The History of Nuclear Weapons Testing in the Pacific Islands

Asian American History 101

Welcome to Season 2, Episode 33! On June 30, 1946, about 76 years ago, the United States began nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific Islands. The approximately 20 years of testing was predominantly executed in the Marshall Islands around Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll. U.S. researchers, military, and government contaminated the islands and many of its residents with dangerous levels of radiation. The islands still suffer from long-term impacts from radioactive contamination, and they have never been fully compensated for losses or illness. Not sure about long-term impacts of radiation? Then we recommend listening to our conversation with Professor Naoko Wake from S01E37, we discuss her book American Survivors: Trans-Pacific Memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To begin the episode, we talk about some of the recent noteworthy conversations we’ve been having with guests. To be clear, we feel that all our interviews are noteworthy in different ways. We’re just happy to be able to share these conversations with listeners! These amazing guests are impacting politics, media, food, education, small businesses, and more. Some of the ones we reflect on are conversations with Yvonne Chapman, Wendy Mink & Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Sheldon Simeon, and Dale Talde. We close out the episode with a segment of What Are We Listening To? This episode we talk about new work by The Bruce Lee Band, Rina Sawayama, and Sarah Kinsley. For previous episodes and information, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at [e-mail].

Segments

• 00:25 Reflecting on Recent Interviews
• 05:38 The History of Bomb Testing in the Pacific Islands
• 33:51 What Are We Listening To? The Bruce Lee Band, Rina Sawayama, Sarah Kinsley