![]() ![]() While Europeans gathered on beaches at last free from war, bombs inspiring their swimwear were being dropped by the Atomic Energy Commission in the Marshall Islands. Scholar Teresia Teaiwa famously critiqued the bikini as instrumental to depoliticizing and concealing the effects of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. The atomic explosion of the "Able" bomb during Operation Crossroads is captured on July 1, 1946. ![]() His competitor, Louis Réard, debuted an even scantier design he was sure would be “explosive:” the bikini swimsuit. Hayworth’s gown was not the only French fashion statement to be attached to Crossroads - Jacques Heim’s revealing Atome swimsuit made its debut on the Riviera that summer. ![]() Hayworth was, unsurprisingly, horrified by the gesture. Stenciled onto the Able bomb was an image of “bombshell” Rita Hayworth in a strapless black gown. The bomb was nicknamed Gilda, after a movie Hayworth had starred in that same year. One such test series was Operation Crossroads, in which the US detonated bombs Able and Baker over Bikini Atoll. These geographies were further complicated by the spread of radioactive fallout, which impacted communities well outside of the “testing” locations. ![]() These three detonations, their devastation immense and ongoing, were just the beginning of the US nuclear detonation program.īetween 19, the US detonated over 1,000 known nuclear devices across the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Northern Paiute and Western Shoshone lands in Nevada, Aleut lands in Amchitka, Alaska and many other places across US-occupied lands and waters. Universal Pictures released “Oppenheimer” on the 78th anniversary of the Trinity test in New Mexico, and two weeks before the 78th anniversary of the US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ![]()
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