Mysteries in the Archives

1946: A-Bomb Tests on Bikini (1x8)

Air date: Aug 14, 2009

In July of 1946, a year after Nagasaki and Hiroshima the United States Air Force dropped two even more powerful atomic bombs over the Bikini atoll, the culmination of Operation Crossroads, a military endeavour with multiple objectives. No event in the history of cinema had ever been so thoroughly covered. Nearly 700 cameramen and photographers were hired to film the entire operation. The images, devised by American propaganda, were broadcast around the world. The stakes were high: to show American supremacy over the Soviet Union, at the very start of the Cold War. Why so many cameras and equipment to film two atomic explosions just after the end of the Second World War? What happened the minute before a historic photo was taken? And what is the relationship between atomic testing and the famous bathing suit?