How the Atomic Bomb Impacted American Culture - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on the immediate cultural impact that the Atomic Bomb had on American society.
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#coldwar #America #Nuclear #americanhistory #Atomic #lasvegas

[@ErikHare]

I'm just glad you learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

[@masterimbecile]

Nice

[@brudnick39]

Still have to deal with that pesky mine-shaft gap. 😜

[@Mondo762]

Well boys, we've got three engines out, we've got more holes in us than a horse trader's mule, the radio's gone and we're leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower, why we'd need sleigh bells on this thing... But we've got one thing on those Ruskies… At this height, why they might harpoon us, but they dang sure ain't gonna spot us on no radar screen!

[@balabanasireti]

Cringe reference

[@chrishanneman1298]

I'm so glad this little thread is a thing 😂

[@siljeff2708]

I love learning about pre-War Fallout lore

[@rhedosaurus2251]

I'm surprised you didn't talk about the atomic monster B-movies in here. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (which started Ray Harryhausen's solo career), THEM!, The Black Scorpion, and so much more.

[@firstcynic92]

13:28. The Ruby Red grapefruit dates back to a 1929 mutation that was then cultivated. It's not part of "nuclear gardening". It's likely that it existed earlier, as there are reports of pink grapefruit going back hundreds of years, but it was the 1929 chance finding that lead to what we have now.

[@TheColdWarTV]

You are correct and we stand corrected; it was the Star Ruby and Rio Red varietals that were developed from gamma exposure. Thank you!

[@deshaun9473]

​@@TheColdWarTVwill you cover the Sexual Revolution of the Sixties? How was it linked to second Wave Feminism? What were the benefits and consequences? And what was life like for women's sexual freedom before and after the Pill? Thanks!!

[@isaaccastillo5080]

You forgot one of the most transcendental contributions the atomic era had in popular vocabulary: The Bikini!

[@_Abjuranax_]

I was issued a card in the Army which stated that the safest place to be in an atomic attack was in a M-60 or other Main Battle Tank, in a covered foxhole, in the basement of a two or more story framed house, and preferably 20 or more miles away from the blast, lol.

[@michaelporzio7384]

Movie, "The Atomic Kid". (1954) starring Micky Rooney. Rooney plays a tourist that stumbles into a nuclear bomb test site in Nevada. Laughs and mayhem ensue. I remember the irradiated seeds, they were for sale to the public. I had no idea that there was actual scientific progress resulting from them. Thanks David!

[@davidjames4890]

The transistor WAS invented in Fallout, and Mr. House makes references to silicon being used in computers. The difference was one in the priorities of technology development. In our timeline, miniturisation of computers was a large priority whereas those in the Fallout timeline were content with the desktop terminal.

[@christfriedrodeyns5300]

I am interested in the effects worldwide (fall out, infected areas, death tolls, etc.) of those tests (Russian, USA, French, British, Chinese...)

[@aliceosako792]

The Whateley Academy series (which parodies superhero stories) has a story titled "Razzle Dazzle", a massive deconstruction of many different popular genres ranging from pulp science heroes to 1960s spy flicks. At one point, it pokes fun at the old comic book idea that radiation could give one superpowers. In this world, some do indeed get the superpowers, but not without consequences: "The Iron Hand, Red Vengeance, Col. Destiny, the Atomic Vulture, the Living Cyclotron, AtomBlast, Dr. Atomic, Dr. Nuclear, the Atomic Queen... God, there were a lot of 'atomic' villains running around in those days..." "Whatever happened to them?" Redford asked. "As you said, they were all over the place in the 1950s, and then by the 1960s, they'd all dropped out of sight." "What do you think happened? They all died of cancer, leukemia, and radiation poisoning. That's what happens when you f--- around with hard radiation without really knowing what you're doing."

[@michaelpelley2815]

Another great episode. More bomb testing, please!

[@JPSavage84]

Yes! An episode on the Pentomic Army would be a great video for this channel!

[@patrickblanc2769]

Incrédible development about vegetables we eat today

[@deannilvalli6579]

Let's not forget that Spiderman got his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider. And the Hulk also got his powers from radioactivity. In fact, it seems like quite a few super heroes got their wonderful crime-fighting super powers from atomic radiation. So it is understandable that Americans would want to celebrate this.

[@christopherconard2831]

I'll push the like button as soon as I crawl out from the fallout.

[@unr74]

‘50s Nevada Downwider here…I very glad you mentioned Don English. He was also with the Las Vegas News Bureau. I think more than anyone else he preserved the era. We always got a chuckle from the AECs statement- “ No off site radiation detected “. - of course not, they couldn’t detect any if they didn’t have anyone looking for it. The AEC office had a blue light lit on the mornings of shot days.

[@Maverick0451]

I have to admit, if I was alive when that was happening, I would’ve likely headed to Vegas to see for myself!!

[@007kingifrit]

my parents did head out to see it which is why i can breathe underwater and goats faint in fear when i passby

[@Mondo762]

"Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks." Gen. 'Buck' Turgidson

[@Numba003]

I enjoy seeing how American culture shifted from the '40s toward the modern day. I would enjoy future videos on cultural attitudes toward nuclear energy and weaponry throughout the period. Thank you for all of your excellent content! God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

[@teleste224]

This is one of the best episodes yet. More about the bomb, please.

[@bigsarge2085]

I remember still being taught at school to duck under our desks in the event of a nuclear missle attack.

[@kofiswisconsin1552]

Yes, I would be interested in an episode, looking at some of those military exercises

[@johnforbes8282]

Yes its all part of the Cold War, so more coverage would be appreciated

[@toddbrackett4277]

I would like to see you evaluate the study on atomic military exercises.

[@danbeyer6333]

David. Fallout shelters were a big deal in Spokane, Washington in 1960. You can still buy houses with one in the yard.

[@DavidKutzler]

Around 1960, I remember my mother warning us not to eat snow, because of fallout.

[@davidjohansson1459]

This episode was released the day after my birthday. Detta avsnitt släpptes dagen efter min födelsedag.

[@tranquilityandsoul]

All your efforts are great. Thank you so much! Really.

[@mattgeorge90]

Excellent episode!

[@tombuilder1475]

K&G is one my fav channels! thanks for this video!

[@francoluissotomayor5521]

Best episode yet

[@juricatomicic4829]

This is just like that meme with two guys riding in bus. One enjoys it, and other is worried. And here, there are people who were fascinated by the power of atomic bomb , and there are people who are horrified by all-out nuclear war. First group probably felt awkward when they saw movies like 'Day after'.

[@frugalhousewife9878]

Definitely would watch an episode about testing. "Call The Midwife" had an episode about British soldiers exposed to bomb tests in the Pacific and the effects on them and their children.

[@the16thGemini]

It is amazing the pop culture affect of the Manhattan Project. It was a core element of spy novels, tv series and films. In such there is some lone professor with a deadly knowledge. If not that the us of the deadly weapon by a terrorist organization led by a mad man. Look no further to the Death Star in Star Wars and its inception in Rogue One for Oppenheimer's influence.

[@leehaseley2164]

Yes, to the effects of the military exercises.

[@peterdiaz3796]

Lavon affair? PLEASE THIS IS SOMETHING I CANT FIND ON KZbin, YOU GUYS ARE THE ONES ID TRUST TO SEE A FAIR VIDEO ON THIS! Day 1 of asking for a video on the Lavon Affair.

[@peterdiaz3796]

Day 2 of asking for a video on the Lavon Affair.

[@firstcynic92]

Maybe you could make a video about different games made about nuclear war? The earliest one I know about was the card game first published in the 70's by Flying Buffalo Inc. (FBI). The earliest video game on this looks to have been Nukewar from Avalon Hill, published in 1980.

[@ekmalsukarno2302]

David (host of The Cold War), can you please make a video on Argentina during the era of Juan Peron. It would mean a lot to me if you made a video on this topic, since your audience will understand how Argentina's economy, politics and society all ended up as they are today.

[@markmower1746]

And have Madonna starring in it.

[@boardcertifiable]

​@@markmower1746only if Antonio Banderas costars as Che Guevarra

[@markmower1746]

@@boardcertifiable I see what you did there...

[@fluffypants]

This episode is so interesting

[@wazzupsters]

That whole Rhyme around the six minute mark was unhinged

[@pablonicolasangulo4356]

The introduction of this video was very creative, by the way.

[@lipingrahman6648]

Gama gardening is still on going, it is a useful means of producing new strains of plants for cultivation.

[@ozzyjames87]

Yes please I'd like to know more about the military exercises.

[@Mondo762]

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb approves this video.

[@throwback19841]

I am very glad that atmospheric tests are a thing of the past, but if one was to happen I WOULD totally go see it

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and thrilled watching of this important matter atomic Mushroom cloud radiation and atomic radiation exploited for good ,bad, and decisiveness ....by US authoritative internally... most remarkable exploiting was through tourism markets ...

[@alex182618]

Was bewildered by the previous video, in which a highly effective U-2 spy plane program, was labeled as "embarrassment" and "failure".

[@Game_Hero]

Fallout was actually a documentary, it seems.

[@tomwestbrook]

I grew up in Oak Ridge. The museum there used to irradiate dimes and give them out to visitors.

[@jimwalshonline9346]

"Atomic Cafe" is a great documentary on the subject.

[@marcelofolcia2561]

Trinidad y mas allá...

[@charliebigbear1630]

Documentation of a rare form of breast cancer cause lots of women along the Platte River basin to form these strange versions of breast cancer. My grandmother was part of a class action lawsuit against United States government for nuclear detonations and the Fallout raining all over the Platte River Valley. Unfortunately she passed away from a rare form of breast cancer before the class action suit was finalized.

[@aahchoo1]

Some things never change... When it comes to new, shiny, neat-o technology, whether in 1954 or 2023, in the words of Alfred E Neuman :"What me, worry?"

[@padawanmage71]

I’m surprised no mention of’Dr Strangelove’ was done 😁

[@ISAF_Ace]

I like to look at early cold war vehicles meant to withstand nuclear blasts, people just thought that they would never have to drop anything lower than a megaton ever again.

[@clearsmashdrop5829]

If anyone happens to go to Vegas there is a small museum dedicated to to atomic testing. If definately an interesting couple of hours and worth a visit.

[@donnyboon2896]

Yes

[@action4newsinligme803]

Uranium ore, even uranium metal, usually isn't that dangerous. Pretty low activity and is self shielded. Things usually get dangerous with other sources or ingestion

[@monkeeseemonkeedoo3745]

Thumbnail reminds me of the craziest guy on youtube, he makes overpowered lasers

[@1taiko1]

It is a bit ironic to look at the "Не болтай" - poster at the back ;)

[@1977Yakko]

Being raised and currently living only a couple miles from Offutt AFB here in Nebraska has given me a fairly grim acceptance of my fate should the bombs start dropping. Granted, pretty much every population center would get hit, being next to a major command center, I am 100% certain I'd be one of the "lucky" ones who died first. All that'll be left of me is some radioactive ash and maybe my shadow burned into whatever surface I was standing next to.

[@chadwahl9085]

There should be a video on how the nuclear tests had fallout falling in St.George Utah. Maybe include the supposed link to cancers of the people involved of the john wayne movie "The Conqueror".

[@eduardogutierrez4698]

6:53 ............ You were standing with your girlfriends in the street Falling back on forever, I wonder what you came to be I was new in town, the boy with the eager eyes I never was a quitter, oblivious to schoolgirls' lies When I look back on those neon lights The leather seats, the passage rite I feel the heat, I see the light Miss Atomic Bomb Making out, we've got the radio on You're gonna miss me when I'm gone You're gonna miss me when I'm gone

[@SeoulMan]

Oak Ridge. That's a name I hadn't heard since Lisa name dropped it as "birthplace of the atomic bomb" on the Simpsons! (Bart on the Road)

[@emilymiller7827]

if not for gamma gardening, we wouldn't have tomacco!

[@Nobody.exe50]

Thats some Fallout heavy style shit lmao, didnt knew all of this , thanks

[@wiktorberski9272]

Interesting, but a little bit odd situation this atomic explosion tourist attraction

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Those are minute man missile going off?!

[@jackiecooper9439]

Man that's crazy

[@RoboticDragon]

Love that atomic jar kids set hahah amazing.

[@beepboop204]

[@M81_WOODLAND]

What a time to be alive. I would've definately taken the fam to Vegas to be a "nuclear tourist" back then

[@chiensyang]

I would like to know how The Cold War impacted the semiconductor industry and vice versa.

[@obsidianjane4413]

'Merca! ...you know the rest.

[@rx7carl]

Well i can certainly see how the American public wouldnt be alarmed about atomic weapons, so long as we had the monopoly on them. But I am surprised it lasted well into the 50's. But thats America for you, we have a strange culture lol.

[@johnevans9751]

The Atomic Cafe 1982

[@walterfijn3586]

What's your favorite Fallout Video Game?

[@gortbot7748]

We are all mutants of the Monster.

[@zacharycurrie3708]

Small price to pay for grapefruit

[@a-8007]

Thomas Shelby🤣

[@caseclosed9342]

My grandfather had to sit through a nuclear test at the Nevada test site when he was in basic training with the army before the Korean War. He was far enough away he had the wind hit him but he couldn’t see the cloud. Fortunately he was kept far enough away that he didn’t get much radiation. Some other guys he knew that were closer to the blast would later get cancer…

[@LukeBunyip]

And then there's the Maralinga test. Left plutonium scattered across the centre of Australia. Thanks UK...

[@007kingifrit]

its funny all the people complaining about GMO when half their plants were made with nuclear weapons

[@1joshjosh1]

The bomb kicks ass

[@jliller]

I wonder how all that radiation affected the health of humans around the world besides the obvious answer of cancer.

[@jovanweismiller7114]

If I remember my years in Edmonton correctly, I believe Canada also celebrates its birthday with explosives & alcohol!

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Los Vegas # 1 on Russia hit list?

[@christopping5876]

"Yes" to nuclear tests and associated military exercises. I'm curious to know what the poster behind you, top left, is all about. Maybe a programme on poster propaganda from all sides and what triggered that image could be an item in the future.

[@theawesomeman9821]

According to my parents and grandparents, nuclear weapons made everyone obsessed with Biblical interpretations of the End Times.

[@TimesFM4532]

Atom bomb baby atom bomb

[@kcgeil]

Bikinis! Incredibly dangerous toys! Nuka Cola! Woo!

[@brad3042]

I know it was a different time but damn, I find myself equally humored and horrified by how ignorant people were about the long-term dangers of radiation exposure.

[@smhorse]

I think it helps to explain why society can essentially become somewhat "unhinged".

[@helmhamerhand733]

Yes, more on testing please?

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Drunks

[@jamesbodnarchuk3322]

Hopefully your prepped?

[@brokenbridge6316]

I have to admit some of the facts in this video were very revealing. Especially about that Atomic kit. I went "WHAAAT" when I heard that it had radioactive material in it.

[@clearsmashdrop5829]

When I was a kid in the 70s I had a small board with rock samples; quartz, obsidian, pyrite, etc. One of them was uranium ore (it was maybe the size of a grape). Wish I still had it.

[@brokenbridge6316]

@@clearsmashdrop5829---that must've been quite interesting to have around

[@ExtraEcclesiamNullaSalus]

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were firebombed with conventional incendiary bombs.

[@SnarkyRC]

I've been told I'm the bomb

[@xxcoopcoopxx]

Don't Panic! Stop worrying and love the Bomb. It's all just a joke. Just one big joke.

[@bobtaylor170]

Of course, most Americans weren't worried about the atomic bomb in 1947. We were the only ones who had it. Ten years later, it was a much different story. In his marvelous book, "Ike's Bluff," ( essential reading for you, Cold War Historian ), Evan Thomas writes twice in different parts of the book about the nuclear terror which American children grew up in. I was one of them, and can confirm Thomas on that. It was especially bad after Sputnik, then, worst of all during the Kennedy administration, because that m*rd*ring, psychopathic gangster, Khrushchev, was constantly threatening "consequences": consequences over Berlin, consequences over Cuba, consequences over everything. Then, of course, in 1962, he staged his masterpiece, the Cuban Missile Crisis. I don't know whether you've ever dealt with the declassification of the Venona papers, especially as they concern the Cuban Missile Crisis, but when you understand that the lunatic bastard, Khrushchev, had snuck not only strategic nukes, but tactical nukes, into Cuba, the implications of what every one of Kennedy's advisors during the ExComm sessions wanted us to do, an immediate, overwhelming invasion of Cuba, will give you the shakes. Of course, the only dissenter was JFK, and his refusal to do it is a classic illustration of the Old Testament verse which tells us that God manipulates the heart of a King exactly as he wishes.

[@Joe-Dead]

one more thing about the fallout universe is that without those more efficient electronics energy usage skyrockets giving a reason (not there was any needed) for the resource wars.

[@kyleplatter8954]

Without the atomic bombs we wouldn’t have uranium fever. It’s going all around, uranium fever has gone and got me down. With a Geiger counter in my hand, I’m off to stake me some government land.