 I feel impelled to speak today in a language that, in a sense, is new. One which I, who have spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare. The atomic age has moved forward at such a pace that every citizen of the world should have some comprehension, at least in comparative terms, of the extent of this development, of the utmost significance to every one of us. Clearly, if the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts of today's existence. That is the largest that we know of. In the time between our HR, I'd like to show you around, if I may, and introduce you to some of the people connected with this operation. And in general, piece together the events which have brought us to this point. To start off, I'd like to show you something over here. You realize there are many miles of ocean between us and any we talk at all. To know what's going on back at the at all, these antennas are receiving televised signals, and are giving our men here a second-by-second account of what's happening on shot island. The television receivers are in here, in the control room. Well, this is it. This is the control room. I'd like to have you meet Mr. Stan Burris, the commander of the Scientific Task Room. Oh, Stan, I wonder if you could tell us something about the operations that go on in this room. Sure, I'd be glad to. The screens you see in front of you enable us to monitor the timing of firing system. If you look close, you'll see that it is now 55 minutes before HR. As time clicks off, more and more lights come into operation. This is the one-minute light, 32nd, 15, 5, 1, through firing. Ma'am, we'll give you a general idea of the whole setup. Data from the sequence timer is piped over to a display panel. This kind of display panel is new to atomic test work because of the large number of remote control and metering problems encountered in this operation. For one thing, the mass to timing and metering apparatus is located next door to the shot cap rather than being placed some 20 miles away on Parry Island, as is usually done. This close view is possible, of course, because the lens of a television camera rather than human eyes is watching events. So that's the flow, from timer on through to display panel, picked up by a television camera and relayed on out to the estates. A very ingenious arrangement. But what happens if you have to stop the firing mechanism or can you stop it? We can stop it all right if we have to. We have a radio link direct to the firing panel on the shot cap. If we have to stop the shot, we simply push this button. Just a simple flip of the wrist, huh? That's right. But a lot of work goes down the drain. To understand we don't want to stop this thing unless it's absolutely essential. No, I can understand that. Say, I was out on deck when you called his return. Well, that is when the firing party returned. Uh, what happened out there on Shot Island? If you'll excuse me, I suggest you talk to Colonel Langer about that. I have a timing signal coming up. All right. So then, Dick, the firing party's big job is to see the last minute details of arming and firing and to make sure that the Shot Island is secure. That's the broad brush of it, yes. I have been a member of firing parties before, but this was different somehow. A man standing as I stood on the outside of the building housing the mic device couldn't help but feel to sense the importance of this moment. Inside, a handful of men were making a final check. We're arming a device which could be the key to a new hero in atomic weaponry. I don't know just how the others felt, but I felt small when I thought of the experiment being readied inside. This one test could take us out of the realm of kilotons into the fantastic world of megatons. And then, at each minus six hours, the job was finished. The mic device was on its own and ready. We made the run from Shot Island down to the anchorage of the Estus off Perry in a fast pressure. Soon after, the Estus made way through the deep entrance between Perry and Japtan Islands out to a point ten miles southeast of Perry, the rendezvous area of the Task Force ships. We finished our job at the cab, came over the side, and here we are. Not long ago at Los Alamos, I was talking to Dr. Alvin C. Graves, head of the test division there. He's on board now in Flagplot as the scientific deputy to the Task Force commander. He's one of the men who can tell us about the thinking behind this operation. The Shot Island is about over there? That's right. It's generally north and west of us. For the past half hour, the ship has been headed directly toward the Shot Island and will continue to do so until shot time. You know, there's one thing I can't quite put together. That's this business of success or failure. I've heard there's a 50% chance of it failing. Now this low margin of success wasn't true on the other shots, was it? No, it wasn't. Let me try out the atmosphere. Sure. Up until this operation, that is, from about 1945 through 1951, the chance of failure has never been more than about 10%. Crossroads, sandstone and greenhouse, we had great confidence in the operation succeeding. We recognized the change in philosophy, however, when Dr. Bradbury spoke to a group of us at Los Alamos. Gentlemen, up to now, the laboratory has had sufficient time to compile information and revise weapon design before a field test of a weapon. As of now, the situation has changed. We must take risks. Calculated risk, it is true. But risk, nevertheless. According to the presidential directive, we must ascertain if a hydrogen bomb is feasible and do this in the highest possible speed. Here is what I think we must do. We must set up a special staff under Dr. Marshall Holloway reporting directly to my office. He will receive from the theoretical division, the theoretical designs of such a system, have them fabricated and shipped when we talk. There, they'll be taken by Dr. Graves and J. Division and testing. It must be recognized that we're taking great chances. The great gamble. But a gamble, while there's a possibility of failure, nevertheless, there's a possibility of great gains. Anyway, talk will become our theoretical laboratory rather than a proven ground. And that's the way it is today. We're taking a gamble. I see that now. But then the uneasy state of the world puts everything on a gambling basis, I guess. Yes, but not as much of a gamble as you might think. Take that man over there. He and his company have put a great deal of thought into the engineering and design of Mike. Well, see you later. So long, Dr. And thanks a lot. Well, so far, we've pieced together quite a bit of this operation. I don't believe you have ever had a good look at our key test islands. The test islands for Mike are located at the top or the northern sector of any we talk at all. Some 25 miles from Perry and any we talk, the two base islands of this atoll proving grounds. There are three main islands making up the test site. These are Alugilab, Teeter, and Bogon. In the early months, Alugilab was just another small, naked island of the atoll. But by mid-summer, it began to look like the thing it was selected for. A shot island. Actually, the cab, so-called because it houses the weapon, is not a cab at all, but a building set flush to the ground. It has all the earmarks of a common worksheet. But in reality, it's a laboratory building set on a Pacific atoll. This, as you have probably gathered, is joint operations. All atomic test operations in the Pacific so far have been run under a joint task force kind of setup. Operation IV is using the same organizational structure as greenhouse. Four task groups. Scientific, Army, Navy, and Air Force. Members of these groups are here now, sifting and coordinating the many details of this joint operation, and passing key information on top sides to the command level. The Army is... The Army is the executive agent on this operation, just as the Air Force was on greenhouse and the Navy on crossroads before that. At this point in our story, it's necessary to understand the effort behind the collecting of measurement data. For what good is a test unless we can learn? Can profit from the experience. Highly specialized, sometimes costly instruments help scientists bring home this vital data. An outstanding example of such specialization is the use of a helium atmosphere box by the Naval Research Laboratory. The plywood tube looking like a train of box cars runs from the shot island across the causeways to a detection station on Bogan, a distance of nearly two miles. In addition to the diagnostic kind of measurement, many studies are being run on the effects expected from a high-order detonation. These projects are being conducted jointly by the AEC and the Department of Defense. As always, there are many questions to be answered. Classical routine questions and special pertinent questions pertaining to the hydrogen device mic. The story of heat or thermal radiation needs continued study. The ever-interesting history of neutrons will be recorded. What amounts of external neutrons are present? And what is their energy distribution? Because of the expected size of the shot, the fallout problem is being extensively analyzed. Here before, flag block. That's General Clarkson, the Task Force commanding and General Walk, Chief of Staff. The scientific deputy, Dr. Graves, you've already met. Captain Spall is deputy for naval operations and General Wise deputy for the Air Force. As you've gathered, a weather briefing is taking place. I should say another weather briefing. You've probably heard many times before how important the weather picture is in an atomic test operation. Weather can make or break a test shot. That's why you want to know up to the last moment just how you stand with the elements. The problem this time is especially acute because this entire area of the Pacific is subject to radiological fallout. And this area is inhabited by some 20,000 people. Plus, of course, the ships of this Task Force. That's why the Red Safe Officer works hand in glove with the Weather Office. Oh, by the way, to help you understand this problem, these weathermen are covering an area larger than the United States with 10-weather aircraft and 11 fixed-weather stations. To put it mildly, that's quite a territory to cover. Let's listen in, shall we? Any chance of show? Not within the next 48 hours or with the entire marshals. How about cloud cover? A few cumulus move in, but if we go off on schedule, nothing to bother the operation. Are you satisfied from the radiological standpoint come out a minute? Yes, sir, the situation is ideal since the entire fallout pattern is to the north of the inhabited islands. Thank you, Joe. The time is now h minus two minutes. Okay, I'll catch you soon. Martin, you have a grandstand seat here to one of the most momentous events in the history of science. In less than a minute, you will see the most powerful explosion ever witnessed by human eyes. The blast will come out of the horizon just about there. And this is the significance of the moment. This is the first full-scale test of a hydrogen device. If the reaction goes, we're in the thermonuclear era. For the sake of all of us, and for the sake of our country, I know that you join me in wishing this expedition well. Now, 30 seconds to zero time. Seconds after the first light. Mike was power, the kind of titanic energy released by stars. But even the largest man-made explosion in the history of the world has little meaning unless we compare it to everyday items we understand. So at this point, let's replay the detonation. Go back and watch Mike in action once again. Remember those final last seconds? Timum, it measures about three and one-quarter miles in diameter. Compared to the skyline of New York, this means that with the Empire State Building as zero point, the Mike Fireball would extend downtown to Washington Square and uptown to Central Park. In other words, the Fireball alone would engulf about one-quarter of the island of Manhattan. The tremendous upsurge of air from the detonation rapidly pushes up the Mike Cloud. Again, nothing of this height and width has ever before been witnessed. If the picture is stopped at this point in the Cloud's growth, the height of the Cloud is approximately 40,000 feet. This means that 32 Empire State Buildings at 1,250 feet per building could be piled one on top of the other before they would attain the Cloud's height at this time, roughly two minutes after zero. Some 10 minutes later, the Cloud approaches its maximum. At this time, the mushroom portion of the Cloud is pushed up to around 10 miles and spreads out along the base of the stratosphere to a width of about 100 miles, while the stem itself is pushed upward deep into the stratosphere to a height of about 25 miles. The results of this tremendous power can be shown at the atoll. Here is an aerial photo of the test area of the atoll before the blast. And here is the same area after the blast, showing the crater caused by Mike. The outlined island in the center is former Illugilab, the Zero Island. Sections of the islands on either side have been chopped off. The crater is roughly a mile in diameter. When it is illustrated that some 14 Pentagon buildings could be comfortably accommodated in this hole, the size of the Mike crater becomes more real. In profile, the crater gradually slopes down to a maximum depth of some 175 feet, or equivalent to the height of a 17-story building. The lateral destructive effects are the greatest yet observed from a single explosive device. Without getting into the areas of target evaluation or secondary effects, it can be safely assumed that there was complete annihilation within a radius of 3 miles, or out to and including all of entropy, that there was severe to moderate damage out to 7 miles or down to Rujoro, and that light damage extended as far as 10 miles or down to run it. Relating this area of damage to a city like Washington, D.C., would present a picture something like this. With a capital as zero point, there would be complete annihilation west to Arlington Cemetery, east to the Anacostia River, north to the soldier's home, and south to Bowling Field. Complete annihilation, and that is mentioning merely the primary damage. What you have just seen was an awesome turning point in history. A development affecting not only the future of humanity, but the security of our nation, the safety of our communities, and the well-being of our homes and our families. President Eisenhower was speaking, not alone, to the United Nations, but to every American when he said, and I quote, Let no one think that the expenditure of vast sums for weapons and systems of defense can guarantee the absolute safety for the cities and citizens of any nation. The awful arithmetic of the atomic bomb does not permit of any such easy solution. Even against the most powerful defense, an aggressor in possession of the effective minimum number of bombs for a surprise attack could probably place a sufficient number of his bombs on the chosen targets to cause hideous damage. End of the quote. Consequently, our national civil defense effort must concern itself with three major factors. One, intensified civil defense preparations to reduce the loss of life, property, and production. Two, greater personal preparations for your recovery and for that of your family. Three, our moral determination to fight back and to win if war should come even in spite of our efforts for peace. In light of the picture which you have just seen, I ask you to ponder these concerns in your heart and in your conscience as a responsible American citizen. Two courses of action must be followed on the long and difficult road to peace. First, unceasing efforts to reach international agreement upon such a sound proposal as President Eisenhower made to the United Nations for the constructive use of atomic energy in the service of all mankind. This requires better and deeper understanding of the problems it faces upon the part of the American public. Second, Prudence dictates steadfast preparation by us at home to back up our president as he goes into the councils of the world in order that he may lead from strength, based upon an assurance that the American people are prepared to withstand any assault. This is no simple thing to do. It requires personal dedication and diligence in civil defense as a safeguard until that day when a just and lasting peace may come to the world. This we can do. This we must and we will do as Americans determined to protect an advance America and free people everywhere.