Episode 12 - 1954 - USA, The Godzilla of Nations
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Episode 12 - 1954 - USA, The Godzilla of Nations
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About this listen
A US nuclear test in the Bikini atoll went horribly awry in early March. The explosion was much bigger than anticipated - whoops! and fallout rained down on a Japanese fishing boat - Lucky Dragon 5. Not so lucky for them it turns out. It gave rise to the story behind Godzilla, released later that year. The terrible monster from the deep created by nuclear radiation.
Like the errant nuclear test in Bikini, the rapidly expanding power of the USA - dueling with the Soviet Union around the world in a Cold War while also on an epic tear of economic growth - was transforming into a world-crushing monster like the one that that emerged from the deep.
The USA had its own monsters - including Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the famous drunken, redhunter. Another lurking monster was the US involvement with the French as our ally tried to hold onto its colonial vanity while slowly losing its final battle in Vietnam at a place called Dien Bien Phu.
Doomed French paratroopers, Communist ghosts, tail gunners and monsters, and lots of nuclear fallout. This is the Raspberry Podcast looking at the week of March 20-26, 1954.