![]() Dorothy McKibbin typifies this security network. Beneath the genteel surface, however, stood a hard-as-nails network to protect the secret. The security set up around the A-bomb development and test had a very composed and easy appearance, from the front gate to the dozens of labs where the bomb was being built. (In the end, the simplest explanation was released since no deaths were involved.) Among those not revealed until now was an explanation to cover civilian deaths in the Alamagordo, New Mexico, area. FBI agents visited the publishers of several major newspapers the day after the test to quash potential stories that might raise questions about the test.ĭefense Department officials who have acknowledged that three different stories were prepared to explain the test to the public actually had prepared a half-dozen explanations.The governor of New Mexico in 1945 was not informed of the nature of the test until after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima the next month.Dozens of documents that had been available to the public but were never used suddenly became classified sometime in the 1970s.Also still under wraps are correspondences that might shed light on how much information leaked during the weeks between the test and the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945.Īmong the startling facts uncovered in our investigation: Still unavailable are several documents relating the results of radiation tests following the test blast at what is now the White Sands Missile Range. on July 16, 1945, was, perhaps, the most significant event of the 20th century.Įven today, hundreds of documents relating to the first A-bomb test remain locked away under secret classification. That explosion, which took place seconds before 5:30 a.m. ![]() "But it seemed more like the end of the world." "The state police said it was an accidental explosion at the Army camp," Deare told an interviewer in documents released to Popular Mechanics by the Defense Department under the Federal Freedom of Information Act. About 5:30 the next morning, Deare's worst fears seemed trivial as he was thrown out of bed by an apocalyptic explosion far more frightening than the worst thunder he'd ever heard. He had helped batten down the filling station near Socorro, N.M., the night before, thinking there might even be an overnight flood. This test was the world's first look at the power of the nuclear bomb.įierce thunderstorms and unpredictable winds had kept Norbert Deare awake late into the sweltering summer night. It's been visually updated for the 75th anniversary of the Trinity Nuclear Test that took place on July 16, 1945. This story was originally published in the August 1985 issue of Popular Mechanics.
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