University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons
Department of History and Sociology of Science Departmental Papers (HSS) (HSS)
6-1995
Review of Jonathan M. Weisgall, Operation Crossroads: The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll
Susan M. Lindee University of Pennsylvannia, [email protected]
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Part of the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, History of the Pacific Islands Commons, and the Military History Commons
Recommended Citation Lindee, S. M. (1995). Review of Jonathan M. Weisgall, Operation Crossroads: The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll. Isis, 86 (2), 353-355. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/357225
This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hss_papers/18 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Review of Jonathan M. Weisgall, Operation Crossroads: The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll
Abstract The island of Bikini is at the cener of this meticulous reconstruction of the weapons tests conducted there. Jonathan Weisgall has been legal counsel to the Bikini islanders since 1975, and his narrative is most compelling when it stays close to the islanders. There is barely an analytical sentence in the book, and the author is prone to harsh adjectives for those who promulgated the tests. But the storytelling is first ate,r and Weisgall has done more than his share of combining archives and dissecting oral history interviews.
Disciplines Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | History of the Pacific Islands | Military History
This review is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hss_papers/18 BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 86: 2 (1995) 353 ories, assessing the evidence in debates on inglyho- calledcalled forfor "balance""balance" in in the the national national labo- labo- mosexuality, pornography, and childhood sexu- ratories duringduring thethe 1960s, 1960s, Oak Oak Ridge Ridge moved moved ality (and lamenting the impossibility of doing more dramaticallydramatically away away from from its its earlier earlier focus focus on on serious research on children). An advocate nuclearof energy.energy. TheThe biology biology division division became became the the frankness in all sexual matters, he writes un-largest divisiondivision ofof Oak Oak Ridge Ridge National National Labora- Labora- flinchingly of pedophiliacs and "fuckeramas" tory andand examinedexamined a awide wide variety variety of of research research (video workshops employed to desensitize ther- questions. AlthoughAlthough the the environmental environmental and and bio- bio- apists) (p. 279). He is admirably feminist logicaland programsprograms of of the the laboratory laboratory continued continued altogether nonjudgmental. What Bullough doesduring thethe 1970s,1970s, the the energy energy crisis crisis returned returned Oak Oak not do, however, is historicize his-the sexolo- Ridge toto itsits earlierearlier focus. focus. Laboratory Laboratory scientists scientists gist's-commitment to the notion that sexual investigated recyclingrecycling efforts, efforts, solar solar energy, energy, nu- nu- openness yields the researcher essential truths clear of fusion,fusion, andand the the use use of of coal coal as as an an energy energy human nature. This notion, upon which sexology source, whilewhile continuingcontinuing their their research research on on nu- nu- is premised, is not nearly so self-evident as Bul-clear safetysafety andand environmental environmental concerns. concerns. lough assumes. Advanced by turn-of-the-century The ReaganReagan revolutionrevolution brought brought another another sig- sig- sexual modernizers, it triumphed as part of nificantthe modificationmodification to to the the laboratory's laboratory's mission. mission. process that saw a Victorian past created and Althoughre- OakOak RidgeRidge participated participated in in Strategic Strategic jected. Rooted in history, it invites the histori- Defense InitiativeInitiative endeavors, endeavors, the the more more signifi- signifi- an's scrutiny. cant changechange inin thethe 1980s 1980s was was a aredirection redirection of of ELIZABETH LUNBECK energy research.research. Support Support for for non-nuclear non-nuclear energy energy sources andand conservationconservation dropped dropped noticeably, noticeably, while thethe ReaganReagan administration administration stressed stressed tech- tech- nology transfertransfer to to private private industry. industry. In In the the early early Leland Johnson; Daniel Schaffer. Oak Ridge 1990s thethe laboratorylaboratory took took on on the the new new task task of of National Laboratory: The First Fifty Years. environmental xii restoration. Various reviews had + 270 pp., illus., bibls., index. Knoxville: Uni- disclosed major environmental problems at nu- versity of Tennessee Press, 1994. $30. clear facilities, most of which resulted from ear- Because of its origins in the Manhattan Project, lier techniques of nuclear waste disposal. Rather the Oak Ridge complex remains identified with than pursuing new projects, many Oak Ridge nuclear weapons and energy research. As the scientistsau- found themselves attempting to correct thors of this volume emphasize, however, past the mistakes. The expansion of the laboratory's laboratory has pursued a much broader agenda mission continued, however, with other scien- and has long represented a multifaceted scientific tists involved in global warming studies, the hu- institution. Its nuclear program has been aug-man genome project, analysis of acid rain, and mented by research in various biological topics, preliminary work on the superconducting super- energy conservation, science education, and,collider. more recently, environmental recovery and Based on numerous interviews, various pub- waste management. Although "sponsored" lishedby sources, and selected manuscript and ar- Oak Ridge National Laboratory and occasionally chival collections, Oak Ridge National Labora- displaying the shortcomings of "in house" tory:his- The First Fifty Years provides a valuable tory, this overview of the laboratory's first half- survey of the development of this facility. Its century describes the multidimensional research value as a historical account is somewhat limited program of Oak Ridge. by the lack of footnotes or other citations, but as The end of World War II began a significant a descriptive overview the volume makes an im- transition in the role and mission of the labora- portant contribution and provides an outline for tory. During the late 1940s reactor design pro- more detailed studies. jects, isotope production for medical research, GEORGE E. WEBB and the expansion of the basic science program defined the laboratory mission. The escalation of the cold war and Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace Jonathan M. Weisgall. Operation Crossroads: initiative further expanded the role of Oak The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll. xx + 415 pp., Ridge. The laboratory staff doubled in size and frontis., illus., figs., app., bibl., index. Annapolis, pursued such programs as boiling-water reactors Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1994. $31.95. for civilian power production, reactors for sub- marine propulsion, research in genetics and med- The island of Bikini is at the center of this me- icine, nuclear fusion, and the investigation ticulous of reconstruction of the weapons tests con- various environmental topics. ducted there. Jonathan Weisgall has been legal As the Atomic Energy Commission increas- counsel to the Bikini islanders since 1975, and 354 BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 86: 2 (1995)
Sailors scrubbing the deck of the Prinz Eugen to reduce radiation levels after Operation Crossroads. The ship had been part of the "target fleet" in the 1946 atomic bomb test at Bikini Atoll (reprinted from Weisgall, Operation Crossroads). his narrative is most compelling when it stays port ships, and the planned destruction of ninety- close to the islanders. There is barely an analyt- five target ships valued at either $4 million or ical sentence in the book, and the author is prone $400 million, depending on whose testimony to harsh adjectives for those who promulgated can be believed. the tests. But the storytelling is first rate, and Drawing on extensive government archives Weisgall has done more than his share of comb- and on the personal papers of scientists and po- ing archives and dissecting oral history inter- litical leaders involved in these events, Weisgall views. documents the decision-making process through Weisgall's account focuses on a fifteen-month which this phenomenon came to be. He shows period, from August 1945 to November 1946, that the Crossroads tests were a consequence of during which Operation Crossroads was con- rivalries between the army air force and the ceived, defended, carried out, and then assessed navy, that they had very little scientific value, as proving that if an atomic bomb came close that they were a public relations disaster, and that enough to a ship, the ship would sink. Lewis they threatened the fragile negotiations then un- Strauss, later chairman of the Atomic Energy der way for the control of atomic energy. He also Commission, dreamed up the idea in August examines the events at Bikini from many differ- 1945 that atomic bombs should be tested on the ent perspectives, considering the experiences not navy's fleet, in order to prove the continuing im- only of the islanders, but also of military crews portance of a sea power in modem war. From and of the hundreds of journalists and photog- this beginning, Crossroads grew into a massive raphers on the scene. Weisgall has also tracked military exercise (an extravaganza, as the author down wonderful material on popular culture and puts it) that involved more than forty thousand Bikini, and he uses these sources to good effect military and civilian personnel, hundreds of sup- throughout the text. BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 86: 2 (1995) 355
This is, inin otherother words,words, aa grandgrand narrative narrative of ofpresents a a fewfew detailsdetails ofof thethe scientificscientific and and techni- techni- type thatthat isis notnot fashionablefashionable but but can can be be of of value value cal issues involvedinvolved inin thethe topicstopics covered. covered. Al- Al- when youyou needneed information.information. Weisgall Weisgall occasion- occasion- though thethe politicalpolitical rolerole ofof variousvarious scientists scientists is is ally makes problematicproblematic claims-forclaims-for example, example, discussed atat length,length, sciencescience itselfitself appears appears as as a a that the healthhealth risksrisks posedposed byby exposure exposure to to radi- radi- force inin thethe generalgeneral cultureculture butbut is is not not dissected dissected ation were unknown in 1946-but his book is a to examine how its own ideas were influenced good resource for those interested in the man- by that culture. agement of atomic weapons in the immediate Finally, as noted earlier, Life under a Cloud postwar era. is drawn primarily from published sources; SUSAN LINDEE scholars will not find any new discoveries here. The book is, however, an excellent choice for courses on science and society. It is well written and does not presume any prior knowledge of Allan M. Winkler. Life under a Cloud: Ameri- science or American history, providing useful can Anxiety about the Atom. [iv] + 282 pp., background on the politics of the period. The bibl., index. New York/Oxford: Oxford Univer- excellent bibliography provides students with a sity Press, 1993. $27.50. useful starting point for independent research. GILBERT WHITTEMORE Allan Winkler has written what could be called a second-generation history, integrating a vast amount of material previously published. The re- sult is a concise, readable work that presents Allan a Franklin. The Rise and Fall of the Fifth broad history of the politics of nuclear weapons Force: Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification in and energy in the United States, structured Modern Physics. viii + 141 pp., illus., figs., ta- around the basic theme of the relationship be-bles, bibl., index. New York: American Institute tween public activism and government policy. of Physics, 1993. $29.95. Apart from brief flashbacks to the earlier history of radiation, the book begins with the Manhattan In the absence of air resistance, all objects-re- Project and continues up to the breakup of thegardless of their composition-fall with the Soviet Union. The chapters, while organized same uniform acceleration. This principle, dis- topically, for the most part also follow a chro- covered by Galileo, became a cornerstone of nological order. This provides both a conceptual Newtonian mechanics. Near the beginning of the clarity to each chapter and an overall unity to the twentieth century, Baron Roland von E6tv6s and entire book. Topics include the formation and collaborators tested Galileo's principle with a operation of the Manhattan Project, the postwar sensitive torsion balance and reported that it was debate over the creation of the Atomic Energy obeyed to high precision, and subsequent exper- Commission, the postwar debate over intera- iments agreed: different particles placed in the tional control of atomic energy, the dual devel- same gravitational field acquire the same accel- opment of nuclear weapons and the strategic the- eration. These results demonstrate the equality ories of their use, the debate over fallout, theof inertial and gravitational mass, and on this civil defense program, the Atoms for Peace pro- rests Einstein's equivalence principle, the foun- gram and the development of nuclear power, at-dation of general relativity and all other "metric" tempts to control the arms race by treaty, and the(curved-spacetime) theories of gravity. debate over Reagan's Star Wars proposal. The Eotv6s's important experimental data went impressive accomplishment of the book is unchallengedto until January 1986, when Ephraim present a history that covers so many topics Fischbach and Carrick Talmadge (Purdue Uni- without losing readers in a sea of detail or boring versity), Sam Aronson (Brookhaven National them with generalities. Throughout, the book Laboratory), and two junior collaborators pub- provides narrative detail to bring the story to life, lished an eye-catching paper in Physical Review while retaining a sense of direction in both chro- Letters that argued for the possible existence of nology and basic theme. a new fundamental force in nature, to add to the The book has two aspects that some might re- four forces (gravitational, electromagnetic, gard as weaknesses, others as blessings. First, weak, and strong) already known. This "fifth while the underlying theme is the relationship force" would have an effective range of a few between public protest and official policy, thehundred meters; it would be a repulsive force; book does not propose a distinct sociological its strength would be about 1 percent that of model of this process. Some social scientists gravity and would be, for a given substance, pro- may thus find it weak analytically. Second, portional it to baryon number (or hypercharge).