Mushroom over Manhattan: A-bomb Strike Images of NYC, Chicago, Seattle...1945-1958

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

I've written perhaps 100 posts for the History of Fission and Nuclear Weapons series on this blog, and in that I've collected a number of (pre-1960) images showing a nuclear explosion over specific, recognizable U.S. cities. Some of these came as a result of Cold War propaganda, others were used to show the effects of the bomb on a familiar profile.  I've not put them together in one post before, so I thought to do it now.  (The very first image of any sort of nuclear weapon published in the popular press showing its effects on a U.S. city appears in PM newspaper, 7 August 1945--as I've said before, I have no idea how these folks put together such a comprehensive issue in the day+ after the Hiroshima bombing, but they did).

Here are the U.S. cities I've collected so far--the majority of them are New York City, mainly because it has the most recognizable features making it easier for a broad spectrum of readers to understand the destructive force of the bomb(s).

Manhattan, Collier's Magazine, 1948

 

Seattle, 1955:

Not a mushroom cloud, but the only thing I have for San Francisco:

Movie still from "One World or None", 1946.   https://youtu.be/u6ORe_tHYXU
  

Manhattan, PM Newspaper, 7 August 1945:

 

Houston, 1955:

[Source: http://www.houstontx.gov/savvy/archives/spring06/spg06_heritage.htm]

Chicago, 1950:

[Source:  LIFE Magazine, 30 June, 1950]

Manhattan, 1950 

 Brooklyn:

 [Source:  Conelrad blog and also at the website]

Manhattan, 1950:

LIFE Magazine,  August 1950.

 

Manhattan, 1950:

 

 

Manhattan, 1952

Lester McQuade, Manhattan, 1952.

 

Not quite the same thing, but here's an image (and a link for more) of a Los Angeles pre-dawn dawn, showing the atmospheric effects of a nuclear blast test 270 miles away (and the only thing so far that I have found with nuclear weapon effects in L.A.):

 

 

[Source: IO9, http://io9.com/what-the-atomic-tests-of-the-1950s-looked-like-from-los-1325081421]

 

 

[Source: Restricted Data, Nuclear Secrecy Blog, by Alex Wellerstein,http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2011/12/30/friday-image-bullseye-on-washington-1953/]

 

[Source: Restricted Data, Nuclear Secrecy Blog, by Alex Wellerstein, http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/1953-DC-nuclear-attack-83kt.jpg]

 

[Source: Restricted Data, Nuclear Secrecy Blog, by Alex Wellerstein, http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/1953-DC-nuclear-attack-5Mt.jpg] 

 

Manhattan, 1953

 

 

[Source: Mr. America, January 1953.]

 

Washington, D.C. (no date! Ca.  mid/late 1950's?)

 

 

No mushroom cloud, but I felt as though I could not leave this out:

 

Manhattan, 1946

 

Movie still from "One World or None", 1946.   https://youtu.be/u6ORe_tHYXU