The Atomic Cafe

Following the end of WWII during which the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is initial euphoria amongst the American populous. However as other nations acquire nuclear bomb capabilities, especially the Soviets under Communist rule, there is also a new sense that the world is different. To protect themselves, the United States and the Soviet Union rush to develop a hydrogen bomb in the early 1950s. The testing of bombs by all countries has direct negative effects on many people, and indirect but still profound effects on the entire world. As seen through the plethora of training films and public service announcements produced from the late 1940s through the 1950s by the United States military and government, the American public is provided information, or misinformation as the case may be, on the effects of nuclear fall out and how best to protect oneself.