The Atoms for Peace USIS Films: Spreading the Gospel of the "Blessing" of Atomic Energy in the Early Cold War Era
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2014, Vol 9, Issue 2
Abstract
In 1955, the U.S. Information Service (USIS) Tokyo produced a thirty-minute documentary film Blessing of Atomic Energy in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film introduced how the Japanese government, researchers, and companies were using radioisotopes offered by the U.S. Argonne National Laboratory for the “peaceful” purposes in agriculture, medicine, hygiene, industry, and disaster prevention. The film also showed the mechanism of atomic power generation, and explained that it was already put into practice in the U.S. and Europe. The images of Japanese people enjoying the “blessing” of the “peaceful” use of atomic energy, ten years after the traumatic experience of A-bombs, were not only shown all over Japan, but also translated into different languages and shown in many countries, including the UK, Finland, Indonesia, Sudan, and Venezuela. The film was part of some fifty educational and documentary films produced for President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” campaign – a global information dissemination programs on the U.S. leadership in the civilian use of nuclear energy. This paper will explore the roles USIS films played in disseminating information on the “peaceful” use of nuclear energy in the early Cold War era.
Authors and Affiliations
Yuka Tsuchiya
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP26405
- DOI -
- Views 312
- Downloads 12
The Interchanges between Koguryŏ and Sun-Wu and “Under the Fruit Horse
The metallic buckle with a round front and square rear is a kind of belt accessories in the Han and Wei-Jin dynasties. They are not the same absolutely, but have some common features: a round front and square rear; arc p...
An Analysis on the Contents of the Stele of Koguryŏ in Ji’an with Regard to Koguryŏ’s Reorganization of Sumyoje
Despite a considerable amount of research focused on Koguryŏ’s Sumyoje (守墓制), there are many unsolved issues regarding the characteristics of the custodians of the royal tombs because the Stele of King Kwanggaet’o ha...
The Tokyo Trial and the Question of Colonial Responsibility: Zainichi Korean Reactions to Allied Justice in Occupied Japan
This article examines how the zainichi Korean media and organizations responded to the Tokyo Trial and its pursuit of war responsibility. Their critiques of the Tokyo Trial often presented a critical insight from the per...
Yoshiro Sakatani, a Member of the House of Peers, the Imperial Diet, and Korean Affairs Expert (Chōsentsu) and Japanese Rule of Korea
This paper checks to see the relationship between Yoshiro Sakatani, a leading Korean affairs expert in the House of Peers, and Japan’s rule of Korea. There were many Korean affairs experts in the House of Peers, who had...
The Atoms for Peace USIS Films: Spreading the Gospel of the "Blessing" of Atomic Energy in the Early Cold War Era
In 1955, the U.S. Information Service (USIS) Tokyo produced a thirty-minute documentary film Blessing of Atomic Energy in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film i...