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Test Ban

After World War Two, the Atomic Energy Commission wanted to test its bombs on American soil.  The idea was to find somewhere with enough space under federal control and the right climate.  In December 1950, President Harry Truman set aside part of the Nellis Bombing and Gunnery Range to be the atomic proving ground … the Nevada Test Site, now known as the Nevada National Security Site.

[Hear More: Learn about a time when Las Vegas residents welcomed atomic testing and atomic tourism was at its peak on KNPR's State of Nevada.]

For Nevada, the tests brought scientists, contractors, workers—in other words, payroll.  They led to the creation of the town of Mercury to house Test Site workers, who developed their own community.  The tests were good for Nevada’s image.  Here was a state that served as America’s capital of vice, and now we were helping the U.S. fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union.  Journalists from around the world came to Nevada and presented it in a different light.

[Hear More: What was it like as a one kiloton bomb detonated 10,000 feet overhead?  Find out on KNPR's State of Nevada.]

[Hear More: Artist Steven Liguori recreates iconic bombshell on KNPR's State of Nevada.]

There has been a lot of fine scholarly research, including an oral history project by UNLV and the book Bombs in the Backyard by Dina Titus, then a political science professor and now a congresswoman.  The National Atomic Testing Museum  also tells the story of a time when atomic bombs lit up the desert and changed our lives.