Do you have a cite for this? It sounds right but thats not how those shadows are explained in every documentary on Hiroshima / Nagasaki I’ve ever encountered. But its probably one more example of how a striking image is more important than actual truth.
If you drew a triangle with corners at Washington DC, the Naval Academy, and NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, I’d be a tiny pile of ash smack dab in the middle.
It had nothing to do with decency there – they correctedly figured out that it was a false alarm.
Look, I’m not trying to paint the Soviets as evil, mustache-twirling villains*. But I doubt that many countries would simply give in if they were attacked, and refuse to fight back, if they were capable of doing so – the Soviets were not the type. I don’t believe either side WANTED a nuclear war, however, I don’t think they’d hesitate to defend themselves if they had to.
Enough of this hijack, at least for me. My opinion is that the Soviets wouldn’t have hesitated to retaliate if we actually threw a nuke their way. Nor would we. I also know that in the case of a nuclear war, my city would’ve been reduced to rubble.
*Except maybe Stalin. I can’t imagine that bastard giving a shit.
I’ve always lived near bases, and as an adult except in college I’ve always lived close enough to Fort Jackson to hear bugle calls. So I assume we’re going up.
If I read the map right, pretty damn dead. Los Angeles.
Growing up in southern New Hampshire in the 80’s, I lived within 5 miles of this likely target; I went to school within 1/2 mile of this other bullseye.
Stupid, over-excited teenager though I was at the time, I still recall thinking where I’d run if it happened, and my friends at the time thought the same. I also remember the sense of dread when my town carried out a siren test of their Early Warning system on a quiet, overcast day in July '84.
I assumed I wouldn’t have to worry about making long-term plans if the nukes flew…
Yah, what he said. (Or she). I grew up in North Omaha, but I never heard “duck and cover”, we did have pretty frequent tornado drills, everyone out in the halls away from most the glass windows in the classrooms and fetal position with hands covering the backs of our necks. No nuns in our public school, but there would have been lots of praying if there was a real tornado.
Actually I don’t. But I said that as someone who:
[ul]Literally spent part of last Saturday in the Imperial War Museum flicking through photos of bodies from Hiroshima and Nagasaki.[/ul]
[ul]Who, having made the post, did wonder whether it was worthwhile trying to nail down the locations of the photos in question and tie that up to the likely injuries. Just because I’m not aware of anybody ever having explicitly done this. [/ul]
But the key gruesome observation is that all the initial photos of remains are of horrifically burnt, but obviously humanoid, victims. At their most reduced, still a torso, head, arms and legs. Now one can posit a bias towards photographers thinking that such subjects emphasised the horror, but might you not expect some outliers? Some photographs of people burnt away to almost nothing?
You do get photos of scattered bones in both cities, but as far as I can tell these are all much later.
You might have had to deal with your own radiation risks without any help from Massachusetts.
I also hope those poor fuckers in North Dakota got some serious compensation from the Feds for risking half the state being wiped out if the Reds launched! Look at that insanity.
Lived 2 miles from a MAC airbase with a 12000 foot runway.