Bomb ( Fallout ) Shelters

After World War II, only two world superpowers remained: the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The contradictory political regimes of the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union were believed to be mutually exclusive which increased bitterness between them. Inevitably, the apparent tension between the two superpowers led to the Cold War which lasted about 45 years. It was war without bloodshed or battle, instead it was a metaphorical war where the U.S and the Soviet Union increased their weapons and fought for political influence, one always wanting to excel or maintain within the range of the other. The United States’ desperate need to contain the communist political ideology from spreading any further and meet the Soviet Union’s increased development of nuclear weapons led to the their involvement in the Cold War. The impact the Cold War had on life during the 1950’s and 1960’s can be measured through the creation of the House Un-American

When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two countries. With the information that the Soviets had tested their first bomb, the United States began work on more powerful weapons1, and a fight for nuclear superiority had begun.

The movies WarGames and Dr. Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) provide incredibly interesting narratives that provide two different narratives regarding public perception of the cold war and nuclear weapons. WarGames made the statement that tensions during the Cold War were so high that a teenager playing a videogame could set off a nuclear war, while Dr. Strangelove simply ridiculed the attitudes of those involved in the Cold War and mocked those who took it seriously, under the pretense that mutually assured destruction would prevent any real war from breaking out (and as a plot device to depict irony). In reality, the American public was in constant fear of the outbreak of war during the period of time in

With the start of World War II the race for the first atomic bomb started. With Germany under Hitler’s reign, the Nazis began separating uranium to form the first atomic bomb to control the world. The push for the United States build the first atomic bomb began with this knowledge. With the help of several scientists the United States succeeded in building the atomic bomb first. Two atomic bombs were used; a uranium bomb on Hiroshima and a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. Along with the many deaths were six stages of A-bomb illness which includes acute stages, atomic bomb trauma, A-bomb radiation illness, radiation blood injury at lethal dosage, blood injuries, and secondary radiation illness. Seven unhealed scars were also an effect of the atomic bombs that includes keloids, A-bomb cataracts, leukemia, cancers, chromosome changes, exposure in utero and microcephaly, and genetic surveys. Regulations and guidance were set in place soon after the bombings to protect the people of the world based on the information that was gathered and it has changed over the years based on the new information that was learned. With the use of the atomic bombs in World War II, a lot of pain and suffering was caused, but a great deal of information was learned to help protect future generations from radiation.

When the Soviet Union came into possession of a nuclear bomb, the realization that the horrific aftermath, much like the one in Hiroshima, could happen in America struck fear into Americans.

Following the end of World War II, the United States became increasingly concerned with the perceived threat of Soviet aggression in

Immediately after World War II, the world was thrown into a massive ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, which culminated into the Cold War. The Cold War ignited overwhelming, panic-inducing fears across the United States, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, elected in 1952 and remained president until 1960, was faced with the challenge of quelling the fears of the American people. Americans during the Cold War, particularly during the presidency of Eisenhower, had constant fears of Soviet expansion, the pertinent anticommunist crusade at home, the spread of communism, and the neverending uneasiness of total nuclear annihilation, all fears which the Eisenhower administration would inadequately allay.

n the time period following World War 2, the beginning of the Cold War, Americans mainly feared three things: the spreading of communism in the United States, the communist investigators supposedly in America, and nuclear war between America and the Soviet Union.

The fears of the American people regarding the Cold War in the aftermath of the second World War were numerous and strong, growing in power as Americans began to fear not only the looming threat posed by the Soviet Union but also potential communist activity within the United States itself. The administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully recognized and addressed a number of these fears, passing legislation which improved domestic and international defence capabilities and creating an atmosphere of relative comfort and prosperity within the nation itself. However, despite the efforts of the Eisenhower administration, a strong sense of fear pervaded much of the United States as the Cold War escalated into a greater, more critical

By the end of the war, the need for uniting to overthrow Japan and Germany had ended. After World War II, the United States began having an unsettling partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was an alliance that was necessary to defeat the Axis powers: Germany, Japan, and Italy. The United States believed the Soviets wanted to have dominance in the world, but the Soviets thought the same of the U.S. If Communism spread across the world, the U.S. was afraid that they would lose their freedom and democracy after giving up so much to keep it during World War II. They wanted to make the Nazi Germany into a tradable, capitalist democracy. The Soviets wanted to destroy Germany and create more communist s on the west border to avoid being vulnerable to an attack. The U.S. government felt threatened by the expansion of communism from the Soviets to Eastern Europe, which had spread to China, Korea, Vietnam, and China. As communism began to rapidly spread, the Soviets went to extreme measures to scare their rival. David Ropeik (June 25, 2012), an author and an instructor at Harvard, explains in his writing, The Historical Roots, and Impacts, of our Nuclear Fear, that in August 1945, Americans sent bombs to destroy the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This not only killed hundreds of people, but also created extreme fear during World War II. Americans soon began to pursue the communists

The forty-five years from the dropping of the atom bombs to the end of the Soviet Union, can be seen as the era of the new conflict between two major states: United States of America (USA) and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). According to Hobsbawm, ‘cold war’ was the constant confrontation of the two super powers which emerged from the Second World War. At that time the entire generation was under constant fear of global nuclear battles. It was widely believed that it could break out at any moment. (Hobsbawm, 1994) The consequences of the ‘power vacuum’ in central Europe, created by the defeat of Germany, gave rise to these two super powers (Dunbabin, 1994). The world was divided into

The dropping of the atomic bomb has been significant in understanding the long term effects that radiation has on the body. It was important that the bomb be used in order for our society to comprehend the repercussions of nuclear warfare. In the book Hiroshima, a survivor named Rev. Kiyoshi Tanimoto briefly describes a commission set up by the United States

No one knew the events that took place on a quiet Monday morning in Los Alamos, New Mexico would end up changing the world forever. On July 16th, 1945, The first Atomic bomb ever dropped would detonate, sending shockwaves of empowerment to all of those that have strived so hard to develope this device. After the testing of the first bomb dropped there would be exceptional testing done to make sure this bomb was as effective as it could possibly be. The world was completely unaware of the destruction that was soon to come if a compromise was not reached. The United States’ testing and manufacturing of three atomic bombs was more commonly known as "The Manhattan Project."

The threat of nuclear war in the 1950's was real and was one that was on the mind nearly every person in both the United States and the United Kingdom. After the end of the Second World War the world can be seen to be split into two sides, the East and the West, Communism and Democracy. After the Second World War the Soviet Union became paranoid with the West as well as the United States become paranoid of the Communist East, and after the Soviets had made their first nuclear bomb this created massive friction between the NATO alliance and the Soviet Union and the eastern bloc. Only after the soviet union had obtained the hydrogen bomb and began to stockpile nuclear warheads in the 1950's did the real fear of nuclear annihilation begin to

After the first nuclear bomb was launched in Japan during the Second World War, nuclear weapons became one of the most deadly weapons of the day. Which is why during the Cold War at the height of the fear of communism and the tenuous relationship between the U.S and the Soviet Union, the brink of another nuclear war seemed to be on the horizon.