The Atomic Cafe: propaganda and paranoia

An award-winning documentary about the first years of the Cold War shows how the American government controlled the narrative on nuclear weapons

Picture, if you will, a population conditioned by the media to uncritically swallow all sorts of propaganda from politicians, the military, and big business. It’s not a stretch of imagination, because it’s still happening today. But we can always learn a bit from history.

This is the theme of The Atomic Cafe, the award-winning documentary about nuclear war paranoia in the United States, from the end of World War 2 to the early 60s.

Producers/directors Jayne Loader and the brothers Kevin and Pierce Rafferty went through 10,000 hours of film, after five years of research in archives, to select what would be included: military and civil defence films, official announcements, TV ads, newscasts, cinema newsreels, newspapers, and cartoons. There is no voice-over — the clips themselves, edited, and occasionally accompanied by music, are more than enough.

Don’t worry, be happy

The editing is superb, as well as the choice of songs (which are definitely cringeworthy). The film, released in 1982 — when the Cold War was getting hot again —, caused a sensation, particularly because the unintentional hilarity of most clips was in stark contrast to the horrifying truth on display from time to time.

In the early years of the Cold War, an enormous effort was put into trying to convince the American people that, yes, nuclear weapons were very dangerous, but they were necessary — otherwise, the damn commies would destroy freedom. If you took care, and followed the advices from the authorities, you wouldn’t have to worry too much. Just trust the experts.

A ludicrous example is a film in which the narrator assures the public that, even if radiation makes them lose their hair, it will eventually grow back. He then asks: why expend 85% of your “worrying capacity” on something that will cause “only” about 15% of the deaths?

Don’t be happy, worry

And from the ludicrous to the outright criminal, we have an Army training film, showing soldiers marching towards a nuclear mushroom. This is real, this really happened.

This dreadful drill was Troop Test Smoky, a military exercise that took place in 1957, as part of Operation Plumbbob.

Trust me, I’m a scientist

Soldiers were told by their instructor not to worry. After telling them that a nuclear explosion is “one of the most beautiful sights seen by man”, he says that radiation might not be that big of a deal.

“The radiation level may be high, but if you follow orders you’ll be moved out in time to avoid sickness … If you receive enough gamma radiation to cause sterility or severe sickness, you’ll be killed by blast, flying debris, or heat anyway. Well, that’s the story. Don’t worry about yourselves. As far as the test is concerned, you’ll be fine.”

Yeah right.

The alleged beauty of a nuclear explosion was reinforced in a fictional re-enactment of the night before the test. Asked by the soldiers what did a blast look like, the company’s chaplain was enthusiastic.

“First of all, one sees a very, very bright light, followed by a shock wave. Then you hear the sound of the blast, and then it seems as though there is a minor earthquake. And then you look up and you see the fireball as it ascends up into the heavens. It’s a wonderful sight to behold.”

Got you, suckers

There are many memorable moments in the film, like President Harry Truman grinning before composing himself to announce that the United States had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Euphoria for the end of the war was bolstered by boastfulness, with America flaunting its might. Very few people were aware of the effects of a nuclear explosion.

I’m so f*cking happy I could cry

In a second announcement, Truman made clear that the US would keep bombing Japan until they surrendered.

“Having found the atomic bomb we have used it. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us. It is an awful responsibility that has come to us. We thank God that it has come to us instead of to our enemies, and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.”

Bro, you forgot all about the Third Commandment.

Dr Mengele approves of this message

One of the film’s highlights is the startling interview with Paul Tibbets, the captain who flew the Enola Gay to bomb Hiroshima. Tibbets offhandedly revealed that the city’s population would be used as guinea pigs.

“The group had been told to select some targets in Japan that had not been bombed, in other words, they wanted virgin targets. And the reason behind it, even though not given to the group at that time, … was that they wanted to be able to make bomb blast studies or bomb damage studies on virgin targets once the bombs were used.”

Harrowing images of Japanese victims offer a dramatic counterpoint to the triumphalism that reigned in the US. The footage that was made in the immediate aftermath of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was seized and kept secret by the American government for decades.

For the record, Tibbets never expressed any regret for his mission.

Colonialism 101

One year after World War 2 came to a close, the United States started a series of nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. The Bikini Atoll was evacuated, and the films about the operation reek of a typical patronising posture.

“To the natives in their simplicity and their pleasantness and their courtesy, they’re more than willing to cooperate, although they don’t understand the world of nuclear energy any more than we do. And although they have no way of understanding what the test is about.”

A meeting between a military officer and a gathering of indigenous people, led by their King Juda, takes place in a back-and-forth of translation. In the end, Juda and his people agree to leave the atoll. Like they had a choice.

The narrator tries to be funny.

“The islanders are a nomadic group and are well pleased that the Yanks are going to add a little variety to their lives.”

The local population left, singing an… American popular song (“You Are My Sunshine”) in their language. Heart-breaking.

Reds under the bed

The Cold War and the infamous Red Scare started in earnest soon after, and The Atomic Cafe regales us with a cornucopia of ridiculous ads and short films purporting to alert Americans of the evil communists lurking everywhere. As good old Thomas Jefferson used to say, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

But a brief scene of an interrogation by the House Un-American Activities Committee shows us that the climate was pretty dark, rather than ridiculous. Anti-Communist paranoia would reach its pinnacle during the 50s. Many careers and reputations were destroyed — Hollywood being the most spectacular case.

Here come the commies

Two momentous events triggered that paranoid reaction: the first successful detonation of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union in 1949, and the Korean War in 1950 — especially when the Chinese communists entered the war on the North Korean side.

The Soviet bomb, arriving much sooner than expected, led to a hunt for spies. The couple Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested, tried, and sentenced to the electric chair. It’s another gloomy passage of the film — the description of Ethel’s ordeal (she survived the first shock) is hard to stomach.

Grammar was not his forte

Kill them all

As for the Korean War, the chorus of political, military, and even religious leaders for nuclear attacks became more and more strident (as it would happen again later, when the H-bomb was being developed). A newsreel’s narrator asks, “Would the atom bomb be the answer to the Chinese hordes?”

When word came out that General Douglas MacArthur — Commander of the US Forces in the Far East during World War 2, and military governor of occupied Japan — defended nuking China, warmongers went into a frenzy. The song “When They Drop The Atomic Bomb” (Jackie Doll and His Pickled Peppers, 1951) was a stark example of this state of mind.

“There will soon be an end

To this cold and wicked war

When those hard-headed communists

Get what they’re lookin’ for.

Only one thing that will stop them

And their ferocious fun

If General MacArthur

Drops the atomic bomb.

There’ll be fire, dust and metal

Flyin’ all around

And the radioactivity

Will burn them to the ground

If there’s any commies left

They’ll be all on the run

If General MacArthur

Drops the atomic bomb.”

MacArthur wearing his famous Ray-Bomb — sorry, Ray-Ban

Going underground

After the US and the USSR detonated their first H-bombs (in 1952 and 1953, respectively), the Cold War went in full force — affecting a whole generation of children. School drills were routine, following the advice from the animated film Duck and Cover.

Looks comfy, eh?

Give me shelter

There was money to be made. Protective gear and fallout shelters became a trend. There was plenty of advice on what kinds of food and appliances to store, as well as how to organise the rather small space.

And then we have this:

In the clip, Jesuit Father L. C. McHugh makes the case for any man with his family in a shelter to have a “protective device” at hand — obviously meaning a weapon. According to McHugh, you never know if someone will try to break in, so better be watchful.

McHugh also advises families not to let other people in, because their survival chances could be reduced. An essay we wrote in 1961 defending this position caused such a controversy that, according to historian Arthur Schlesinger, it made President John Kennedy prioritise public shelters, instead of telling people to build them under their own houses.

It was not by coincidence that one of the most disturbing episodes of the TV show The Twilight Zone, aired that same year, told the story of a man trying to prevent his neighbours from storming the small shelter he had built for his family. The episode “The Shelter” is a powerful portrait of a time when paranoia was in the air.

Bomb around the clock

There is much more:

Unsettling images of the unlucky Japanese sailors in the fishing boat Lucky Dragon Nº 5, who were exposed to the huge fallout from the Castle Bravo H-bomb test in Bikini, in 1954;

Scenes from the famous “Kitchen Debate” in 1959 between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and American Vice-President Richard Nixon;

“Thirteen Women”, a bizarre song by Bill Haley and His Comets, recorded in 1954 — a single whose B-side was a certain “Rock Around The Clock”.

“Last night I was dreamin’

Dreamed about the H-Bomb

Well the bomb went off and I was caught

I was the only man on the ground

There was thirteen women and only one man in town

And as funny as it may be

The one and only man in town was me

With 13 women and me

The only man around.”

The documentary ends with a vivid depiction of what might happen in a thermonuclear war. It’s devastating — literally and metaphorically. The directors put a finishing touch of dark humour with a scene from one of those public service films, with a father talking to his children in a fallout shelter.

“Children, you’d better clear up this broken glass and all this debris. All in all, I’d say we’ve been very lucky around here. Nothing to do now but wait for orders from the authorities and relax.”

Daddy knows best

Public service

In 2016, The Atomic Cafe was among the films inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, “because of their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance”. Two years later, a 4K digital restoration was released on Blue-Ray and shown at festivals.

The distribution company Kino Lorber put the film on YouTube. You can watch it now, if you will:

Check this out:

• Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty interviewed by David Letterman, in 1982.

• Roger Ebert’s review of the film

• An interview with the producers/directors when the restored version was released

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