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IN THE SHADE OF THE MUSHROOM CLOUDS: HOW CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS SABOTAGED ATOMIC SCIENTISTS’ VISIONS OF UTOPIA by ROBERT EDWARD FULLER Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN HISTORY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON May 2013 Copyright © by Robert Edward Fuller 2013 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I extend my sincerest gratitude to all who have helped in the completion of this thesis. To all of the faculty and graduate students at the University of Texas at Arlington who patiently listened to my ramblings about atomic bombs and apocalyptic beliefs, I extend my sincere thanks. Fellow students Vanessa Azcona, Robert Caldwell, Michael Deliz, John Muller, and Janet Rogers deserve specific mention for the time spent listening and aid rendered. Dr. Christopher Morris and Dr. Jerry Rodnitzky also deserve special thanks for their input as members of my thesis committee. Their comments and support were invaluable. To the staff at the university’s History Department, especially Wanda Brooks, who offered the smiles and encouragements that every graduate student needs along their journey, I thank you. I simply cannot thank my committee chair, Dr. Joyce Goldberg, enough. She has seen me through my M.A. program from start to finish. Her thoroughness in correcting any poor writing on my part, along with her guidance and critiques, have proven invaluable. I must thank her for allowing me to pursue my studies of a subject that other historians might have dismissed. It is my hope that I have justified her confidence. The patience and support of my family and friends are what made this project possible. My oldest friend, Carson Stones, willingly sacrificed countless hours in long-distance phone calls listening to my latest research, offering advice, and occasionally playing devil’s advocate. Ray Adams, Dean of my alma mater, Baptist Bible College, taught me how to balance conviction with kindness, nurtured my interest in history, and provided invaluable resources during my research. Lastly, I must thank my wife, Thia, above all. Her love and support have sustained me during this project. Whenever I was ready to go home from the archives, she would eagerly ask me to “look through one more box.” March 25, 2013 iii ABSTRACT IN THE SHADE OF THE MUSHROOM CLOUDS: HOW CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISTS SABOTAGED ATOMIC SCIENTISTS’ VISIONS OF UTOPIA Robert Edward Fuller, M.A. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2013 Supervising Professor: Joyce Goldberg Prior to August 6, 1945, the end of the world had been an abstract concept left to the gods to enact via supernatural means. Yet on that day, humanity saw for the first time the actual mechanism whereby it might end the world. So it was that in the aftermath of Hiroshima, two diametrically opposed messages emerged to give Americans a framework in which to assimilate the advent of nuclear weaponry. The first, articulated by atomic scientists and other intellectuals, reasoned that the threat of nuclear annihilation meant that war must be abolished through the formation of a One World government and that concessions should be made to the Soviet Union rather than risk nuclear confrontation. The second, promoted by biblically literal Fundamentalists, believed that nuclear weaponry was actually the fulfillment of apocalyptic biblical prophesies that heralded the fast-approaching Second Coming of Christ and therefore One World designs and the communism of the Soviet Union should be fervently resisted because they represented Satanic institutions prophesied to emerge during the Last Days. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................iv Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................1 2. DETONATING SATAN’S BOMB ...................................................................................14 3. BUILDING ANTICHRIST’S WORLD .............................................................................57 4. FIGHTING THE ARMIES OF GOG ...............................................................................86 5. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................121 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................129 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................142 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION “Obsolete!” The verdict rang throughout the courtroom. High atop his pulpit, the Chancellor repeated his pronouncement in an low, echoing drone. Before him stood a frail old man―a librarian. As he did with every citizen, the Chancellor had evaluated the librarian’s usefulness to the State and had deemed him to be the most contemptible kind of human―an obsolete one. The librarian, a man named Wordsworth, protested the verdict, knowing the sentence it carried. The Chancellor silenced him, explaining that, “Since there are no more books, Mr. Wordsworth, there are no more libraries, and, of course, as it follows, there is very little call for the services of a librarian.” A hush fell over the chamber as the Chancellor decreed that because the State no longer had any use for the librarian, he would be executed within forty- eight hours. Wordsworth accepted his fate, but made two requests: that he, himself, choose the method of his death and that his execution should be televised. The Chancellor delightedly agreed to both. The next day, the Chancellor visited the librarian in his apartment just before the scheduled execution. The Chancellor asked the librarian what method of execution he had selected. Wordsworth calmly explained that a bomb was set to go off in the room in just a few moments. The Chancellor became notably uneasy and cautiously moved toward the door. When he found it locked, he began to panic and demanded to know the librarian’s plan. Rather than answer, Wordsworth turned to the mounted television camera and spoke: “How does a man react to the knowledge that he’s going to be blown to bits in half an hour?” Then he removed a Bible from a hidden compartment and turned to the Chancellor. “It’s been hidden here for over twenty years,” he said. “It’s a crime punishable by death, so it’s the only thing I have that has any value at all to me. So I’m just going to sit down and read it until the moment of my death. How will you spend your last moments, Chancellor?” As precious minutes passed, the Chancellor nervously paced the room demanding to be released. The librarian continued reading, but now read aloud. Moments before the bomb would detonate, the Chancellor began to plead for his life. “You underestimated me,” observed Wordsworth: 1 You wanted the whole world to see the way a librarian dies. Well, let them see how an official of the State dies too. Face the camera, step into the light! Let the whole country see the strength of the State, the resilience of the State, the courage of the State. Let the whole country see the way a valiant man of steel faces his death. You have Nirvana coming up too. Why don’t you sit down? We’ll have a little chat. Just you and me and the great equalizer. Because death is the great equalizer. So here you have this strong, handsome, uniformed, bemedaled symbol of giant authority and this little, insignificant librarian, and suddenly in the eyes of God there is precious little to distinguish us. Now in tears, the Chancellor hysterically begged, “Please, please, let me out. In the name of God let me out!” Instantly, Wordsworth set his Bible down and looked the frightened man in the eye: “Yes, Chancellor, in the name of God, I will let you out!” He then produced the key and handed it to the Chancellor who ran from the room. Seconds later, an explosion filled the room, killing the tranquil librarian before the eyes of the viewing audience.1 Although the above story is fiction, the television audience witnessing the exchange was not. On June 2, 1961, millions of Americans gathered around their television sets to be unnerved by the latest episode of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. In the midst of Cold War tensions, this particular episode preyed upon many people’s deepest fears. The abolition of God and individual liberty, the establishment of totalitarian government, and death by a lurking bomb were threats many Americans believed they faced every day. Serling recognized this and crafted his scripts accordingly. Over four seasons, his show featured nine episodes that centered around nuclear war or the threat of it. Several other episodes alluded to communist infiltration. Surprisingly, for a writer who incorporated several science fiction elements into his writing, Serling took a distinctly negative view of science in his series. This was largely due to his pessimistic view of humanity, believing (and demonstrating in many episodes) that one had only to apply a little heat to turn men into monsters. Because of this, scientific inventions only served to further enable humanity in its self- destruction. Yet his view was not entirely grim, as Serling took an equally surprising positive view of religion.

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