How to Hide a Mushroom Cloud: An Examination and Oral History of Nuclear Hagiography in Richland, Washington.

Abstract

In the waning days of World War II, two Japanese cities were annihilated. Each bombing run contained only one plane and one bomb. The names of the two Silverplate-class B-29 Superfortress bombers, and their solitary payloads, have been immortalized in American history. On August 6th, 1945, the Enola Gay unleashed Little Boy over the Shima Surgical Clinic in Hiroshima. Three days later, Bockscar disgorged Fat Man over the Urakami Tenshudo Catholic Church in Nagasaki. Combined, the blasts killed over 200,000 Japanese, the majority civilians. In the decades since this event, the United States has never apologized or had a sustained moral reckoning concerning the near-total destruction of two civilian centers. Instead, the United States has celebrated the bombings and initiated the colossal nuclear industrial complex. This celebration may be most evident in the atomic town of Richland, WA. One of the three main cities that made up the Manhattan Project, Richland is permeated with the triumphant history of America’s nuclear weapons projects. This town is also where my family hails from. The research presented here is an examination of Richland’s nuclear history and an oral account of my family’s role in it.