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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

History Article Roundup – January 2017

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at Casablanca. Photo courtesy of NARA.

Several thought-provoking articles were published in the past month on the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, World War II, and Cold War history.

  • Passions Flare Over Memory of the Manhattan Project: NPR’s “Weekend Edition” reports on the ongoing debate over how to interpret the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. “I have no illusions that it’s going to be easy or that it’s going to be without conflict,” commented Tracy Atkins, the Department of Energy liaison to the park and former Manhattan Project NHP interim superintendent. “We’re starting to grapple with some of the more challenging aspects of our national history and the Park Service is in a unique place to do that.”
  • In the Darkest Days of World War II, Winston Churchill’s Visit to the White House Brought Hope to Washington: Smithsonian magazine recounts the British Prime Minister’s morale-boosting trip to the United States soon after the U.S. entered World War II. “It is fun to be in same decade with you,” President Roosevelt wrote Churchill after his visit.
  • Clare Hollingworth, Reporter Who Broke News about Start of World War II, Dies at 105: Legendary war correspondent Clare Hollingworth died on January 10 at the age of 105. In late August of 1939, she broke the news that Nazi Germany was preparing to invade Poland.
  • In the 1960s, Telegraph Poles Were Equipped with Nuclear Bomb Alarms: Atlas Obscura describes the “Bomb Alarm System” implemented on Western Union telegraph poles during the Cold War. Designed to provide warning to the U.S. military of a nuclear attack, the system was operational between in 1961 and 1967. Although it only functioned for six years, the article explains, the system played a role in the development of modern communications infrastructure.
  • What Happens If You Stick Your Head in a Particle Accelerator? The Atlantic details an accident that befell Soviet scientist Anatoli Bugorski in 1978 while he was working on a particle accelerator. Despite having an accelerator beam pass through his brain, Bugorski survived.