after Hiroshima, we are once again standing at the brink as an indifferent, nearly 80-year-old Trump dangles the lives of human beings over the abyss. Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride. This article originally appeared on Advocate: 80 years after Hiroshima, Trump's 'gut' is in charge of the nuclear codes, and it's dangerous
BBC News
22-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Berkshire's Aldermaston Court joins endangered buildings list
A Victorian mansion with an "extraordinary" history that includes being involved in Britain's atomic research programme has been placed on a list of the county's most endangered Court, in Berkshire, has been added to the Victorian Society's list of 10 buildings in need of protection in the said the history of the manor house's estate dates back to 1299, and most recently it was a hotel until Ellis Leah, from the society, said: "We can only preserve our historic buildings when we use them." Society director James Hughes said: "Aldermaston Court is a remarkable building with a lofty historical and architectural legacy. "From its medieval roots to its role in Britain's nuclear history, this estate has shaped and reflected our past in profound ways."It must not be allowed to deteriorate further." The 19th-Century Aldermaston Court features a Jacobean ornate staircase, stained glass, and chimney was commissioned by Daniel Higford Davall Burr who was renown for keeping exotic pets such as snakes and World War Two, it became a barracks for the Women's Land Army and the United States Air Force, complete with anti-aircraft the war, the site was adapted for scientific research, and became a focus for anti-nuclear marches when the adjacent airfield evolved into the UK's Atomic Weapons Research Ellis Leah said: "People think these buildings are expensive and I think we're scared when we hear the word expense. "It is important that we preserve what we have because there is a reason they are still standing."This building has meant a lot to people, particularly over the last 100 years the fact that it is still standing is a real testament to that social fabric."When we knock that away and we turn it into rumble, we completely eradicate that history.""We must preserve these buildings for future generations." Griff Rhys Jones OBE, Victorian Society President, said: "A lengthy period of inactivity is dangerous for the building and wholly unnecessary."It currently remains unoccupied and has been up for sale for five years with Vail Williams, the society have had interest from education establishment, training centres, film studios, corporates wanting to build a bespoke facility, residential developers, house converters and hotel leisure users. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
