CULTURE, COLD WAR, CONSERVATISM, AND THE END OF THE ATOMIC AGE: RICHLAND, WASHINGTON, 1943-1989 By LEE ANN POWELL A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of History December 2013 © Copyright by LEE ANN POWELL, 2013 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by LEE ANN POWELL, 2013 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of LEE ANN POWELL find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. ___________________________________ Jeffrey Sanders, Ph.D., Chair ___________________________________ Robert Bauman, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Laurie Mercier, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEGMENTS I could not have completed this project without the help and support of numerous individuals and institutions. I would like to thank the staffs of the National Archives II, the Hoover Institution Archives, University of Washington Special Collections, and the Richland Library. I extend a special thanks to Terrance Fehner at the Department of Energy; Connie Estep, René Legler, and the entire staff of the Columbia River Exhibition of History, Science, and Technology Museum; and Cheryl Gunselman, Trevor James Bond, and Pat Mueller at Washington State University Manuscripts Archives, and Special Collections. I also wish to acknowledge the many Tri-Citians who discussed their experiences at length with me, in particular Cliff Groth and Ronald Kathren. I also owe a debt to the many friends and colleagues who read drafts of this project including Jennifer Brown, Katy Fry, Lesley Moerschel, and Mary Kovel. I also wish to express my deep appreciation for the academic guidance and financial support of the Department of History at Washington State University especially the Pettyjohn Research Fellowship for the study of the Pacific Northwest and my patient and encouraging committee Jeffrey Craig Sanders, Robert Bauman, and Laurie Mercier. Finally, I would like to thank my oldest and dearest friend, Leslie Miller; my parents, Bill and Mary Williams; and above all my partner Joel Tishken. Completing a graduate degree takes more time and energy than most of us initially anticipate and it is those closest to us that sacrifice the most. iii CULTURE, COLD WAR, CONSERVATISM AND THE END OF THE ATOMIC AGE: RICHLAND, WASHINGTON, 1943-1989 Abstract by Lee Ann Powell, Ph.D. Washington State University December 2013 Chair: Jeffrey Craig Sanders This study explores the atomic identity and nuclear politics of Richlanders and Tri-Citians through an analysis of the collision points between local atomic culture, federal nuclear policy, and the antinuclear environmental movement. Between 1943 and 1989, nuclear supporters in the Tri-Cities and in the nation moved from the center to the outskirts of American politics and values. Pronuclear Tri-Citians in the early post-war period influenced the course of federal nuclear policy in their efforts to maintain and grow the local economy. By the 1980s, however, the political and cultural power of pronuclear Tri-Citians decreased as the nation moved away from nuclear power and limited the production of atomic bomb-making materials. This national realignment pushed pronuclear Tri-Citians toward the conservative antienvironmental camp. Deeply rooted in the community’s Manhattan Project heritage and World War II victory narrative, pronuclear Tri-Citians’ environmental politics developed in relation to their iv work at Hanford, the geopolitical division in Washington state, and the modern environmental movement. Using the experiences of pronuclear Richlanders and Tri- Citians, I show how divisions over nuclear technology contributed to the state’s and the nation’s growing political and cultural divide. While Richland and the Tri-Cities were not unique in their allegiance to nuclear power or dependence on federal money, the community’s relative isolation, the profound effects of the Manhattan Project on the area, and the ongoing economic and psychological dependence of the community on Hanford, render these cities an excellent case study of the long-term political and cultural effects of atomic production. The antinuclear environmental movement’s message characterized Hanford as a source of danger and cast Hanford’s managers, scientists, and engineers as sinister atomic secret keepers. This image stood in stark contrast to the community’s vision of themselves as World War II heroes and Cold War patriots, and investigating the points of conflict between these two narratives brings to the fore nuclear technology’s role in the culture wars and growing division between conservative and liberal Americans. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEGMENTS…………………………………………………………………iii ABSRACT………………………………………………………………………………iv CHAPTERS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………...1 1. Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………18 2. Chapter 2………………………………………………………………………58 3. Chapter 3…………..…………………………………………………………111 4. Chapter 4……………………………………………………………………..150 5. Chapter 5......…………………………………………………………………191 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………247 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………255 vi Introduction In June of 1988 a delegation of hibakusha —Japanese atomic bomb survivors—visited Richland, Washington. The delegation came to the United States in May to attend a United Nations’ special session on disarmament. Richland, home to the Hanford nuclear site, located in eastern Washington state comprises one-third of the metropolitan complex known as the Tri-Cities, along with Pasco and Kennewick. Following the United Nations’ special session, the Japanese delegates embarked on a tour of nuclear facilities around the country. World Citizens for Peace, a small antinuclear organization, sponsored the visitors while in the Tri-Cities. 1 Tour organizers arranged a meeting between the delegation and Richland School District representatives. The Japanese peace advocates arrived eager to speak with district officials about the Richland High School mascot. Shortly after World War II, the high school students adopted “Bombers” as the school mascot to honor their parents’ work at Hanford as part of the Manhattan Project’s top secret mission to develop an atomic bomb. Richland High School typically symbolized the mascot as a capital “R” superimposed over a mushroom cloud. During the meeting, the hibakusha described the mushroom cloud as a symbol of destruction, worked to convince the school district to adopt a more peaceful alternative, and suggested the school use rainbows or pigeons as a mascot. Despite the delegation’s intention to promote 1 World Citizens for Peace promotes their group as “the only peace and nuclear disarmament organization at the Hanford Site since 1982.” This is an important declaration since antinuclear sentiments and organizations otherwise originated outside the community. The group formed in 1982 as part of the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign. They view nuclear weapons as the “greatest threat to all life on earth.” Jim Stoffles, “Message form the Chairman,” World Citizens for Peace, last modified May 2013, htt://wcpeace.org/home.htm#who. 1 peace and mutual understanding, the meeting quickly turned into a tension-filled confrontation. 2 In response to the proposition that district officials change the school’s mascot to rainbows or pigeons, Richland High School principal, John G. Nash, explained that customarily sports teams in the United States adopted more ferocious nicknames. Nash further indicated that while the community favored nuclear disarmament and did not want any more wars, the students remained overwhelmingly in favor of the Bomber mascot. Nash argued that the symbol represented “the power of nuclear energy and science, and the region’s history,” not “war and destruction.” The tension rose when one visitor, 77 year old atomic bomb survivor Sakae Ito, lectured Nash at length about the mushroom cloud’s military symbolism. Ito found Nash’s explanation unconvincing and simply could not fathom why the school proudly sported a symbol of shame. She pleaded with Nash and the school district to consider a change. Frustrated by the encounter, Nash exclaimed that “it was not his country that started the war” and that he “would not change the mascot.” Nash then stormed from the meeting to the cheers of local residents attending the gathering. 3 Nash’s and the community’s interpretation of the Richland High School Bomber mascot proved incompatible with the hibakusha’s understanding of the mushroom 2 Nicholas K. Geranios, “ ‘We Did Not Start War,’ Richland principal tells Japanese,” Seattle Times , June 15, 1988; “Richland Principle Walks Out On Peace Envoy,” Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, WA), June 15, 1988; and Michael D’Antonio, Atomic Harvest: Hanford and the Lethal Toll of America’s Nuclear Arsenal (New York: Crown Publishers, INC., 1993), 226-31. 3 Geranios, “ ‘We Did Not Start War’ ”; “Richland Principal Walks Out”; and D’Antonio, Atomic Harvest , 6-31. 2 cloud’s meaning. While the atomic bomb survivors pictured death and destruction, Nash and Richland High School students envisioned community heritage and pride. By the late 1980s, Richland and the largely pronuclear Tri-Cities found itself at odds not only with the hibakusha, but with prevailing national sentiments about the safety of nuclear technology, the renewal of the Cold War under president Ronald Reagan, and historical interpretation of their community. Increasingly the pronuclear community’s political and cultural voice