1
00:00:01,293 --> 00:00:03,712
The lethal aspect of this story

2
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

3
00:00:03,795 --> 00:00:06,507
is one that people
don't want to talk about,

4
00:00:06,590 --> 00:00:10,427
They-- they ju-- they just
do not want to talk about.

5
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

6
00:00:10,886 --> 00:00:15,015
[eerie wind blowing]

7
00:00:27,528 --> 00:00:31,657
[keyboard clacking]

8
00:00:43,460 --> 00:00:47,589
[insects chirping]

9
00:00:48,882 --> 00:00:53,011
[insects buzz]

10
00:00:54,763 --> 00:00:58,976
-[street din]
-[dog barks]

11
00:01:00,561 --> 00:01:04,648
-[bell tolls]
-[crickets chirp]

12
00:01:05,232 --> 00:01:06,567
[announcer] Put on your goggles.

13
00:01:07,109 --> 00:01:08,819
Observers without goggles

14
00:01:08,902 --> 00:01:11,446
must face away from the blast.

15
00:01:15,742 --> 00:01:17,786
H minus ten seconds.

16
00:01:18,412 --> 00:01:20,414
Nine, eight...

17
00:01:21,415 --> 00:01:24,001
seven, Six,

18
00:01:24,084 --> 00:01:27,337
five, four, three,

19
00:01:27,796 --> 00:01:29,965
two, one,

20
00:01:30,048 --> 00:01:31,466
zero!

21
00:01:31,550 --> 00:01:35,679
[explosion rumbles]

22
00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:52,738
[crackling]

23
00:01:52,821 --> 00:01:54,489
[indistinct chatter on radio]

24
00:01:54,573 --> 00:01:55,657
[woman] [indistinct] 46.

25
00:01:56,783 --> 00:02:00,245
-[man on radio] 710-4.
-[man on radio] [indistinct]

26
00:02:06,501 --> 00:02:10,672
[eerie synth music plays]

27
00:02:20,349 --> 00:02:24,186
[Claudia Peterson] When
the declassified information

28
00:02:24,269 --> 00:02:25,312
came out,

29
00:02:25,395 --> 00:02:27,606
when they were finding an area,

30
00:02:27,689 --> 00:02:29,816
they chose to test that
because...

31
00:02:30,692 --> 00:02:33,362
they felt like
they already owned the land.

32
00:02:33,445 --> 00:02:35,864
They didn't,
it was Shoshone land.

33
00:02:36,782 --> 00:02:38,533
They weren't gonna have to pay
for it.

34
00:02:39,076 --> 00:02:42,954
They were told to do it
back East, would be better,

35
00:02:43,038 --> 00:02:44,748
'cause it would go
over the ocean,

36
00:02:44,831 --> 00:02:48,669
it wouldn't contaminate
the people downwind.

37
00:02:50,921 --> 00:02:53,674
But they decided it was cheaper

38
00:02:53,757 --> 00:02:55,342
to be in Nevada,

39
00:02:55,717 --> 00:02:58,845
and it was a low-use segment

40
00:02:58,929 --> 00:03:01,973
of the population
they would be exposing.

41
00:03:03,141 --> 00:03:04,142
Downwind.

42
00:03:04,226 --> 00:03:08,355
[orchestral music plays]

43
00:03:11,566 --> 00:03:15,696
[electronic music plays]

44
00:04:09,458 --> 00:04:13,628
[somber orchestral music plays]

45
00:04:41,990 --> 00:04:45,118
[film reel crackling]

46
00:04:52,751 --> 00:04:54,294
A short time ago,

47
00:04:54,377 --> 00:04:57,631
an American airplane
dropped one bomb

48
00:04:57,714 --> 00:04:59,299
on Hiroshima

49
00:04:59,382 --> 00:05:02,594
and destroyed its usefulness
to the enemy.

50
00:05:02,677 --> 00:05:04,387
That bomb has more power

51
00:05:04,471 --> 00:05:07,432
than 20,000 tons of TNT.

52
00:05:08,475 --> 00:05:11,937
The Japanese began the war
from the air at Pearl Harbor.

53
00:05:12,646 --> 00:05:14,981
They have been repaid manyfold.

54
00:05:15,649 --> 00:05:17,442
And the end is not yet.

55
00:05:18,401 --> 00:05:20,612
With this bomb,
we have now added

56
00:05:20,695 --> 00:05:24,115
a new and revolutionary increase

57
00:05:24,199 --> 00:05:25,492
in destruction,

58
00:05:25,575 --> 00:05:27,452
to supplement the growing power

59
00:05:27,536 --> 00:05:29,162
of our armed forces.

60
00:05:29,871 --> 00:05:31,498
In their present form,

61
00:05:31,581 --> 00:05:33,875
these bombs
are now in production.

62
00:05:34,376 --> 00:05:38,839
And even more powerful bombs
are in development.

63
00:05:38,922 --> 00:05:40,632
It is an atomic bomb.

64
00:05:41,341 --> 00:05:42,759
It is a harnessing

65
00:05:42,843 --> 00:05:44,553
of the basic power
of the universe.

66
00:05:45,262 --> 00:05:48,098
The force from which the sun
draws his power

67
00:05:48,181 --> 00:05:49,975
has been loosed against those

68
00:05:50,058 --> 00:05:52,936
who've brought war
to the Far East.

69
00:05:55,063 --> 00:05:56,439
[narrator]
It is tempting to believe

70
00:05:56,523 --> 00:05:58,191
the buck stopped there.

71
00:05:58,275 --> 00:06:00,777
However,
the awe-striking horrors

72
00:06:00,861 --> 00:06:02,696
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

73
00:06:02,779 --> 00:06:05,949
though arguably
may have ended one war,

74
00:06:06,032 --> 00:06:07,284
they started another.

75
00:06:07,951 --> 00:06:09,035
The Cold War.

76
00:06:09,119 --> 00:06:11,246
[solemn orchestral music plays]

77
00:06:11,329 --> 00:06:12,539
[military reel narrator]
This is the valley

78
00:06:12,622 --> 00:06:14,249
where the giant mushrooms grow.

79
00:06:14,833 --> 00:06:17,043
More atomic bombs
have been exploded

80
00:06:17,127 --> 00:06:19,713
on these 200 square miles
of desert

81
00:06:19,796 --> 00:06:21,715
than on any other spot
on the globe.

82
00:06:22,257 --> 00:06:25,176
[narrator]
On January 27th, 1951,

83
00:06:25,260 --> 00:06:29,014
the United States air-dropped
the first nuclear device

84
00:06:29,097 --> 00:06:31,725
-on the Nevada test site.
-[explosion booms]

85
00:06:32,183 --> 00:06:33,727
It was codenamed "Able."

86
00:06:34,311 --> 00:06:36,104
Apparently, it was determined

87
00:06:36,187 --> 00:06:39,649
that the detonation
of this one kiloton device,

88
00:06:39,733 --> 00:06:43,945
and the 927 tests
conducted thereafter...

89
00:06:45,030 --> 00:06:48,074
would be perfectly safe
on American soil.

90
00:06:48,158 --> 00:06:52,287
[ominous music plays]

91
00:07:12,057 --> 00:07:13,516
My name is lan Zabarte,

92
00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,352
I am Principal Man of the
Western Bands

93
00:07:15,435 --> 00:07:17,103
of the Shoshone Nation
of Indians.

94
00:07:17,187 --> 00:07:18,521
I'm also secretary

95
00:07:18,605 --> 00:07:20,523
of the Native Community
Action Council.

96
00:07:20,607 --> 00:07:21,900
Party with standing

97
00:07:21,983 --> 00:07:23,985
in the Atomic Safety
Licensing Board

98
00:07:24,069 --> 00:07:25,654
of the proposed

99
00:07:25,737 --> 00:07:27,656
Yucca Mountain High-Level
Nuclear Waste Repository,

100
00:07:27,739 --> 00:07:29,616
docket 63-001.

101
00:07:33,411 --> 00:07:35,580
My family, personally, um...

102
00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:40,251
my grandfather, my uncle,

103
00:07:40,335 --> 00:07:43,546
uh, other first cousins...

104
00:07:46,257 --> 00:07:49,886
have died of cancer
and today are still dying

105
00:07:49,970 --> 00:07:52,889
of various forms of cancer,

106
00:07:52,973 --> 00:07:55,225
fro-- and-- and other illnesses

107
00:07:55,308 --> 00:07:57,560
known to be plausible
from exposure to radiation.

108
00:07:57,644 --> 00:08:00,355
My grandfather, um,

109
00:08:00,438 --> 00:08:01,815
he had an immune deficiency,

110
00:08:01,898 --> 00:08:05,276
and his skin became hard
and fell off.

111
00:08:06,069 --> 00:08:07,737
That is a type of illness

112
00:08:07,821 --> 00:08:11,449
that is potentially related
to exposure to radiation,

113
00:08:11,533 --> 00:08:14,577
and ultimately he died
from a heart attack

114
00:08:14,661 --> 00:08:15,996
a month after his skin fell off,

115
00:08:16,079 --> 00:08:18,415
but that produced stress
on his body,

116
00:08:18,498 --> 00:08:21,876
which, I believe,
uh, led to his heart attack.

117
00:08:22,669 --> 00:08:24,963
A lot of our activities
were outside.

118
00:08:25,630 --> 00:08:29,259
And, uh, my uncles and aunts

119
00:08:29,342 --> 00:08:32,971
and, uh, other family members
played in the fallout.

120
00:08:33,054 --> 00:08:35,557
I was luckily--
lucky enough not to be exposed,

121
00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,809
as far as I am aware.

122
00:08:39,561 --> 00:08:41,062
That's...

123
00:08:41,146 --> 00:08:44,774
-[eerie music plays]
-[Geiger counter crackles]

124
00:08:52,365 --> 00:08:54,242
[Darlene Graham]
When we were little kids,

125
00:08:54,325 --> 00:08:57,162
livin' on the reservation
in Duckwater, Nevada,

126
00:08:57,245 --> 00:08:59,831
we used to hear
this great big boom,

127
00:08:59,914 --> 00:09:01,458
and then we'd run out,

128
00:09:01,541 --> 00:09:03,084
and we could see this cloud
comin' up.

129
00:09:03,168 --> 00:09:04,419
They call it a mushroom.

130
00:09:04,961 --> 00:09:08,131
We-- we would see that come up,
and we didn't know what it was.

131
00:09:08,214 --> 00:09:10,633
[announcer] Three, two, one,

132
00:09:10,717 --> 00:09:14,929
-zero.
-[explosion rumbles]

133
00:09:17,098 --> 00:09:19,684
Over time, uh, it was later on

134
00:09:19,768 --> 00:09:22,145
that when we were told, uh,

135
00:09:22,228 --> 00:09:25,356
that they were doing
the testing there, and, uh,

136
00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,152
there was radiation
spreading out across the--

137
00:09:29,235 --> 00:09:32,322
Yeah,
Nevada and across the States,

138
00:09:32,405 --> 00:09:34,991
and we found out that, uh,

139
00:09:35,075 --> 00:09:37,327
it caused cancer and leukemia.

140
00:09:37,911 --> 00:09:39,996
The cancer
was my youngest brother.

141
00:09:40,830 --> 00:09:42,957
We had noticed
that when he was growing up,

142
00:09:43,041 --> 00:09:44,918
he was having sore throats
all the time,

143
00:09:45,001 --> 00:09:47,253
and the doctor was giving him
antibiotics.

144
00:09:47,337 --> 00:09:49,964
And I remember,

145
00:09:50,048 --> 00:09:52,509
we would see the--

146
00:09:52,592 --> 00:09:54,511
The dust come up,

147
00:09:54,594 --> 00:09:56,471
like a, you-- single comb,

148
00:09:56,554 --> 00:09:58,264
and then it spread out
like a mushroom.

149
00:09:58,348 --> 00:10:00,016
That's why they call it
a mushroom.

150
00:10:00,100 --> 00:10:01,893
Once we've seen the--
the mushroom,

151
00:10:01,976 --> 00:10:03,478
we went back in the house.

152
00:10:06,106 --> 00:10:08,024
My brother, Philip Graham,

153
00:10:08,108 --> 00:10:12,028
later on, was diagnosed
with cancer of the throat.

154
00:10:12,612 --> 00:10:16,574
Even if he went to the doctor's
in Phoenix, Las Vegas,

155
00:10:16,658 --> 00:10:20,120
they did not diagnose him
with cancer at that time.

156
00:10:21,079 --> 00:10:23,998
No one ever warned us
about the testing

157
00:10:24,082 --> 00:10:25,458
and what it would cause.

158
00:10:27,335 --> 00:10:29,087
Our ancestors used to live...

159
00:10:30,088 --> 00:10:31,881
wi-- uh, off the land.

160
00:10:31,965 --> 00:10:35,385
And we still do, at times.

161
00:10:35,468 --> 00:10:37,262
And that was being taken away,

162
00:10:37,345 --> 00:10:39,889
and because of-- we can't even
go on to the test site.

163
00:10:39,973 --> 00:10:41,349
If we do, we get arrested.

164
00:10:41,432 --> 00:10:43,268
And it's destroying
our medicine,

165
00:10:43,351 --> 00:10:45,353
it's destroying our animals,

166
00:10:45,436 --> 00:10:46,771
destroying our plants.

167
00:10:46,855 --> 00:10:48,231
It's destroying everything.

168
00:10:49,190 --> 00:10:51,609
We know it's the cancer
from the radiation.

169
00:10:51,693 --> 00:10:53,903
'Cause it's called downwind.

170
00:10:53,987 --> 00:10:55,405
We're downwinders.

171
00:10:55,488 --> 00:10:57,240
"Cause that's where
the radiation go,

172
00:10:57,323 --> 00:10:58,783
down towards us.

173
00:10:59,325 --> 00:11:00,660
Wherever we're livin'.

174
00:11:01,619 --> 00:11:03,371
And it's like a, um...

175
00:11:04,455 --> 00:11:06,416
cross-- all across
the United States,

176
00:11:06,499 --> 00:11:07,959
from the test site
it goes like this

177
00:11:08,042 --> 00:11:09,752
all the way
across the United States

178
00:11:09,836 --> 00:11:12,088
and not only affects people
in Duckwater.

179
00:11:12,714 --> 00:11:13,756
All the areas.

180
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,259
[eerie music plays]

181
00:11:16,342 --> 00:11:20,471
[explosion booms]

182
00:11:41,409 --> 00:11:43,703
[narrator]
The path of radioactive fallout

183
00:11:43,786 --> 00:11:45,163
from each blast

184
00:11:45,246 --> 00:11:47,332
depended on predicted wind

185
00:11:47,415 --> 00:11:48,875
and weather patterns.

186
00:12:02,138 --> 00:12:04,015
[Patrick Wayne] My father
was under contract for,

187
00:12:04,098 --> 00:12:07,477
and made two pictures
for Howard Hughes and RKO.

188
00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:10,104
Jet Pilot and The Conqueror.

189
00:12:10,813 --> 00:12:13,650
If my dad had to make a choice,
he never would have--

190
00:12:13,733 --> 00:12:15,485
He never would have played
Genghis Khan,

191
00:12:15,568 --> 00:12:17,195
because this is like--
I mean, I don't know.

192
00:12:17,278 --> 00:12:18,988
I do remember that,
uh, you know,

193
00:12:19,072 --> 00:12:20,740
we're down here in St. George,

194
00:12:20,823 --> 00:12:22,617
it was towards
the end of summer, I think.

195
00:12:22,700 --> 00:12:25,245
We had no idea
that the testing was going on.

196
00:12:25,328 --> 00:12:26,913
That was a big hush-hush secret.

197
00:12:27,497 --> 00:12:30,166
But what we did know,
was at that time,

198
00:12:30,250 --> 00:12:32,210
uranium was,
like, the big thing.

199
00:12:32,293 --> 00:12:33,628
Uranium mining was a big thing,

200
00:12:33,711 --> 00:12:35,004
everybody was gonna make
a fortune,

201
00:12:35,088 --> 00:12:36,756
um, on this uranium mining.

202
00:12:37,340 --> 00:12:39,300
-Everybody had Geiger counters.
-[Geiger counter clicking]

203
00:12:39,384 --> 00:12:40,760
Well, they turned
these Geiger counters,

204
00:12:40,843 --> 00:12:42,512
it didn't matter where you were,

205
00:12:42,595 --> 00:12:44,430
I mean, these things were goin'
[imitates Geiger counter].

206
00:12:44,514 --> 00:12:46,474
We thought, you know,
we're gonna discover uranium,

207
00:12:46,557 --> 00:12:48,309
it's right here,
we're gonna all be,

208
00:12:48,393 --> 00:12:49,686
you know, kajillionaires.

209
00:12:50,186 --> 00:12:52,814
It turned out that it was
something much more sinister,

210
00:12:52,897 --> 00:12:55,024
-as we-- we know now.
-[explosion booms]

211
00:12:55,108 --> 00:12:57,443
Uh, this, uh, you know,
the fallout from the--

212
00:12:57,527 --> 00:13:00,697
From the testing up north
was drifting down

213
00:13:00,780 --> 00:13:02,615
to, um, to this area.

214
00:13:02,699 --> 00:13:05,159
Wha-- what?-- what's the results
of all this stuff?

215
00:13:05,243 --> 00:13:06,369
Well...

216
00:13:07,287 --> 00:13:09,330
I mean, uh, when you look
at the cast and crew

217
00:13:09,414 --> 00:13:12,333
on the film The Conquerors,
it's, uh,

218
00:13:12,417 --> 00:13:14,669
just a whacked-out
number of people,

219
00:13:14,752 --> 00:13:18,047
a percentage of people,
who passed away,

220
00:13:18,131 --> 00:13:19,716
died from cancer.

221
00:13:19,799 --> 00:13:22,719
Uh, and it's just so much higher

222
00:13:22,802 --> 00:13:24,470
than the typical demographic

223
00:13:24,554 --> 00:13:27,140
that, uh, you know,
by-- skewed by so many.

224
00:13:27,598 --> 00:13:30,810
You know, if it's 60%,
it maybe should be 14%.

225
00:13:31,269 --> 00:13:34,230
I mean, uh, one of the reasons
could have been

226
00:13:34,314 --> 00:13:36,774
that they were exposed
to this stuff on, uh,

227
00:13:36,858 --> 00:13:38,151
on The Conqueror.

228
00:13:38,609 --> 00:13:40,945
Um, RKO Studios, I don't know
what they call it now,

229
00:13:41,029 --> 00:13:43,239
in, um, in Los Angeles, um,

230
00:13:43,323 --> 00:13:44,991
they had taken
a bunch of the soil

231
00:13:45,074 --> 00:13:47,452
back to the studio, uh,

232
00:13:47,535 --> 00:13:50,872
for interiors, uh,
that they shot at their studio.

233
00:13:51,331 --> 00:13:53,750
And there was still
a big pile of this red dirt

234
00:13:53,833 --> 00:13:56,085
on the back lot
at, uh, the RKO lot.

235
00:13:56,669 --> 00:13:59,464
And we went back there in the--
I guess this was--

236
00:13:59,547 --> 00:14:01,007
I think it was in the--

237
00:14:01,090 --> 00:14:02,925
Still, the late '90s,
somethin' like that.

238
00:14:03,009 --> 00:14:04,594
And we went over
with a Geiger counter,

239
00:14:04,677 --> 00:14:07,013
and this thing was still,
like, radioactive.

240
00:14:07,096 --> 00:14:08,556
I mean, it has a half-year--

241
00:14:08,639 --> 00:14:10,767
Half-life of 10,000 years
or something.

242
00:14:10,850 --> 00:14:12,101
It's not going anywhere.

243
00:14:12,810 --> 00:14:14,604
So, that was
a pretty good indication

244
00:14:14,687 --> 00:14:18,107
of what they were going through,
and living with, and eating.

245
00:14:18,608 --> 00:14:20,193
Certainly, you know,
it gets in the food,

246
00:14:20,276 --> 00:14:22,779
it gets in the water,
gets in the food chain,

247
00:14:22,862 --> 00:14:24,447
it gets in the--

248
00:14:24,530 --> 00:14:26,824
The feed that the cattle
were chewing, and bu-- yeah,

249
00:14:26,908 --> 00:14:30,119
so, I mean, it's pervasive--
pervasive stuff.

250
00:14:31,704 --> 00:14:35,833
[horses neighing]

251
00:14:38,753 --> 00:14:43,049
-[men shouting indistinctly]
-[epic music plays]

252
00:14:55,895 --> 00:14:57,313
[Mark Sennet]
I was on assignment

253
00:14:57,397 --> 00:14:58,648
in St. George, Utah

254
00:14:58,731 --> 00:15:00,316
for People magazine.

255
00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:01,859
We were doing a story

256
00:15:01,943 --> 00:15:03,945
on this woman
called Irma Thomas.

257
00:15:04,028 --> 00:15:06,989
And Irma was kind of
the activist,

258
00:15:07,073 --> 00:15:08,408
you know, in St. George,

259
00:15:08,491 --> 00:15:09,992
because she was so alarmed

260
00:15:10,076 --> 00:15:11,828
and trying to get
St. George alarmed

261
00:15:11,911 --> 00:15:14,288
about the tremendous
leukemia rate.

262
00:15:14,372 --> 00:15:16,249
And she turned to me,
and she said,

263
00:15:16,332 --> 00:15:18,876
"You know, they've made
about 40 movies out here,

264
00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:21,170
in Snow Canyon, and, uh,

265
00:15:21,254 --> 00:15:23,047
you know, John Wayne made a--

266
00:15:23,131 --> 00:15:24,674
This movie called
The Conqueror."

267
00:15:25,383 --> 00:15:26,884
[Temuijin] You do well, Kumlek.

268
00:15:26,968 --> 00:15:29,846
For while I have fingers
to grasp a sword

269
00:15:29,929 --> 00:15:31,639
and eyes to see,

270
00:15:31,722 --> 00:15:35,059
your treacherous head
is not safe on your shoulders.

271
00:15:35,518 --> 00:15:37,520
Nor your daughter in her bed.

272
00:15:37,603 --> 00:15:41,357
[epic music fades]

273
00:15:44,026 --> 00:15:46,279
I immediately
picked up the phone,

274
00:15:46,362 --> 00:15:48,656
and I called Michael in LA.

275
00:15:48,739 --> 00:15:50,700
And I said, "Michael, please...

276
00:15:51,576 --> 00:15:53,453
tell me this story about--

277
00:15:53,536 --> 00:15:56,956
About your father
doing this movie, The Conqueror,

278
00:15:57,039 --> 00:16:00,042
because there is so much
r-- radiation up here

279
00:16:00,126 --> 00:16:03,921
from all the atomic blasts
that were above ground,

280
00:16:04,005 --> 00:16:06,716
um, probably affected, you know,

281
00:16:06,799 --> 00:16:08,718
uh, the work on the set."

282
00:16:08,801 --> 00:16:10,678
Michael and I had to decide,

283
00:16:10,761 --> 00:16:13,306
how could we crack this story?

284
00:16:13,389 --> 00:16:15,933
You know,
because this is so important,

285
00:16:16,017 --> 00:16:18,728
because you had 220 people

286
00:16:18,811 --> 00:16:20,396
that left Los Angeles.

287
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,733
And-- and we counted,
on my calculations

288
00:16:23,816 --> 00:16:25,735
and my partner,
Karen Jackovich,

289
00:16:25,818 --> 00:16:29,739
out of 220 people,
if our estimates are correct,

290
00:16:29,822 --> 00:16:31,741
110 people died of cancer.

291
00:16:32,366 --> 00:16:36,412
It just seems to me
quite a coincidence that--

292
00:16:36,496 --> 00:16:38,498
That a whole group of people,

293
00:16:38,581 --> 00:16:40,541
uh, passed away.

294
00:16:40,625 --> 00:16:42,293
And by the way, yeah,

295
00:16:42,376 --> 00:16:44,003
there were people
that smoked on this set.

296
00:16:44,879 --> 00:16:47,256
People smoked then.
That's what everybody did.

297
00:16:47,340 --> 00:16:49,926
I don't think
the people on the crew,

298
00:16:50,009 --> 00:16:51,511
I don't know
what the numbers are,

299
00:16:51,594 --> 00:16:53,221
but I don't know
if they all happened to die

300
00:16:53,304 --> 00:16:54,889
from lung cancer,
I don't think so.

301
00:16:55,431 --> 00:16:57,934
My father ended up
dying from stomach cancer...

302
00:16:58,768 --> 00:17:00,937
some 15 years
after he had lung cancer.

303
00:17:01,687 --> 00:17:03,481
[Mark] As the headlines
are coming in,

304
00:17:03,564 --> 00:17:05,608
"Did America Kill John Wayne?",

305
00:17:05,691 --> 00:17:07,443
um, we felt,

306
00:17:07,527 --> 00:17:10,821
at the end of this whole purpose
of putting this piece together,

307
00:17:10,905 --> 00:17:13,199
was to shine a light on--

308
00:17:13,282 --> 00:17:15,284
On the nuclear problem.

309
00:17:16,285 --> 00:17:18,204
110 people died of cancer.

310
00:17:18,704 --> 00:17:21,999
From below the line,
you know, grips, electric,

311
00:17:22,083 --> 00:17:24,210
you know, to the main stars.

312
00:17:24,293 --> 00:17:25,670
And-- and the way

313
00:17:25,753 --> 00:17:28,381
that they all died
was different,

314
00:17:28,464 --> 00:17:30,132
but they all seemed
to contract cancer

315
00:17:30,216 --> 00:17:33,135
within the first ten
to 15 years.

316
00:17:33,219 --> 00:17:37,348
[eerie music plays]

317
00:18:26,772 --> 00:18:29,525
[narrator]
Radiation permeates everything.

318
00:18:29,609 --> 00:18:32,028
It gets there, it stays there.

319
00:18:32,695 --> 00:18:35,364
Wind, earth and water.

320
00:18:37,074 --> 00:18:40,119
The radiation
is in the water,

321
00:18:40,202 --> 00:18:43,205
it is, uh,
going to be transported.

322
00:18:43,289 --> 00:18:46,417
The estimates
are between 200 foot per year

323
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:49,712
and 200,000 foot per year
travel time.

324
00:18:50,296 --> 00:18:53,382
If that's the case,
then it's already off site,

325
00:18:53,466 --> 00:18:56,886
and it's heading towards Beatty,
and, uh,

326
00:18:56,969 --> 00:18:58,679
it'll get
into the Amargosa River,

327
00:18:58,763 --> 00:19:01,349
and it'll be transported
even faster

328
00:19:01,432 --> 00:19:02,975
towards our community.

329
00:19:03,059 --> 00:19:05,645
That's why we need
a safe place for my people.

330
00:19:06,854 --> 00:19:08,356
I'm descended from Chief Kawich.

331
00:19:08,439 --> 00:19:12,693
Kawich Valley, Kawich Peak,
Kawich Mountain.

332
00:19:13,319 --> 00:19:16,989
And this is the headwaters

333
00:19:17,073 --> 00:19:18,449
of the Amargosa River.

334
00:19:19,075 --> 00:19:20,576
Goes down through Beatty,

335
00:19:20,660 --> 00:19:24,205
comes all the way down
to Shoshone and Tecopa,

336
00:19:24,288 --> 00:19:26,499
where we're at, to China Ranch.

337
00:19:26,582 --> 00:19:29,877
And then it makes a turn
down into Death Valley...

338
00:19:31,003 --> 00:19:33,714
to our community,
at Furnace Creek.

339
00:19:35,049 --> 00:19:37,093
So, we have the radiation

340
00:19:37,176 --> 00:19:39,679
from weapons testing,
underground,

341
00:19:39,762 --> 00:19:42,973
at Paiute Mesa, into the river.

342
00:19:43,057 --> 00:19:44,725
The potential for Yucca Mountain

343
00:19:44,809 --> 00:19:48,813
to release radiation
into the river.

344
00:19:48,896 --> 00:19:51,774
But that water's
the most important thing

345
00:19:51,857 --> 00:19:52,983
in the desert.

346
00:19:54,443 --> 00:19:58,572
[light music plays]

347
00:20:04,995 --> 00:20:09,959
♪ [Shoshone lyrics] ♪

348
00:20:10,042 --> 00:20:12,628
♪ [Shoshone lyrics] ♪

349
00:20:12,712 --> 00:20:16,090
♪ [Shoshone lyrics] ♪

350
00:20:16,173 --> 00:20:17,883
♪ [Shoshone lyrics] ♪

351
00:20:17,967 --> 00:20:22,138
♪ [Shoshone lyrics] ♪

352
00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:25,307
♪ [Shoshone lyrics] ♪

353
00:20:36,569 --> 00:20:39,739
I feel
that it is disgustingly shameful

354
00:20:39,822 --> 00:20:42,158
that the scientists
and engineers

355
00:20:42,241 --> 00:20:44,452
come into my country,

356
00:20:44,535 --> 00:20:46,871
come into my people's land,

357
00:20:46,954 --> 00:20:48,914
my family's land,

358
00:20:48,998 --> 00:20:51,459
they collect my family's things.

359
00:20:51,542 --> 00:20:53,127
The security there shoot

360
00:20:53,210 --> 00:20:55,838
at thousands-of-year-old
petroglyphs

361
00:20:55,921 --> 00:20:57,673
and destroy my family's things,

362
00:20:57,757 --> 00:20:59,967
and they wanna tell me
all about it.

363
00:21:00,050 --> 00:21:02,845
The-- the anthropologists,
these researchers,

364
00:21:02,928 --> 00:21:05,389
they don't know
what they're trying to protect.

365
00:21:06,766 --> 00:21:09,727
Engineers and scientists,
they wanna do science.

366
00:21:09,810 --> 00:21:11,187
They wanna build things.

367
00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:13,189
They're not trying
to protect my interests,

368
00:21:13,272 --> 00:21:15,024
They're not trying
to follow the law.

369
00:21:15,107 --> 00:21:17,109
They're not trying
to follow the law.

370
00:21:17,193 --> 00:21:19,445
They're there in secret,
and they do what they want.

371
00:21:19,528 --> 00:21:21,363
It's disgustingly shameful.

372
00:21:25,075 --> 00:21:27,036
So, our water
flows under the road here.

373
00:21:27,745 --> 00:21:29,246
There's very important life
here.

374
00:21:29,330 --> 00:21:31,415
At night,
you can hear the frogs.

375
00:21:33,042 --> 00:21:34,210
Hear 'em?

376
00:21:35,294 --> 00:21:36,504
[frogs croaking]

377
00:21:36,587 --> 00:21:38,172
So, these frogs are important.

378
00:21:38,255 --> 00:21:41,425
They're, um, indicators
of environmental quality.

379
00:21:41,509 --> 00:21:43,886
And so is the little--
the little worm.

380
00:21:43,969 --> 00:21:47,389
These are very,
uh, special animals,

381
00:21:47,473 --> 00:21:49,892
and our people took the time,
you know,

382
00:21:49,975 --> 00:21:52,895
to understand
and commune with these things

383
00:21:52,978 --> 00:21:55,397
and use them
out of respect and reverence.

384
00:21:55,481 --> 00:21:56,816
We know
what we're trying to protect.

385
00:21:57,358 --> 00:21:58,734
We're trying to protect
this water

386
00:21:58,818 --> 00:22:00,569
and all the life
that comes from it.

387
00:22:01,028 --> 00:22:04,240
And honestly, that's all of us.

388
00:22:04,323 --> 00:22:06,659
We are water. I am water.

389
00:22:07,576 --> 00:22:09,703
And we need other people
to understand that.

390
00:22:10,204 --> 00:22:11,539
Where are they--
where are they gonna get

391
00:22:11,622 --> 00:22:13,082
their water from in the future?

392
00:22:13,165 --> 00:22:15,543
How are they going to
protect themselves

393
00:22:15,626 --> 00:22:17,086
without clean water?

394
00:22:18,087 --> 00:22:19,380
We're running into that
right now.

395
00:22:19,463 --> 00:22:20,756
Flint, Michigan.

396
00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:22,049
You know, f-- is--
is a good example.

397
00:22:22,132 --> 00:22:23,926
You have to have pure water

398
00:22:24,009 --> 00:22:27,054
otherwise, uh--
uh, you're not going to survive.

399
00:22:28,138 --> 00:22:32,268
[ominous music plays]

400
00:22:42,027 --> 00:22:45,447
[Claudia] Growing up in,
um, Cedar City was fabulous.

401
00:22:45,531 --> 00:22:48,033
I had an idyllic childhood.

402
00:22:48,117 --> 00:22:50,953
We lived on a little--
it was a little farm.

403
00:22:51,036 --> 00:22:52,621
My mother was an RN,

404
00:22:52,705 --> 00:22:55,124
and my dad worked
for the State Road,

405
00:22:55,207 --> 00:22:57,960
and we had a big--

406
00:22:58,043 --> 00:22:59,795
My mother had
a great big garden,

407
00:22:59,879 --> 00:23:02,756
and we had some farm animals,

408
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,302
and I spent all my days outside,
playing.

409
00:23:07,052 --> 00:23:10,598
I do remember coming with,
uh, Geiger counters.

410
00:23:11,098 --> 00:23:13,142
I remember lighting one up,
one time,

411
00:23:13,225 --> 00:23:16,478
and asking the question,
why would I light--

412
00:23:16,562 --> 00:23:18,022
Why did I light up?

413
00:23:18,105 --> 00:23:20,149
I was excited, I thought
it was pretty exciting

414
00:23:20,232 --> 00:23:22,860
that I lit up
the Geiger counter.

415
00:23:23,569 --> 00:23:25,446
And the guy told me

416
00:23:25,529 --> 00:23:27,364
it was 'cause I'd had
a dental X-ray.

417
00:23:27,448 --> 00:23:30,326
[solemn music plays]

418
00:23:30,409 --> 00:23:32,161
My sister's class,

419
00:23:32,244 --> 00:23:35,414
they passed out big pills.

420
00:23:36,290 --> 00:23:38,208
And I later learned

421
00:23:38,292 --> 00:23:39,793
that it was done randomly,

422
00:23:39,877 --> 00:23:42,630
and that was
potassium iodine pills.

423
00:23:42,713 --> 00:23:44,465
But they were passing them out

424
00:23:44,548 --> 00:23:47,176
after a test,

425
00:23:47,259 --> 00:23:48,510
instead of before,

426
00:23:48,594 --> 00:23:51,013
and it was supposed to inhibit
the, uh,

427
00:23:51,096 --> 00:23:54,516
absorption of the--
the radiation.

428
00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:58,270
[Geiger counter clicking]

429
00:23:58,354 --> 00:24:01,023
[narrator] In January 1955,

430
00:24:01,106 --> 00:24:03,525
the United States
Atomic Energy Commission

431
00:24:03,609 --> 00:24:05,069
released a report

432
00:24:05,152 --> 00:24:07,321
that assured the public
that, quote,

433
00:24:07,404 --> 00:24:09,740
"Radiation is nothing new.

434
00:24:09,823 --> 00:24:11,533
Since the beginning of time,

435
00:24:11,617 --> 00:24:13,953
mankind has been bombarded
by radiation

436
00:24:14,036 --> 00:24:15,496
from outer space

437
00:24:15,579 --> 00:24:17,039
and from the ground
beneath him."

438
00:24:17,706 --> 00:24:19,041
[film reel narrator]
Radium turned out to be

439
00:24:19,124 --> 00:24:21,293
a mysterious source of energy.

440
00:24:22,378 --> 00:24:25,214
But this remarkable element
would go on radiating

441
00:24:25,297 --> 00:24:27,341
like an endlessly flowing
spring.

442
00:24:28,717 --> 00:24:31,512
This was against
all laws of science

443
00:24:31,595 --> 00:24:32,888
known at that time.

444
00:24:33,847 --> 00:24:37,685
How could this tiny mass
contain so much energy?

445
00:24:40,270 --> 00:24:42,022
[show narrator]
Radiation from any source

446
00:24:42,106 --> 00:24:45,192
can attack the thyroid,
the skin,

447
00:24:45,275 --> 00:24:47,569
the lungs, the spleen,

448
00:24:47,653 --> 00:24:49,947
the liver, the kidneys,

449
00:24:50,030 --> 00:24:52,116
the bone, the muscle,

450
00:24:52,199 --> 00:24:53,617
the reproductive organs.

451
00:24:54,201 --> 00:24:57,705
Its effects: cancers,
genetic mutations.

452
00:24:57,788 --> 00:25:01,959
[ominous orchestral music plays]

453
00:25:12,344 --> 00:25:15,764
[Mary Dickson]
People are still getting sick.

454
00:25:16,348 --> 00:25:18,225
Their cancers are coming back.

455
00:25:24,023 --> 00:25:26,316
It's not like
you just have cancer,

456
00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:27,901
and it goes away.

457
00:25:28,819 --> 00:25:31,530
You-- no, you're dealing with it
the rest of your life,

458
00:25:31,613 --> 00:25:33,574
and it's not just
the physical, either.

459
00:25:33,657 --> 00:25:36,618
It's-- it--
it's a huge emotional problem,

460
00:25:36,702 --> 00:25:39,955
like, every new lump you feel.

461
00:25:40,039 --> 00:25:41,874
Every time you get sick.

462
00:25:41,957 --> 00:25:43,459
Every ache, every pain,
you think,

463
00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:45,169
"Oh, my God, it's come back."

464
00:25:45,252 --> 00:25:47,296
And just how it affects
your family

465
00:25:47,379 --> 00:25:49,798
and the people who love you,
um...

466
00:25:50,674 --> 00:25:54,136
it's so, so hard
to live with that.

467
00:25:54,219 --> 00:25:56,513
And it's-- you know,
the more work I did on this,

468
00:25:56,597 --> 00:25:58,640
the more people come to me
with their stories.

469
00:25:58,724 --> 00:26:00,809
I hear these stories
that just kill me.

470
00:26:00,893 --> 00:26:03,729
I was, um,
on my way to work one day,

471
00:26:03,812 --> 00:26:05,147
and I get a call.

472
00:26:05,230 --> 00:26:07,566
And the woman
is telling me that--

473
00:26:07,649 --> 00:26:11,236
That she lost three children
to leukemia as babies,

474
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:12,946
during atmospheric testing,

475
00:26:13,030 --> 00:26:15,407
and now her surviving
adult children have cancer.

476
00:26:17,409 --> 00:26:19,578
I have wondered,
all these years,

477
00:26:19,661 --> 00:26:21,121
why more people don't know.

478
00:26:21,580 --> 00:26:24,166
I mean, there are even people
in my own state

479
00:26:24,249 --> 00:26:27,836
and in southern Utah
who don't really know much.

480
00:26:28,587 --> 00:26:31,840
I don't think
it ever was in history books.

481
00:26:31,924 --> 00:26:34,134
They never learned it.
I mean, how do you learn it?

482
00:26:34,218 --> 00:26:38,263
And-- and there have been
newspaper articles, but...

483
00:26:39,181 --> 00:26:40,808
how-- how do you learn it?

484
00:26:40,891 --> 00:26:43,936
Unless you're taught it.
And it's not taught.

485
00:26:44,019 --> 00:26:48,148
It's just simply not part
of our recorded history.

486
00:26:50,109 --> 00:26:53,320
You know, my sister
and I were only 13 months apart,

487
00:26:53,403 --> 00:26:56,323
and I think she'd say,
"Keep going,"

488
00:26:56,406 --> 00:26:59,618
and sometimes, like,
I invoke all of them,

489
00:26:59,701 --> 00:27:00,911
these people I've lost.

490
00:27:01,370 --> 00:27:04,498
It's like, "Preston,
Michelle, Anne, just help me.

491
00:27:04,581 --> 00:27:05,999
Help me get through this

492
00:27:06,083 --> 00:27:08,210
because it's hard to carry
that baton."

493
00:27:08,293 --> 00:27:10,462
It's like,
sometimes I just need to say...

494
00:27:11,630 --> 00:27:14,633
"Okay, I need help.
I've gotta have help doing this.

495
00:27:14,716 --> 00:27:15,926
I can't do it all."

496
00:27:19,138 --> 00:27:23,308
[solemn piano music plays]

497
00:27:36,697 --> 00:27:38,699
[announcer] If you were driving
from Los Angeles

498
00:27:38,782 --> 00:27:41,451
to Salt Lake City,
on US Highway 91,

499
00:27:41,535 --> 00:27:44,413
you would pass
through St. George, Utah.

500
00:27:44,955 --> 00:27:48,208
As this thriving community
went about its business,

501
00:27:48,292 --> 00:27:51,086
youngsters
on their way to school,

502
00:27:51,170 --> 00:27:53,964
housewives starting
on the chores of the day.

503
00:27:54,464 --> 00:27:56,383
[news anchor]
Ladies and gentlemen,

504
00:27:56,466 --> 00:27:59,178
we interrupt this program
to bring you important news.

505
00:27:59,928 --> 00:28:01,430
Word has just been received

506
00:28:01,513 --> 00:28:03,599
from
the Atomic Energy Commission

507
00:28:03,682 --> 00:28:06,143
that due to a change
in wind direction,

508
00:28:06,226 --> 00:28:09,104
the residue from this morning's
atomic detonation

509
00:28:09,188 --> 00:28:11,815
is drifting
in the direction of St. George.

510
00:28:12,441 --> 00:28:15,444
It is suggested
that everyone remain indoors

511
00:28:15,527 --> 00:28:18,447
for one hour
or until further notice.

512
00:28:18,530 --> 00:28:20,115
There is no danger.

513
00:28:20,199 --> 00:28:24,328
[ominous music plays]

514
00:28:26,830 --> 00:28:28,165
[Claudia] My life was great.

515
00:28:28,832 --> 00:28:32,794
I went to college
and met my husband in college.

516
00:28:32,878 --> 00:28:35,714
I had three beautiful children.

517
00:28:38,091 --> 00:28:41,970
When our youngest daughter
was three...

518
00:28:50,604 --> 00:28:52,064
even all these years later,

519
00:28:52,147 --> 00:28:53,941
it hurts to even talk about it.

520
00:28:55,234 --> 00:28:59,112
She was diagnosed
with neuroblastoma.

521
00:29:02,658 --> 00:29:04,910
I took her to, like,
four or five doctors here,

522
00:29:04,993 --> 00:29:07,162
and they just kept saying,
"Nothing's wrong with her,

523
00:29:07,246 --> 00:29:08,705
she's just constipated.”

524
00:29:08,789 --> 00:29:11,208
But I had-- I drove her
to Primary Children's

525
00:29:11,291 --> 00:29:12,709
in the middle of the night
and said,

526
00:29:12,793 --> 00:29:13,919
"Something's wrong
with my child,

527
00:29:14,002 --> 00:29:15,379
and nobody's listening."

528
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,509
A-- and they said, "Well,
we'll check her out and see."

529
00:29:20,592 --> 00:29:23,011
And she had a tumor

530
00:29:23,095 --> 00:29:24,846
the size of an orange

531
00:29:24,930 --> 00:29:26,014
in her abdomen.

532
00:29:27,224 --> 00:29:30,852
And it was Stage V.
Bone and bone marrow.

533
00:29:32,479 --> 00:29:34,564
A hematologist came in and said,

534
00:29:34,648 --> 00:29:38,193
"Well, she's got a 5% chance
she'll live two years."

535
00:29:38,277 --> 00:29:40,362
And I said, "Okay!

536
00:29:40,445 --> 00:29:42,197
We can--
we can do that, we'll--"

537
00:29:42,948 --> 00:29:46,535
And her hematologist
had been to the test site...

538
00:29:47,286 --> 00:29:49,538
and protested the test site.

539
00:29:50,289 --> 00:29:54,293
Her-- 'cause I asked
if it could be fallout-related,

540
00:29:54,376 --> 00:29:55,919
what I passed on to her,

541
00:29:56,003 --> 00:29:59,172
and her oncologist said,
"You could never prove it."

542
00:29:59,256 --> 00:30:01,216
I said,
"I don't need to prove it.

543
00:30:01,300 --> 00:30:02,342
I know it is."

544
00:30:02,426 --> 00:30:06,555
[solemn music plays]

545
00:30:08,265 --> 00:30:10,100
Then she had
a nine-hour surgery.

546
00:30:10,684 --> 00:30:12,311
She came through that,

547
00:30:12,394 --> 00:30:14,104
and they were still doing
chemotherapy,

548
00:30:14,187 --> 00:30:16,398
but they had to just
keep cuttin' it back and back,

549
00:30:16,481 --> 00:30:17,941
'cause she couldn't tolerate it,

550
00:30:18,025 --> 00:30:19,985
and finally,
they took her off of it,

551
00:30:20,068 --> 00:30:23,030
and she was doing fabulous.

552
00:30:25,907 --> 00:30:27,159
She started school,

553
00:30:27,242 --> 00:30:28,702
and her teacher called me,
like...

554
00:30:29,828 --> 00:30:33,623
the second day and said,
"She's too tired to walk home."

555
00:30:35,792 --> 00:30:37,586
And it was just down the hill.

556
00:30:38,378 --> 00:30:39,963
I said, "I'll come get her."

557
00:30:40,047 --> 00:30:42,758
And I went and got her,
and she had a bloody nose,

558
00:30:42,841 --> 00:30:44,926
and I'm going,
"What's going on?"

559
00:30:45,010 --> 00:30:47,512
And she-- "I don't know,
I'm just really tired, Mom."

560
00:30:47,596 --> 00:30:49,264
And this just wasn't her.

561
00:30:53,852 --> 00:30:55,937
I had taken my sister,

562
00:30:56,021 --> 00:30:57,689
drug my sister to Salt Lake

563
00:30:57,773 --> 00:31:00,150
when she was
nine months pregnant.

564
00:31:00,233 --> 00:31:01,943
She's kept sa yin'
she's fine, she's fine.

565
00:31:02,027 --> 00:31:04,613
I said, "You're not fine.
Something is wrong."

566
00:31:05,030 --> 00:31:06,698
Got her into an oncologist.

567
00:31:06,782 --> 00:31:08,825
She had brain, lung, liver.

568
00:31:08,909 --> 00:31:10,243
It was everywhere,

569
00:31:10,327 --> 00:31:11,620
and she was
nine months pregnant.

570
00:31:12,829 --> 00:31:16,541
The day Bethany was diagnosed
with the...

571
00:31:18,543 --> 00:31:22,047
leukemia,
I drove home with Bethany,

572
00:31:22,130 --> 00:31:23,382
I said,
"Well, I've got to go home,

573
00:31:23,465 --> 00:31:25,717
my sister's not doing well."

574
00:31:27,386 --> 00:31:29,012
I got home,
about two in the morning,

575
00:31:29,096 --> 00:31:30,680
the hospital called and said,

576
00:31:30,764 --> 00:31:34,101
"Your sister's thrown a clot
to her lung, or some--"

577
00:31:34,184 --> 00:31:36,645
I crawled on the bed
with my sister,

578
00:31:36,728 --> 00:31:38,522
and I-- she's on a vent,
and I said,

579
00:31:38,605 --> 00:31:41,400
"You've gotta come get Bethany
when it's time for her to go

580
00:31:41,483 --> 00:31:43,068
because I can't let her go.

581
00:31:43,735 --> 00:31:46,279
I can't let her go
without somebody."

582
00:31:47,447 --> 00:31:50,158
So-- and I know
she heard me, but...

583
00:31:51,201 --> 00:31:53,245
we took my sister off
life support

584
00:31:53,328 --> 00:31:55,205
the next morning, and...

585
00:31:56,957 --> 00:31:59,167
did her funeral, and then...

586
00:32:00,168 --> 00:32:02,045
we went back to Salt Lake,
and...

587
00:32:03,755 --> 00:32:07,801
we were there for a month,
and Bethany died a month later.

588
00:32:07,884 --> 00:32:12,055
[solemn orchestral music plays]

589
00:33:12,699 --> 00:33:17,787
♪

590
00:33:33,929 --> 00:33:36,765
[narrator] On October 1st, 1997,

591
00:33:36,848 --> 00:33:39,434
then-senator Tom Harkin,
from Iowa,

592
00:33:39,518 --> 00:33:41,353
addressed
a congressional hearing

593
00:33:41,436 --> 00:33:42,979
on radioactive fallout

594
00:33:43,063 --> 00:33:45,482
and asked, quote,
"Why did the government,

595
00:33:45,565 --> 00:33:47,275
when they had
all the information

596
00:33:47,359 --> 00:33:49,110
about hot spots and fallout,

597
00:33:49,194 --> 00:33:51,905
why did they not warn
the people of this country

598
00:33:51,988 --> 00:33:55,700
about the dangers inherent
in radioactive fallout?"

599
00:33:55,784 --> 00:33:56,785
Unquote.

600
00:33:56,868 --> 00:33:59,287
[Geiger counter clicking]

601
00:33:59,371 --> 00:34:04,459
♪

602
00:34:23,103 --> 00:34:25,480
[Brian Moench]
There is no question that, uh,

603
00:34:25,564 --> 00:34:27,023
the United States government...

604
00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:32,112
uh, scheduled and manipulated

605
00:34:32,195 --> 00:34:35,323
the nuclear testing era
in such a way

606
00:34:35,407 --> 00:34:37,492
as to not expose

607
00:34:37,576 --> 00:34:39,828
the people
in Southern California any more

608
00:34:39,911 --> 00:34:41,746
than absolutely necessary,
but...

609
00:34:42,622 --> 00:34:45,709
uh, would exchange
their exposure

610
00:34:45,792 --> 00:34:48,003
for exposure of people
in Southern Utah.

611
00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:52,507
Now, I suppose you-- if--
if you are convinced

612
00:34:52,591 --> 00:34:54,759
that we're gonna expose
the population to this,

613
00:34:54,843 --> 00:34:56,761
and it's an absolute imperative

614
00:34:56,845 --> 00:34:59,389
that it makes some sense
to expose

615
00:34:59,472 --> 00:35:01,016
a fewer number of people.

616
00:35:01,683 --> 00:35:04,394
But you can't convince anybody
in the state of Utah

617
00:35:04,477 --> 00:35:07,022
that we weren't viewed,
as a state,

618
00:35:07,105 --> 00:35:10,442
as more expendable
than the people in California.

619
00:35:11,610 --> 00:35:12,861
I don't know
if that was part

620
00:35:12,944 --> 00:35:15,113
of the conscious deliberations,

621
00:35:15,196 --> 00:35:17,741
on the part of people
who made that decision...

622
00:35:18,783 --> 00:35:19,909
but, um...

623
00:35:20,869 --> 00:35:22,245
if-- if you're gonna say, "Well,

624
00:35:22,329 --> 00:35:24,706
let's expose 10,000 people

625
00:35:24,789 --> 00:35:27,083
and not expose 100,000 people,”

626
00:35:27,167 --> 00:35:28,627
well, maybe, that makes sense.

627
00:35:29,294 --> 00:35:33,089
But obviously, the 10,000 people
that you're going to expose...

628
00:35:34,007 --> 00:35:36,718
are never going to view that
as anything other than

629
00:35:36,801 --> 00:35:38,345
their lives
were made expendable.

630
00:35:38,428 --> 00:35:42,223
[eerie music plays]

631
00:35:57,697 --> 00:35:59,616
[film reel narrator] We
in the military biomedical group

632
00:35:59,699 --> 00:36:02,661
begin the task of readying
our test animals.

633
00:36:03,161 --> 00:36:06,247
These are the standard animals
we work with daily

634
00:36:06,331 --> 00:36:07,749
in our laboratories.

635
00:36:08,249 --> 00:36:11,419
Knowing and working with them,
we find that in many ways,

636
00:36:11,503 --> 00:36:13,380
they are affected
very much like humans.

637
00:36:13,463 --> 00:36:17,717
-[announcer] One, zero!
-[explosion rumbles]

638
00:36:25,684 --> 00:36:27,811
[film reel narrator] Early
in the Plumbbob Operation,

639
00:36:27,894 --> 00:36:30,772
135 pigs, in aluminum containers

640
00:36:30,855 --> 00:36:33,274
for protection against blast
and thermal,

641
00:36:33,358 --> 00:36:35,443
were exposed
to the Franklin shot

642
00:36:35,527 --> 00:36:37,654
to determine the effects
of combined neutron

643
00:36:37,737 --> 00:36:40,448
and gamma radiation
and straight gamma.

644
00:36:41,157 --> 00:36:44,619
The mortality rates,
nearly 100%,

645
00:36:44,703 --> 00:36:45,912
can be applied to man.

646
00:36:46,538 --> 00:36:49,416
Outside the precursor,
those animals in the open,

647
00:36:49,499 --> 00:36:51,793
which escaped
total missile injury,

648
00:36:51,876 --> 00:36:53,461
survived temporarily,

649
00:36:53,545 --> 00:36:55,630
until the massive radiation
they received

650
00:36:55,714 --> 00:36:56,965
took its fatal toll.

651
00:36:57,590 --> 00:36:59,217
Flying glass fragments

652
00:36:59,300 --> 00:37:01,803
did not significantly influence
overall mortality.

653
00:37:02,512 --> 00:37:06,099
[narrator] Downwinders
were, and remain, expendable.

654
00:37:07,767 --> 00:37:09,561
Unfortunately for the humans

655
00:37:09,644 --> 00:37:12,689
who lived downwind
from the Nevada test site,

656
00:37:12,772 --> 00:37:16,192
they were no more aware
of being lab rats

657
00:37:16,276 --> 00:37:17,485
than the rats were.

658
00:37:19,070 --> 00:37:23,241
[ominous music plays]

659
00:37:57,025 --> 00:37:58,651
[Darwin Morgan] The world
was in a different

660
00:37:58,735 --> 00:38:00,487
political situation back then,

661
00:38:00,570 --> 00:38:02,614
with the Cold War
that was going on.

662
00:38:03,406 --> 00:38:06,451
So, I--
whatever the subject is,

663
00:38:06,534 --> 00:38:08,161
it's very easy

664
00:38:08,244 --> 00:38:12,040
to sit and armchair quarterback
the view from today,

665
00:38:12,123 --> 00:38:13,458
to how we think

666
00:38:13,541 --> 00:38:14,542
they should have done it
back then.

667
00:38:14,626 --> 00:38:19,714
O

668
00:38:30,809 --> 00:38:32,602
They were faced
with the situation

669
00:38:32,685 --> 00:38:34,437
that they were in at that day
with the knowledge

670
00:38:34,521 --> 00:38:36,022
and the instruments
and the capabilities

671
00:38:36,105 --> 00:38:37,565
that they had at that time.

672
00:38:38,066 --> 00:38:40,860
So, yes, it's easy,

673
00:38:40,944 --> 00:38:44,072
very easy to look back
and criticize

674
00:38:44,155 --> 00:38:46,157
the decisions that were made,

675
00:38:46,241 --> 00:38:47,784
the public safety.

676
00:38:47,867 --> 00:38:49,577
Would we have done it
that way today?

677
00:38:49,661 --> 00:38:51,079
No.

678
00:38:51,162 --> 00:38:53,206
Would we have been able to
have done it at all,

679
00:38:53,289 --> 00:38:54,374
in today's climate?

680
00:38:54,457 --> 00:38:55,667
Probably not.

681
00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:57,836
But again,
it was a different time,

682
00:38:57,919 --> 00:38:59,420
different political situation.

683
00:39:00,171 --> 00:39:02,298
[film reel narrator]
640 square miles

684
00:39:02,382 --> 00:39:03,800
of desert and mountains.

685
00:39:03,883 --> 00:39:06,719
65 miles northwest
from Las Vegas,

686
00:39:06,803 --> 00:39:08,596
set
in some of the loneliest acres

687
00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:10,265
the world has ever seen.

688
00:39:11,349 --> 00:39:13,893
These men are here
for a vital purpose.

689
00:39:14,644 --> 00:39:17,063
Since we have
no atomic monopoly,

690
00:39:17,146 --> 00:39:19,440
we must continue
to increase our knowledge

691
00:39:19,524 --> 00:39:21,025
of atomic weapons

692
00:39:21,109 --> 00:39:23,778
to guarantee
maximum military atomic spring.

693
00:39:24,904 --> 00:39:27,365
But naturally,
the folks in St. George,

694
00:39:27,448 --> 00:39:29,534
as they look upon
their silent city,

695
00:39:29,617 --> 00:39:33,246
wonder why weapons are tested
inside the United States,

696
00:39:33,329 --> 00:39:35,582
instead of the far Pacific area.

697
00:39:36,374 --> 00:39:38,001
The reason
that they chose this site

698
00:39:38,084 --> 00:39:40,295
goes all the way back
to the atmospheric testing

699
00:39:40,378 --> 00:39:41,421
in the Pacific Ocean.

700
00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:44,257
Um, the scientists
were getting concerned

701
00:39:44,340 --> 00:39:47,760
about the safety of going out
to the Paci-- Pacific.

702
00:39:47,844 --> 00:39:50,138
Um, the security alone

703
00:39:50,221 --> 00:39:51,973
was starting to begin--
become horrendous,

704
00:39:52,056 --> 00:39:54,142
because they were having
all of these boats

705
00:39:54,225 --> 00:39:55,810
of "fishing trawlers"

706
00:39:55,894 --> 00:39:58,187
that were coming out
and spying on what was going on,

707
00:39:58,271 --> 00:39:59,606
trying to learn what it was

708
00:39:59,689 --> 00:40:01,149
that the United States
was doing.

709
00:40:01,232 --> 00:40:03,151
But safety
was also a primary issue.

710
00:40:03,234 --> 00:40:07,113
So the President authorized
a top-secret program,

711
00:40:07,196 --> 00:40:08,197
Project Nutmeg,

712
00:40:08,281 --> 00:40:09,991
to look at and find,

713
00:40:10,074 --> 00:40:11,951
on the continental
United States,

714
00:40:12,035 --> 00:40:13,328
a location where they could do

715
00:40:13,411 --> 00:40:15,204
the lower yield
atmospheric tests.

716
00:40:15,288 --> 00:40:18,291
So they looked here,
at the Nevada Proving Grounds,

717
00:40:18,374 --> 00:40:19,959
which was
the initial name of it,

718
00:40:20,043 --> 00:40:21,753
where they carved away a piece

719
00:40:21,836 --> 00:40:23,504
of the Nevada Bombing
and Gunnery Range,

720
00:40:23,588 --> 00:40:25,006
as it was called back then.

721
00:40:25,089 --> 00:40:27,091
They looked at a Camp Lejeune,

722
00:40:27,175 --> 00:40:29,344
what is now Camp Lejeune
in North Carolina.

723
00:40:29,427 --> 00:40:32,221
Dugway Proving Ground
and White Sands Missile Range.

724
00:40:32,305 --> 00:40:34,432
But they chose here,

725
00:40:34,515 --> 00:40:36,309
uh, very remote location
at the time.

726
00:40:36,392 --> 00:40:38,186
You gotta remember,
the population center

727
00:40:38,269 --> 00:40:40,021
was much smaller than it is now,

728
00:40:40,104 --> 00:40:42,649
40,000 people, 45,000 people.

729
00:40:42,732 --> 00:40:44,275
Very remote,
very hard to get to,

730
00:40:44,359 --> 00:40:48,237
a very enclosed valley
that they could control,

731
00:40:48,321 --> 00:40:49,572
security.

732
00:40:49,656 --> 00:40:51,199
And so they picked
this location.

733
00:40:51,282 --> 00:40:52,825
The President signed
the paperwork

734
00:40:52,909 --> 00:40:55,286
on December 18th, 1950.

735
00:40:55,370 --> 00:40:57,288
And 45 calendar days later,

736
00:40:57,372 --> 00:40:59,332
they dropped the first bomb
on the United States.

737
00:40:59,415 --> 00:41:03,670
-[announcer] Two!
-[explosion rumbles]

738
00:41:03,753 --> 00:41:08,800
♪

739
00:41:18,643 --> 00:41:19,894
[film reel narrator]
The answer is,

740
00:41:19,978 --> 00:41:22,522
we need both testing areas.

741
00:41:23,189 --> 00:41:26,401
In the vast, isolated reaches
of the Mid-Pacific,

742
00:41:26,484 --> 00:41:28,945
we test weapons
of tremendous strength.

743
00:41:29,988 --> 00:41:33,741
Only smaller bombs are tested
inside the United States.

744
00:41:34,242 --> 00:41:35,952
These smaller devices,

745
00:41:36,035 --> 00:41:38,246
just as important
to America's weapons strength

746
00:41:38,329 --> 00:41:39,580
as the larger ones,

747
00:41:39,664 --> 00:41:41,416
could not be tested so quickly

748
00:41:41,499 --> 00:41:44,085
if they had to be taken
to the Pacific Proving Ground,

749
00:41:44,168 --> 00:41:47,588
about 5,000 miles
from our western coast.

750
00:41:47,672 --> 00:41:49,924
An operation like this
takes time.

751
00:41:50,008 --> 00:41:52,010
Months and months of time.

752
00:41:52,093 --> 00:41:54,095
While atomic progress waits.

753
00:41:54,178 --> 00:41:56,264
[Keith Rogers]
Testing underground continued

754
00:41:56,347 --> 00:42:00,685
until, I think it was
September 23rd, 1992.

755
00:42:01,477 --> 00:42:03,855
There were others
that were lined up to go off.

756
00:42:03,938 --> 00:42:07,817
Ice Cap was ready and, uh,

757
00:42:07,900 --> 00:42:11,279
and then after the--
that last test, uh,

758
00:42:11,362 --> 00:42:13,906
we suspended nuclear testing
altogether.

759
00:42:13,990 --> 00:42:19,037
♪

760
00:42:22,123 --> 00:42:24,959
Edward Teller was,
you talk about regret, he--

761
00:42:25,043 --> 00:42:28,629
He didn't like to be known
as the Father of Hydrogen Bomb.

762
00:42:28,713 --> 00:42:30,631
He'd like to be known
as the physicist

763
00:42:30,715 --> 00:42:32,717
who helped stop the war,

764
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,720
and he saw things that way,
uh, you know.

765
00:42:35,803 --> 00:42:38,306
When I asked him,
where we were as far as being,

766
00:42:38,389 --> 00:42:41,809
you know, progressing
as to whatever level,

767
00:42:41,893 --> 00:42:44,103
he stopped the interview
one time,

768
00:42:44,187 --> 00:42:46,189
"cause, you know,
Teller used to--

769
00:42:46,272 --> 00:42:48,483
He always talked
in "If... then..."

770
00:42:48,566 --> 00:42:51,569
He had those big,
bushy eyebrows, you know.

771
00:42:51,652 --> 00:42:54,363
And he'd go, "If... then..."
you know?

772
00:42:54,447 --> 00:42:56,074
And-- and you would get
this whole--

773
00:42:56,157 --> 00:42:58,659
He would analyze it for you
and give you the answer,

774
00:42:58,743 --> 00:43:00,703
you know,
from the mind of a physicist.

775
00:43:01,412 --> 00:43:02,955
And all of a sudden,

776
00:43:03,039 --> 00:43:05,958
he just got in the middle
of his, "If... then..."

777
00:43:06,042 --> 00:43:07,418
And he stopped.

778
00:43:08,086 --> 00:43:11,464
And he goes, "I don't want to go
any further in the interview."

779
00:43:12,340 --> 00:43:15,051
And I don't know
what it was, but it was like...

780
00:43:16,052 --> 00:43:17,762
we all looked around
and, you know,

781
00:43:17,845 --> 00:43:20,306
I got a few quotes from Teller
and got out of there.

782
00:43:21,182 --> 00:43:23,851
[film reel narrator] Some of
the tiny, radioactive particles

783
00:43:23,935 --> 00:43:27,188
settle back to Earth,
as the wind disperses the cloud.

784
00:43:27,855 --> 00:43:31,692
These particles
are called "fallout.”

785
00:43:31,776 --> 00:43:34,403
The bulk of the particles
soon fall out,

786
00:43:34,487 --> 00:43:36,239
and the cloud disappears.

787
00:43:37,115 --> 00:43:39,450
An invisible remnant
of radioactive material

788
00:43:39,534 --> 00:43:42,912
is lifted high, wide and far
by the winds,

789
00:43:42,995 --> 00:43:44,914
eventually settling to Earth.

790
00:43:45,623 --> 00:43:47,208
But radioactive fallout,

791
00:43:47,291 --> 00:43:49,210
beyond several miles
from the test site,

792
00:43:49,293 --> 00:43:51,379
has not been known
to be serious.

793
00:43:52,004 --> 00:43:54,382
It is not constituted
an appreciable danger

794
00:43:54,465 --> 00:43:58,469
to persons, animals, crops,
property, or industry.

795
00:43:59,137 --> 00:44:00,638
[Keith] But this was the land--

796
00:44:00,721 --> 00:44:03,891
Was the homeland
of the Western Shoshone,

797
00:44:03,975 --> 00:44:05,560
and the Western Shoshones...

798
00:44:06,394 --> 00:44:09,230
didn't want nuclear testing
on their land.

799
00:44:09,313 --> 00:44:12,525
And what happened was,
the-- the government,

800
00:44:12,608 --> 00:44:14,694
for the need
of national security,

801
00:44:14,777 --> 00:44:15,903
essentially...

802
00:44:17,113 --> 00:44:20,158
restricted their access
to this land.

803
00:44:21,033 --> 00:44:24,287
But their-- their heritage
was still there.

804
00:44:24,370 --> 00:44:27,665
So, |I-- In--
in the early 1990s, |--

805
00:44:27,748 --> 00:44:28,749
I looked into this.

806
00:44:29,417 --> 00:44:33,171
And I, uh,
I got a hold of lan Zabarte,

807
00:44:33,254 --> 00:44:36,841
and he said, "Well,
you need to talk to my--

808
00:44:36,924 --> 00:44:38,009
My great-uncle.

809
00:44:38,634 --> 00:44:39,594
Teddy Shaw.

810
00:44:40,219 --> 00:44:43,764
So, we got a photographer,
and we drove up there,

811
00:44:43,848 --> 00:44:45,016
and I ask him...

812
00:44:46,184 --> 00:44:49,103
about nuclear testing

813
00:44:49,187 --> 00:44:50,980
and how he felt about it.

814
00:44:52,356 --> 00:44:54,609
And his stare

815
00:44:54,692 --> 00:44:56,360
got as cold as the--

816
00:44:56,444 --> 00:44:59,947
The snow on the windowsill
outside that little frame house

817
00:45:00,031 --> 00:45:01,073
he was living in.

818
00:45:01,699 --> 00:45:04,285
And he looked at me,
and he said,

819
00:45:04,368 --> 00:45:06,829
"It made the land sick."

820
00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:10,833
And, you know, he's right.

821
00:45:11,500 --> 00:45:12,793
It did.

822
00:45:12,877 --> 00:45:14,837
And, uh, you know,

823
00:45:14,921 --> 00:45:16,464
it has affected those people.

824
00:45:19,467 --> 00:45:23,638
[solemn piano music plays]

825
00:45:48,037 --> 00:45:52,041
[air raid siren blares]

826
00:45:52,124 --> 00:45:53,834
[radio crackling]

827
00:45:53,918 --> 00:45:56,337
[narrator] Over the 41 years
of testing in Nevada,

828
00:45:56,420 --> 00:46:00,216
100 atomic bombs
were detonated above ground,

829
00:46:00,299 --> 00:46:02,802
from airplanes, towers, cannons

830
00:46:02,885 --> 00:46:04,262
and even balloons.

831
00:46:05,096 --> 00:46:09,225
828 bombs
were conducted underground,

832
00:46:09,308 --> 00:46:10,810
including "Boxcar,"

833
00:46:10,893 --> 00:46:13,521
a 1.3 megaton blast

834
00:46:13,604 --> 00:46:15,189
with an equivalent yield

835
00:46:15,273 --> 00:46:18,109
of 65 Hiroshima bombs.

836
00:46:18,192 --> 00:46:21,904
[ominous orchestral music plays]

837
00:46:54,979 --> 00:46:57,565
When they were shooting tests
back then,

838
00:46:57,648 --> 00:46:59,066
the atmospheric tests,

839
00:46:59,150 --> 00:47:00,776
they were looking
for the cloud formation

840
00:47:00,860 --> 00:47:03,154
to go in a particular or--
direction.

841
00:47:03,237 --> 00:47:04,989
Back then,
the population centers

842
00:47:05,072 --> 00:47:06,490
were not as they are now,

843
00:47:06,574 --> 00:47:09,243
so there was very,
very low population

844
00:47:09,327 --> 00:47:11,537
to the northeast of the site.

845
00:47:11,620 --> 00:47:13,122
That's where
they tended to make sure

846
00:47:13,205 --> 00:47:15,541
that the clouds would go
in those directions.

847
00:47:15,624 --> 00:47:18,711
So EPA would go out
into the communities

848
00:47:18,794 --> 00:47:20,504
and let them know
that on these days

849
00:47:20,588 --> 00:47:21,964
we're gonna have a test.

850
00:47:22,048 --> 00:47:23,716
They may not give
the specific time,

851
00:47:23,799 --> 00:47:25,843
and then there would be
the EPA monitors out

852
00:47:25,926 --> 00:47:27,303
in the community.

853
00:47:27,386 --> 00:47:29,096
And if there was a prompt
massive venting,

854
00:47:29,180 --> 00:47:32,058
then the EPA was ready to start
doing the evacuations

855
00:47:32,141 --> 00:47:33,726
in those communities.

856
00:47:33,809 --> 00:47:36,103
But they literally knew
where every sheepherder was,

857
00:47:36,187 --> 00:47:37,563
where every wood cutter was.

858
00:47:37,646 --> 00:47:39,774
If there was hunting going on,

859
00:47:39,857 --> 00:47:41,359
they knew
where every hunter was.

860
00:47:41,442 --> 00:47:43,319
So they knew
where the population was,

861
00:47:43,402 --> 00:47:45,321
where they could get them out
if they needed to.

862
00:47:45,821 --> 00:47:47,365
Each test had a name.

863
00:47:47,865 --> 00:47:50,368
And the names of the tests
had to be something

864
00:47:50,451 --> 00:47:52,119
that was not gonna
offend anybody,

865
00:47:52,203 --> 00:47:54,288
non-religious, things like that.

866
00:47:54,372 --> 00:47:57,375
And then the laboratories
would submit those to DOE,

867
00:47:57,458 --> 00:47:58,751
the DOE'd submit those

868
00:47:58,834 --> 00:48:00,294
to
the National Security Council,

869
00:48:00,378 --> 00:48:01,712
it got approved, came back,

870
00:48:01,796 --> 00:48:04,298
and so you'd see these nicknames
on tests

871
00:48:04,382 --> 00:48:08,677
that ranged from everything
from, uh, horses, vegetables,

872
00:48:08,761 --> 00:48:11,222
New Mexico counties,
Texas towns.

873
00:48:11,305 --> 00:48:15,226
[lan] Out of the 928 tests,
here at the Nevada test site,

874
00:48:15,309 --> 00:48:17,645
24 jointly
with the United Kingdom,

875
00:48:17,728 --> 00:48:19,814
they have a list of...

876
00:48:21,607 --> 00:48:26,487
of names, and we have
Zuni, Yuma, Erie, Seminole,

877
00:48:26,570 --> 00:48:29,615
Flathead, Blackfoot,
Kickapoo, Osage, Inca, Dakota,

878
00:48:29,698 --> 00:48:32,451
Mohawk, Apache,
Navajo, Tiwa, Huron.

879
00:48:32,535 --> 00:48:36,664
They named
their weapons tests after,

880
00:48:36,747 --> 00:48:40,876
uh-- uh, Indian tribes,
and that shows a lack of--

881
00:48:40,960 --> 00:48:42,420
Of respect and dignity.

882
00:48:42,503 --> 00:48:44,630
And we began
our investigations

883
00:48:44,713 --> 00:48:46,882
on the adverse
health consequences

884
00:48:46,966 --> 00:48:49,427
that my people were suffering,

885
00:48:49,510 --> 00:48:51,470
looking at the period
of weapons testing

886
00:48:51,554 --> 00:48:55,641
here at the Nevada test site,
'51 through '63.

887
00:48:55,724 --> 00:48:57,184
But it's important--

888
00:48:57,268 --> 00:48:58,727
Those were the above-ground
weapons tests,

889
00:48:58,811 --> 00:49:00,187
and it's important
to understand that

890
00:49:00,271 --> 00:49:01,397
even after that,

891
00:49:01,480 --> 00:49:03,190
underground weapons testing

892
00:49:03,274 --> 00:49:05,901
released radioactive fallout
globally,

893
00:49:05,985 --> 00:49:09,530
because every test,
uh-- uh, vents.

894
00:49:09,613 --> 00:49:11,824
[Darwin] If the weather
was going to carry the cloud

895
00:49:11,907 --> 00:49:13,909
above a certain
radioactive limit--

896
00:49:13,993 --> 00:49:16,203
Back then it was called
170 millirems--

897
00:49:16,287 --> 00:49:18,205
They didn't do the test.

898
00:49:18,289 --> 00:49:22,168
If it was going to stay within
that range of 170 millirems,

899
00:49:22,251 --> 00:49:24,170
if they had
a prompt massive venting,

900
00:49:24,253 --> 00:49:27,047
and the 170 millirem limit

901
00:49:27,131 --> 00:49:28,674
was gonna be
inside a certain area,

902
00:49:28,757 --> 00:49:31,343
then they would go ahead
and do the test.

903
00:49:32,011 --> 00:49:35,931
♪

904
00:50:09,465 --> 00:50:11,008
[narrator]
Through nuclear testing,

905
00:50:11,091 --> 00:50:13,177
the population
of the United States

906
00:50:13,260 --> 00:50:15,763
was exposed
to nearly three times

907
00:50:15,846 --> 00:50:19,767
the total radiation dose
of the Chernobyl disaster.

908
00:50:19,850 --> 00:50:23,938
♪

909
00:50:53,217 --> 00:50:54,760
Somehow, fallout has,

910
00:50:54,843 --> 00:50:58,305
uh, found its way
into the environment, globally.

911
00:50:58,973 --> 00:51:01,976
And, um,
the perfect example

912
00:51:02,059 --> 00:51:05,312
is right here
at the Nevada test site where,

913
00:51:05,396 --> 00:51:08,107
on the southwestern edge,

914
00:51:08,190 --> 00:51:10,693
you have this mountain
called Yucca Mountain,

915
00:51:10,776 --> 00:51:14,071
and it straddles
the southwest boundary

916
00:51:14,154 --> 00:51:15,781
of the Nevada test site.

917
00:51:15,864 --> 00:51:19,618
And it's this--
this long volcanic rock ridge

918
00:51:19,702 --> 00:51:23,205
that-- that
in Western Shoshone lore

919
00:51:23,289 --> 00:51:25,499
is a snake.

920
00:51:26,292 --> 00:51:30,337
And this was where
the Department of Energy

921
00:51:30,421 --> 00:51:34,592
wanted to try to see
if it was suitable

922
00:51:34,675 --> 00:51:37,845
for a repository
to store nuclear waste.

923
00:51:38,429 --> 00:51:41,932
The highest, deadliest
nuclear waste in the world

924
00:51:42,016 --> 00:51:45,477
from-- from commercial
nuclear reactors.

925
00:51:46,103 --> 00:51:47,688
And the spent fuel rods

926
00:51:47,771 --> 00:51:49,773
would be entombed
in this mountain.

927
00:51:50,316 --> 00:51:52,067
And it turns out,
Yucca Mountain's

928
00:51:52,151 --> 00:51:54,111
really not a good place
to put nuclear waste,

929
00:51:54,194 --> 00:51:56,238
because they found out,

930
00:51:56,322 --> 00:51:59,199
through worldwide,
global fallout...

931
00:52:00,159 --> 00:52:02,536
that-- that nuclear remnants

932
00:52:02,620 --> 00:52:05,039
from worldwide testing...

933
00:52:05,914 --> 00:52:08,876
had gone from the top
of Yucca Mountain

934
00:52:08,959 --> 00:52:11,837
down to the exploratory
tunnel level,

935
00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:15,716
about 1,000 feet
below the top of the mountain,

936
00:52:15,799 --> 00:52:19,762
in less than--
well, roughly 50 years--

937
00:52:19,845 --> 00:52:20,971
50, 60 years.

938
00:52:21,055 --> 00:52:23,891
So, the point is...

939
00:52:23,974 --> 00:52:27,811
fallout was so widespread

940
00:52:27,895 --> 00:52:32,149
that-- that the scientists
could track

941
00:52:32,232 --> 00:52:34,610
the various nuclear bombs
that they were detonating

942
00:52:34,693 --> 00:52:37,321
by the signatures
of their isotopes.

943
00:52:37,821 --> 00:52:40,532
And that's how we know
how far it traveled,

944
00:52:40,616 --> 00:52:42,910
from specific tests.

945
00:52:44,411 --> 00:52:46,538
[narrator] So what does
the American government do

946
00:52:46,622 --> 00:52:49,249
when it can't solve
an actual problem?

947
00:52:50,668 --> 00:52:52,503
It buys its way out.

948
00:52:53,337 --> 00:52:58,175
♪

949
00:53:34,378 --> 00:53:36,088
[Kevin Kamps]
RECA is short

950
00:53:36,171 --> 00:53:37,881
for the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act,

951
00:53:37,965 --> 00:53:42,136
and it's a federal law
to compensate

952
00:53:42,219 --> 00:53:43,804
segments of the population

953
00:53:43,887 --> 00:53:45,806
who have suffered
radioactive exposure.

954
00:53:45,889 --> 00:53:49,560
Unfortunately,
its scope is way too limited,

955
00:53:49,643 --> 00:53:51,228
and it's not just cancer.

956
00:53:51,311 --> 00:53:53,772
It's other diseases,
it's genetic damage,

957
00:53:53,856 --> 00:53:55,399
it's birth defects.

958
00:53:55,482 --> 00:53:57,109
The amount of money
being offered

959
00:53:57,192 --> 00:54:00,988
to the survivors,
or their-- their survivors,

960
00:54:01,071 --> 00:54:03,824
the people who didn't survive,
is way too small.

961
00:54:03,907 --> 00:54:08,495
I mean, $50,000 doesn't buy much
in the way of chemotherapy,

962
00:54:08,579 --> 00:54:10,539
or other
state-of-the-art medical care,

963
00:54:10,622 --> 00:54:12,833
which is required
to deal with the cancers

964
00:54:12,916 --> 00:54:17,087
and other maladies that result
from radioactive exposures,

965
00:54:17,171 --> 00:54:19,548
radioactive fallout exposures,
and in fact,

966
00:54:19,631 --> 00:54:21,300
that's another
problem with RECA,

967
00:54:21,383 --> 00:54:24,344
is it only recognizes
a certain number of cancers.

968
00:54:24,428 --> 00:54:28,098
But the United States government
almost never admits guilt,

969
00:54:28,182 --> 00:54:31,393
and so they express it
in different ways,

970
00:54:31,477 --> 00:54:32,895
and they do it
kicking and screaming.

971
00:54:32,978 --> 00:54:35,022
I mean,
it took many decades,

972
00:54:35,105 --> 00:54:37,316
from the opening
of the test site in 1951,

973
00:54:37,399 --> 00:54:38,859
before RECA was even passed.

974
00:54:39,318 --> 00:54:40,903
And like I said,
there was a lot of people

975
00:54:40,986 --> 00:54:42,696
who've been exposed
to radioactive fallout

976
00:54:42,780 --> 00:54:45,199
in certain states,
including from the test site,

977
00:54:45,282 --> 00:54:47,493
that have never been recognized
under the RECA statute,

978
00:54:47,576 --> 00:54:52,289
so it's a great uphill battle,
and, uh...

979
00:54:53,081 --> 00:54:55,501
it is an admission of guilt
on a certain level.

980
00:54:56,084 --> 00:54:58,212
I'm shocked that
the government admitted to it,

981
00:54:58,295 --> 00:55:01,715
because the liability's gonna--
could be enormous.

982
00:55:01,799 --> 00:55:02,883
Uh...

983
00:55:04,218 --> 00:55:05,552
there is no amount of money

984
00:55:05,636 --> 00:55:08,847
that-- that would really
replace, or...

985
00:55:10,224 --> 00:55:12,392
someone in--
that suffers from this,

986
00:55:12,476 --> 00:55:16,980
or even dies from it,
but this is ridiculous.

987
00:55:17,064 --> 00:55:19,858
$50,000 is-- is--

988
00:55:19,942 --> 00:55:21,068
It's insulting.

989
00:55:21,860 --> 00:55:23,612
Some people
are always askin' me,

990
00:55:23,695 --> 00:55:25,447
"Okay, what do we do next?
What do we do?"

991
00:55:25,531 --> 00:55:27,866
And I say,
"Well, first of all,

992
00:55:27,950 --> 00:55:30,786
we work to compensate
those downwinders

993
00:55:30,869 --> 00:55:32,538
who are still struggling
to pay bills,

994
00:55:32,621 --> 00:55:34,414
and who
are still getting sick."

995
00:55:34,498 --> 00:55:35,874
So there is

996
00:55:35,958 --> 00:55:37,584
the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act,

997
00:55:37,668 --> 00:55:39,837
that was always
incredibly limited,

998
00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:41,588
that finally got passed
in 1990.

999
00:55:41,672 --> 00:55:43,257
It's never gone far enough,

1000
00:55:43,340 --> 00:55:45,717
it just does a little circle
around southern Utah

1001
00:55:45,801 --> 00:55:49,596
and northern Arizona,
and southeast Nevada.

1002
00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:52,850
And that's why
I think people still think

1003
00:55:52,933 --> 00:55:54,560
it only affected that area,

1004
00:55:54,643 --> 00:55:57,020
"cause that's the only area
that got compensated.

1005
00:55:57,855 --> 00:56:00,107
[Mark Sennet] I think it's
something that's so important

1006
00:56:00,190 --> 00:56:02,442
for-- for all the survivors,

1007
00:56:02,526 --> 00:56:05,237
and they deserve $50,000,

1008
00:56:05,320 --> 00:56:06,864
but that's not enough.

1009
00:56:06,947 --> 00:56:08,657
That doesn't even cover the--

1010
00:56:08,740 --> 00:56:10,701
The four or five other people
that are in their family,

1011
00:56:10,784 --> 00:56:14,121
that contracted some sort of
cancer from the nuclear blast.

1012
00:56:14,204 --> 00:56:18,709
So, the certain types of cancer
that are radiation-related,

1013
00:56:18,792 --> 00:56:22,546
that RECA does pay out for,
there's still, though,

1014
00:56:22,629 --> 00:56:26,884
no definitive way to say that
it was caused by the radiation,

1015
00:56:26,967 --> 00:56:28,927
but there is that assumption
that it's there.

1016
00:56:29,011 --> 00:56:30,470
So, it's a hot topic.

1017
00:56:30,554 --> 00:56:32,431
It-- it is a debate
that goes on today,

1018
00:56:32,514 --> 00:56:34,725
and will go on
for many years to come.

1019
00:56:34,808 --> 00:56:36,476
I can't be compensated.

1020
00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:38,478
None of those
54 neighbors can--

1021
00:56:38,562 --> 00:56:40,355
And their families
can be compensated

1022
00:56:40,439 --> 00:56:45,694
because we lived beyond the--
that little boundary they drew,

1023
00:56:45,777 --> 00:56:48,739
as though a lead shield
stopped it mid-state.

1024
00:56:48,822 --> 00:56:52,200
It doesn't stop it from going
into other counties and states.

1025
00:56:52,284 --> 00:56:57,372
♪

1026
00:57:09,176 --> 00:57:12,471
We have a few politicians now,
in the state of Utah,

1027
00:57:12,554 --> 00:57:15,098
that are representing us
in Congress,

1028
00:57:15,182 --> 00:57:18,185
that have made public statements
in the last few years,

1029
00:57:18,268 --> 00:57:22,648
that it's not only okay,
but desirable

1030
00:57:22,731 --> 00:57:25,567
for us to resume
nuclear testing.

1031
00:57:26,234 --> 00:57:28,320
Testing nuclear bombs

1032
00:57:28,403 --> 00:57:30,906
in the Nevada
nuclear testing area.

1033
00:57:31,615 --> 00:57:35,494
I can't think of anything
that disqualifies a person more

1034
00:57:35,577 --> 00:57:37,788
for public service than to--

1035
00:57:37,871 --> 00:57:39,790
Than to make
a statement like that.

1036
00:57:40,832 --> 00:57:44,628
Knowing what that has done
to public health

1037
00:57:44,711 --> 00:57:48,799
here in this state,
and to other downwind states,

1038
00:57:48,882 --> 00:57:51,969
but the idea
that we could dismiss all that,

1039
00:57:52,052 --> 00:57:54,262
that we could say,
the amount of--

1040
00:57:54,346 --> 00:57:57,265
Of human suffering and death
that we have inflicted

1041
00:57:57,349 --> 00:58:01,561
upon our own country,
that we're going to resume that,

1042
00:58:01,645 --> 00:58:05,732
under some sort of
auspices of national security,

1043
00:58:05,816 --> 00:58:09,152
is just
absolutely unconscionable.

1044
00:58:09,736 --> 00:58:12,280
And I don't think
there's any idea

1045
00:58:12,364 --> 00:58:14,366
that disqualifies
a person more

1046
00:58:14,449 --> 00:58:16,201
from being
a member of Congress

1047
00:58:16,284 --> 00:58:18,328
than the idea
that we can resume that.

1048
00:58:20,831 --> 00:58:23,625
[Kevin] Downwinders are people
who live downwind,

1049
00:58:23,709 --> 00:58:28,338
downstream, up the food chain,
down the generations

1050
00:58:28,422 --> 00:58:30,007
from these radioactive
exposures,

1051
00:58:30,090 --> 00:58:32,342
as for nuclear weapons testing
fallout.

1052
00:58:32,426 --> 00:58:34,803
The United States government
literally said,

1053
00:58:34,886 --> 00:58:38,223
in an internal document
that eventually became public,

1054
00:58:38,306 --> 00:58:41,435
that cowboys, Indians,
Mormons,

1055
00:58:41,518 --> 00:58:43,854
the people
who live in Nevada and Utah,

1056
00:58:43,937 --> 00:58:46,523
are a low-use segment
of the population.

1057
00:58:46,606 --> 00:58:47,941
That's a quote.

1058
00:58:48,025 --> 00:58:49,609
"A low-use segment
of the population,”

1059
00:58:49,693 --> 00:58:51,445
which means sub-human.

1060
00:58:51,528 --> 00:58:54,281
We don't really care about them,
they're not that important.

1061
00:58:54,364 --> 00:58:56,241
If they get hurt, big deal.

1062
00:58:56,324 --> 00:58:57,951
We've got some business
to conduct,

1063
00:58:58,035 --> 00:59:00,537
that is, to develop
a nuclear weapons arsenal,

1064
00:59:00,620 --> 00:59:03,665
so that we can be
a global superpower.

1065
00:59:04,291 --> 00:59:05,959
And in fact,
it gets even worse than that.

1066
00:59:06,043 --> 00:59:07,961
Not just a low-use segment
of the population,

1067
00:59:08,045 --> 00:59:11,631
but in a document
called Project 4.1, again,

1068
00:59:11,715 --> 00:59:14,134
US Atomic Energy Commission,

1069
00:59:14,217 --> 00:59:17,512
there were statements made
in writing that po--

1070
00:59:17,596 --> 00:59:18,972
Certain populations,

1071
00:59:19,056 --> 00:59:20,640
like the Western Shoshone
in Nevada,

1072
00:59:20,724 --> 00:59:23,101
the Marshall Islanders
in the Pacific Ocean,

1073
00:59:23,185 --> 00:59:26,772
"are more like us than mice,"

1074
00:59:26,855 --> 00:59:29,816
therefore any data
that we gather

1075
00:59:29,900 --> 00:59:31,777
from their radiological
exposures,

1076
00:59:31,860 --> 00:59:33,487
will really teach us a lot,

1077
00:59:33,570 --> 00:59:35,280
because these people,

1078
00:59:35,363 --> 00:59:38,075
even though they're a low-use
segment of the population,

1079
00:59:38,158 --> 00:59:39,826
"are more like us than mice."

1080
00:59:39,910 --> 00:59:41,661
So these are, in a sense,

1081
00:59:41,745 --> 00:59:45,207
these are genocidal,
um, concepts.

1082
00:59:45,290 --> 00:59:47,959
These were experiments.

1083
00:59:48,043 --> 00:59:49,669
They were being
experimented upon

1084
00:59:49,753 --> 00:59:51,171
like guinea pigs.

1085
00:59:51,254 --> 00:59:56,343
♪

1086
01:00:21,409 --> 01:00:24,496
[narrator] The Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act

1087
01:00:24,579 --> 01:00:26,206
is underfunded,

1088
01:00:26,289 --> 01:00:29,543
and is guided seemingly
by the notion that radiation

1089
01:00:29,626 --> 01:00:34,422
contains itself neatly,
within three states' borders.

1090
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:38,760
[Brian] When people
are exposed to radiation,

1091
01:00:38,844 --> 01:00:41,138
uh, the thing
that's most intuitive,

1092
01:00:41,221 --> 01:00:42,889
uh, is genetic damage.

1093
01:00:43,515 --> 01:00:46,852
And genetic damage
is what we call the break in--

1094
01:00:46,935 --> 01:00:51,064
Breaking of covalent bonds
that hold DNA together.

1095
01:00:51,815 --> 01:00:54,401
When that happens,
there, uh,

1096
01:00:54,484 --> 01:00:57,821
there is a whole cascade
of diseases that can follow.

1097
01:00:57,904 --> 01:00:59,906
What is easiest
for the public to understand,

1098
01:00:59,990 --> 01:01:02,033
and is most familiar with,
is cancer.

1099
01:01:02,534 --> 01:01:04,244
But it isn't just limited
to cancer.

1100
01:01:04,744 --> 01:01:07,289
The functioning,
and proper functioning of genes,

1101
01:01:07,372 --> 01:01:09,499
and the-- the expression
of genes,

1102
01:01:09,583 --> 01:01:13,545
is critical to every single
healthy organ system function

1103
01:01:13,628 --> 01:01:15,213
that keeps
a human being alive.

1104
01:01:15,297 --> 01:01:17,340
It's critical
to the function of the heart,

1105
01:01:17,424 --> 01:01:19,885
the cardiovascular system,
to the lungs,

1106
01:01:19,968 --> 01:01:22,596
to the endocrine system,
to the Gl tract.

1107
01:01:22,679 --> 01:01:25,015
Your genes are responsible
for your health.

1108
01:01:25,098 --> 01:01:27,767
So, if you're exposed
to anything

1109
01:01:27,851 --> 01:01:29,186
that causes genetic damage,

1110
01:01:29,269 --> 01:01:32,230
or even changes
the expression of genes,

1111
01:01:32,314 --> 01:01:37,027
such that we don't see the--
the breakage of covalent bonds,

1112
01:01:37,110 --> 01:01:40,488
but we see genes performing
in ways that they shouldn't,

1113
01:01:40,572 --> 01:01:42,365
they're either turned on
when they shouldn't be,

1114
01:01:42,449 --> 01:01:45,035
or they're turned off
when they shouldn't be,

1115
01:01:45,118 --> 01:01:48,705
that affects virtually
every kind of potential disease

1116
01:01:48,788 --> 01:01:49,956
a person can have.

1117
01:01:54,628 --> 01:01:57,047
Not to mention
the psychological burden

1118
01:01:57,130 --> 01:01:58,798
of knowing that
you have cancer.

1119
01:01:59,382 --> 01:02:02,052
Um, I've had cancer twice.

1120
01:02:04,304 --> 01:02:06,973
And I remember, uh,
the weekend

1121
01:02:07,057 --> 01:02:10,143
when I looked at
a computer screen...

1122
01:02:11,978 --> 01:02:14,064
that told me I had cancer.

1123
01:02:15,482 --> 01:02:17,025
I'll tell you, there's...

1124
01:02:17,901 --> 01:02:20,320
is no feeling
in the world like that.

1125
01:02:20,403 --> 01:02:25,450
O

1126
01:02:32,791 --> 01:02:37,170
-[explosion booming]
-[wind whooshing]

1127
01:02:53,019 --> 01:02:55,397
How many tests
do you have to do,

1128
01:02:55,480 --> 01:02:57,691
to find out that they work,

1129
01:02:57,774 --> 01:03:00,318
and that stuff goes up
in the air,

1130
01:03:00,402 --> 01:03:01,861
a-- and I've had people,

1131
01:03:01,945 --> 01:03:03,822
especially students,
when I speak to class,

1132
01:03:03,905 --> 01:03:05,740
they say, "Well,
why did they do so many tests?"

1133
01:03:05,824 --> 01:03:08,076
It's like, "You know,
it's a really good question."

1134
01:03:08,159 --> 01:03:12,789
Because what did they find out
on the 928th test

1135
01:03:12,872 --> 01:03:14,708
that they didn't know
on the 12th

1136
01:03:14,791 --> 01:03:16,710
or tenth or 20th or 30th?

1137
01:03:16,793 --> 01:03:18,795
Um, and-- and to me,
I always said,

1138
01:03:18,878 --> 01:03:20,171
"Well, it's boys with toys."

1139
01:03:20,255 --> 01:03:23,174
You've got
this incredibly strong,

1140
01:03:23,258 --> 01:03:26,052
I would say,
perilously dangerous

1141
01:03:26,136 --> 01:03:28,555
military-industrial complex,

1142
01:03:28,638 --> 01:03:32,976
and it's really hard
to stop its-- its momentum.

1143
01:03:33,059 --> 01:03:34,394
It's really hard.

1144
01:03:36,271 --> 01:03:38,898
[narrator] The Atomic Energy
Commission's report added,

1145
01:03:38,982 --> 01:03:42,777
quote, "Radiation
is not new in our lives.

1146
01:03:42,861 --> 01:03:44,821
In this atomic age,
we are living

1147
01:03:44,904 --> 01:03:46,614
on a more familiar basis
with it.

1148
01:03:47,115 --> 01:03:49,784
It is important
that we try to understand it,

1149
01:03:49,868 --> 01:03:52,037
accept it, and use it.

1150
01:03:52,537 --> 01:03:55,957
It is also important that
we respect its powers,

1151
01:03:56,041 --> 01:03:58,251
so that we will be guided
by knowledge,

1152
01:03:58,335 --> 01:04:01,755
and not be blinded
by fear of the unknown."

1153
01:04:02,172 --> 01:04:03,298
Unquote.

1154
01:04:07,886 --> 01:04:12,974
O

1155
01:04:25,862 --> 01:04:27,405
[Brian]
The United States government,

1156
01:04:27,489 --> 01:04:30,617
uh, has, through
the Atomic Energy Commission,

1157
01:04:30,700 --> 01:04:35,163
created some real, uh,
media products

1158
01:04:35,246 --> 01:04:36,998
that were pure propaganda.

1159
01:04:38,041 --> 01:04:39,709
And that film
that they produced,

1160
01:04:39,793 --> 01:04:43,213
I think it was in 1957,
was one of those.

1161
01:04:43,797 --> 01:04:45,632
Now a lot of people might say,

1162
01:04:45,715 --> 01:04:47,884
"Well,
we didn't know all the harm

1163
01:04:47,967 --> 01:04:51,679
that nuclear radiation does
to people back in 1957,"

1164
01:04:51,763 --> 01:04:53,515
but actually, that's not true.

1165
01:04:53,598 --> 01:04:55,058
The scientist who works--

1166
01:04:55,141 --> 01:04:57,685
Who worked on the Manhattan
Project knew

1167
01:04:57,769 --> 01:05:02,607
before they ever dropped
the bombs on Japan in 1945,

1168
01:05:02,690 --> 01:05:06,861
that nuclear radiation
could be highly toxic,

1169
01:05:06,945 --> 01:05:08,530
could shorten people's lifes--

1170
01:05:08,613 --> 01:05:11,449
lifespans, and be
a significant cause of cancer.

1171
01:05:11,533 --> 01:05:12,909
We knew that back then.

1172
01:05:13,618 --> 01:05:16,830
Twelve years later,
for the United States government

1173
01:05:16,913 --> 01:05:19,040
to disseminate information

1174
01:05:19,124 --> 01:05:22,210
that blatantly dismissed
all of that,

1175
01:05:22,293 --> 01:05:24,587
and send a message
to the public,

1176
01:05:24,671 --> 01:05:27,173
"Oh, there's no reason
to be concerned here.

1177
01:05:27,257 --> 01:05:29,217
This is all safe.

1178
01:05:29,968 --> 01:05:31,678
But we want you to go inside

1179
01:05:31,761 --> 01:05:34,973
when this radiation cloud
comes over you,

1180
01:05:35,056 --> 01:05:36,516
and we're... [laughs]

1181
01:05:36,599 --> 01:05:38,810
...we're gonna tell children
to-- to hide

1182
01:05:38,893 --> 01:05:41,771
underneath their desks
as an exercise

1183
01:05:41,855 --> 01:05:44,357
in defending yourself
from nuclear war,"

1184
01:05:44,441 --> 01:05:46,192
as if that would have
done anything.

1185
01:05:46,734 --> 01:05:48,736
But somehow, this is all safe.

1186
01:05:48,820 --> 01:05:50,488
[film reel narrator]
But radioactive fallout

1187
01:05:50,572 --> 01:05:52,407
beyond several miles
from the test site

1188
01:05:52,490 --> 01:05:54,742
has not been known
to be serious.

1189
01:05:55,410 --> 01:05:57,745
It is not constituted
an appreciable danger

1190
01:05:57,829 --> 01:06:01,875
to persons, animals,
crops, property, or industry.

1191
01:06:01,958 --> 01:06:05,211
It was absurd at the time.
It was dishonest at the time.

1192
01:06:05,670 --> 01:06:08,131
It was propaganda
even back then.

1193
01:06:08,882 --> 01:06:11,342
In retrospect,
we can certainly identify it

1194
01:06:11,426 --> 01:06:13,553
even more so as propaganda,

1195
01:06:13,636 --> 01:06:16,514
but we knew it
back then as well.

1196
01:06:16,598 --> 01:06:18,057
[film reel narrator]
We must be ready

1197
01:06:18,141 --> 01:06:19,934
for a new danger,
the atomic bomb.

1198
01:06:20,935 --> 01:06:22,854
First, you have to know
what happens

1199
01:06:22,937 --> 01:06:24,564
when an atomic bomb explodes.

1200
01:06:25,231 --> 01:06:26,858
You'll know when it comes.

1201
01:06:26,941 --> 01:06:29,110
We hope it never comes,
but we must get ready.

1202
01:06:29,194 --> 01:06:31,988
[explosion booming]

1203
01:06:35,867 --> 01:06:37,660
[Lewis Black]
You know what they would do?

1204
01:06:37,744 --> 01:06:41,331
They would come to my elementary
school, with-- with films.

1205
01:06:41,706 --> 01:06:43,374
To show me
how to protect myself

1206
01:06:43,458 --> 01:06:45,793
from a nuclear fuck holocaust.

1207
01:06:45,877 --> 01:06:47,378
[audience laughter]

1208
01:06:47,462 --> 01:06:51,758
They would show
this giant nuclear fuckin' bomb,

1209
01:06:51,841 --> 01:06:54,093
just blowing
the shit out of everything.

1210
01:06:54,677 --> 01:06:57,347
Goats
and monkeys flying everywhere.

1211
01:06:57,430 --> 01:06:59,516
[audience laughter]

1212
01:06:59,599 --> 01:07:02,143
The windows of
the elementary school blown out,

1213
01:07:02,227 --> 01:07:06,022
the teacher banged up
against the fuckin' blackboard.

1214
01:07:06,105 --> 01:07:09,108
[laughter, applause]

1215
01:07:11,528 --> 01:07:12,862
But...

1216
01:07:12,946 --> 01:07:14,155
there were the children...

1217
01:07:14,239 --> 01:07:17,200
[audience laughter]

1218
01:07:17,283 --> 01:07:19,494
...hiding safely
under their desks.

1219
01:07:19,577 --> 01:07:22,580
[cheers, applause]

1220
01:07:27,335 --> 01:07:32,382
O

1221
01:07:50,733 --> 01:07:52,860
Yeah, I've always found it
fascinating,

1222
01:07:52,944 --> 01:07:54,862
you know, that
you would create something

1223
01:07:54,946 --> 01:07:56,281
that would destroy the world.

1224
01:07:56,364 --> 01:07:58,992
I mean,
there's a really solid idea,

1225
01:07:59,075 --> 01:08:00,952
it's really solid,
what we can get by.

1226
01:08:01,035 --> 01:08:02,829
We can put some money into that.

1227
01:08:02,912 --> 01:08:04,956
And then you let that--
you-- you know,

1228
01:08:05,039 --> 01:08:06,499
that genie out of the bottle.

1229
01:08:06,583 --> 01:08:07,667
It's the same thing
we're dealin' with--

1230
01:08:07,750 --> 01:08:09,502
With climate, and stuff.

1231
01:08:09,586 --> 01:08:12,338
They're lookin' right at it,
it is staring 'em in the face,

1232
01:08:12,422 --> 01:08:13,715
and they're denying it.

1233
01:08:13,798 --> 01:08:15,592
They're lookin' right at
the nucle--

1234
01:08:15,675 --> 01:08:17,093
Nuclear weapons, you know?

1235
01:08:17,176 --> 01:08:19,804
We're still kinda, you know,
and then--

1236
01:08:19,887 --> 01:08:22,223
And then they let that, uh,
idiot Putin say,

1237
01:08:22,307 --> 01:08:23,641
"You know, I'm gonna--
I may do this."

1238
01:08:23,725 --> 01:08:24,851
What are you, nuts?

1239
01:08:25,810 --> 01:08:28,104
That's the person
you want to get rid of,

1240
01:08:28,187 --> 01:08:31,357
SO you go get somebody
with a blowdart and...

1241
01:08:31,441 --> 01:08:34,319
[blows] ...just behind his ear,
and he's done.

1242
01:08:35,028 --> 01:08:37,113
But then, people say,
"Well, you know,

1243
01:08:37,196 --> 01:08:39,032
the rest of the country would,
you know,

1244
01:08:39,115 --> 01:08:41,659
get really ins-- there'd be
another jackass who'd show up,

1245
01:08:41,743 --> 01:08:43,369
so what do you--
what do you do?"

1246
01:08:43,453 --> 01:08:45,955
Every two weeks,
when I was nine,

1247
01:08:46,039 --> 01:08:49,792
my elementary school
would have an air raid drill.

1248
01:08:49,876 --> 01:08:53,630
I guess to remind me,
I can die at any minute!

1249
01:08:53,713 --> 01:08:57,467
[audience laughter]

1250
01:09:00,428 --> 01:09:02,055
So I go hide under my desk,

1251
01:09:02,138 --> 01:09:04,849
put my hands over my head,
and look at my penis,

1252
01:09:04,932 --> 01:09:07,685
and say, "Goodbye, old fella."

1253
01:09:07,769 --> 01:09:09,812
[audience laughter]

1254
01:09:09,896 --> 01:09:11,731
And we'd just become friends.

1255
01:09:11,814 --> 01:09:14,400
[audience laughter]

1256
01:09:15,902 --> 01:09:17,904
And I'm sittin' there, thinking,

1257
01:09:17,987 --> 01:09:20,031
"The adults in the community
have said that

1258
01:09:20,114 --> 01:09:24,744
I could protect myself,
from a fire fuck ball...

1259
01:09:24,827 --> 01:09:27,330
[audience laughter]

1260
01:09:27,413 --> 01:09:30,333
...by hiding under wood.

1261
01:09:30,416 --> 01:09:33,211
[audience laughter]

1262
01:09:35,463 --> 01:09:37,340
I'm hiding under kindling!

1263
01:09:38,341 --> 01:09:41,844
Maybe I can get some sticks,
so I can burn faster!"

1264
01:09:41,928 --> 01:09:43,680
[audience laughter]

1265
01:09:45,390 --> 01:09:46,766
And I thought, "Wow.

1266
01:09:48,184 --> 01:09:53,314
If this was a real attack,
when the all-clear has sounded,

1267
01:09:53,398 --> 01:09:57,735
I could get up and go out
to the playground, and melt!"

1268
01:09:57,819 --> 01:10:00,947
[laughter, applause]

1269
01:10:10,081 --> 01:10:13,000
I mean, first up, I'll be hon--
It was funny.

1270
01:10:14,043 --> 01:10:17,213
This is a funny idea, um...

1271
01:10:17,714 --> 01:10:22,969
the accident of it was--
was that it defined my comedy,

1272
01:10:23,052 --> 01:10:24,137
in a way, by...

1273
01:10:25,346 --> 01:10:29,058
you know, pointing me to--
with my problems with authority,

1274
01:10:29,142 --> 01:10:32,103
so that's part of
what my act was about,

1275
01:10:32,186 --> 01:10:34,689
and so it-- and it was
really the first time

1276
01:10:34,772 --> 01:10:36,524
where I-- and it's--
I say it, I think,

1277
01:10:36,607 --> 01:10:38,484
in-- in the-- in the-- in it,

1278
01:10:38,568 --> 01:10:40,570
but, you know,
that was when I kinda went,

1279
01:10:40,653 --> 01:10:42,697
"Okay, the--
the adults I was dealing with

1280
01:10:42,780 --> 01:10:45,032
weren't being, you know,
I was in--

1281
01:10:45,116 --> 01:10:46,784
I wasn't gonna start,
I wasn't gonna trust

1282
01:10:46,868 --> 01:10:48,703
the-- the-- you know,
what they said."

1283
01:10:49,412 --> 01:10:51,831
"Cause it wasn't
the government telling me,

1284
01:10:51,914 --> 01:10:53,708
it was the teacher
standing in front of me,

1285
01:10:53,791 --> 01:10:56,294
and get it going in case
of a nuclear attack, but...

1286
01:10:56,377 --> 01:10:59,922
you-- get under your desk,
and-- and, you know,

1287
01:11:00,006 --> 01:11:01,799
it wou-- you wanted to do that,

1288
01:11:01,883 --> 01:11:03,676
you wanted to-- us to do that.

1289
01:11:03,760 --> 01:11:06,345
You don't show us anything,

1290
01:11:06,429 --> 01:11:09,849
you don't show us 12,000 nuclear
tests, you don't show us,

1291
01:11:09,932 --> 01:11:12,602
either when I'm at home
watchin' TV with my parents,

1292
01:11:12,685 --> 01:11:14,395
and they'd show
the bombs blowin' up.

1293
01:11:14,479 --> 01:11:16,397
You don't show it in school,
you know?

1294
01:11:16,481 --> 01:11:17,857
"Your friend the atom,"

1295
01:11:17,940 --> 01:11:19,817
that-- that thing
that they, you know.

1296
01:11:19,901 --> 01:11:21,277
Like,
I guess it was a Disney thing,

1297
01:11:21,360 --> 01:11:22,695
that, you know--

1298
01:11:22,779 --> 01:11:24,405
And then they show
the mushroom cloud.

1299
01:11:24,489 --> 01:11:26,199
You know, you watch this thing,

1300
01:11:26,282 --> 01:11:28,117
or you watch the guy standing
there with those glasses,

1301
01:11:28,201 --> 01:11:29,702
-and the...
-[explosion booming]

1302
01:11:29,786 --> 01:11:31,204
...shit flying over 'em,
and you're goin',

1303
01:11:31,287 --> 01:11:32,872
"Really?
So this is really gonna work?

1304
01:11:32,955 --> 01:11:35,082
This is your idea
of getting under the table?"

1305
01:11:35,166 --> 01:11:39,420
Like, this-- I mean, you're
literally under there like this,

1306
01:11:39,504 --> 01:11:41,380
and you-- and, you know.

1307
01:11:41,464 --> 01:11:44,717
You know, at the age of seven,
eight, nine, you're not stupid.

1308
01:11:44,801 --> 01:11:46,719
[film reel narrator]
Be sure and remember what

1309
01:11:46,803 --> 01:11:48,471
Bert the turtle just did,
friends, because every one of us

1310
01:11:48,554 --> 01:11:50,723
must remember to do
the same thing.

1311
01:11:50,807 --> 01:11:52,642
That's what this film
is all about.

1312
01:11:53,226 --> 01:11:54,727
"Duck and cover."”

1313
01:11:54,811 --> 01:11:56,562
[film reel narrator 2]
This is an official

1314
01:11:56,646 --> 01:11:58,356
civil defense film,
produced in cooperation

1315
01:11:58,439 --> 01:12:00,566
with the Federal Civil
Defense Administration,

1316
01:12:00,650 --> 01:12:02,819
and in consultation
with the Safety Commission

1317
01:12:02,902 --> 01:12:05,029
of the National
Education Association...

1318
01:12:12,954 --> 01:12:15,039
[sirens wailing]

1319
01:12:39,188 --> 01:12:41,107
[Lewis] I got 13 problems

1320
01:12:41,190 --> 01:12:43,943
before I'm gonna worry
about nukes, maybe 50.

1321
01:12:44,735 --> 01:12:48,281
Maybe 100.
In this-- in New York City.

1322
01:12:48,739 --> 01:12:50,366
I mean, where--
what, you want me to, bu--

1323
01:12:50,449 --> 01:12:51,534
Worry about nukes?

1324
01:12:51,617 --> 01:12:53,160
You kiddin' me?

1325
01:12:53,244 --> 01:12:55,454
Ah, you know,
I'm a-- chances are--

1326
01:12:55,538 --> 01:12:56,873
Are good that we're fucked.

1327
01:12:57,498 --> 01:13:01,252
[laughs] Um, that's--
that's usually the way it works.

1328
01:13:07,884 --> 01:13:13,180
♪

1329
01:13:24,984 --> 01:13:26,277
[Claudia]
What scares me the most

1330
01:13:26,360 --> 01:13:29,530
about becoming an activist is...

1331
01:13:30,698 --> 01:13:34,327
that what if
I hadn't become one?

1332
01:13:34,410 --> 01:13:38,331
Um, and I was a just a drone.
[chuckles]

1333
01:13:38,414 --> 01:13:40,666
And I was headed that way.

1334
01:13:40,750 --> 01:13:45,254
When I was first started,
being an activist about this,

1335
01:13:45,338 --> 01:13:49,216
I-- I had gone through
tremendous loss in my family.

1336
01:13:50,509 --> 01:13:53,930
And my father got sick,
with a brain tumor,

1337
01:13:54,013 --> 01:13:59,101
and his doctors said
it was probably from downwind.

1338
01:13:59,936 --> 01:14:03,314
My sister
was diagnosed with melanoma.

1339
01:14:04,106 --> 01:14:07,360
I had to say, "Please
don't call me an activist."

1340
01:14:07,443 --> 01:14:11,739
I was afraid for people to know
what I was doing.

1341
01:14:11,822 --> 01:14:13,366
My boss would say,

1342
01:14:13,449 --> 01:14:15,368
"Are you going down
to the test site to protest

1343
01:14:15,451 --> 01:14:19,038
with the GD hippies?"

1344
01:14:19,121 --> 01:14:21,082
And I would say,
"Yes. What are you doing?"

1345
01:14:21,791 --> 01:14:26,003
I'm not sure, um,
if they are still testing.

1346
01:14:26,087 --> 01:14:28,756
I know that years ago,

1347
01:14:28,839 --> 01:14:30,383
they were doing
underground testing,

1348
01:14:30,466 --> 01:14:32,927
and we were able to stop that
by our protest.

1349
01:14:33,511 --> 01:14:37,890
And we used to, uh,
do our spiritual walk run for--

1350
01:14:37,974 --> 01:14:40,101
At least
I know I did it for 11 years,

1351
01:14:40,184 --> 01:14:44,105
from, uh, it's 250 miles,
we did 50 miles a-- a day.

1352
01:14:44,188 --> 01:14:47,149
Five-- five days
to get to the test site

1353
01:14:47,233 --> 01:14:49,652
to protest against,
uh, what was going on

1354
01:14:49,735 --> 01:14:51,278
and to shut, uh...

1355
01:14:53,614 --> 01:14:54,699
the test site down.

1356
01:14:55,491 --> 01:14:57,576
We have an alliance
with the United States,

1357
01:14:57,660 --> 01:15:00,162
by treaty,
to preserve the existence

1358
01:15:00,246 --> 01:15:01,706
of both our peoples.

1359
01:15:01,789 --> 01:15:05,418
Your people, my people.
Together, our peoples.

1360
01:15:05,501 --> 01:15:08,045
And that's the term
of diplomatic engagement,

1361
01:15:08,129 --> 01:15:09,171
our peoples!

1362
01:15:09,255 --> 01:15:12,550
[interviewer]

1363
01:15:12,633 --> 01:15:13,884
I'm both.

1364
01:15:13,968 --> 01:15:15,469
I stand on the Consti--

1365
01:15:15,553 --> 01:15:18,014
I am a patriot and an activist.

1366
01:15:18,097 --> 01:15:19,432
I don't sit on my butt.

1367
01:15:19,515 --> 01:15:22,935
♪

1368
01:15:23,019 --> 01:15:24,603
[lan] These fuckers violate
the treaty

1369
01:15:24,687 --> 01:15:26,105
with their weapons of war,

1370
01:15:26,188 --> 01:15:28,816
these ARs, AKs,
and weapons of mass destruction,

1371
01:15:28,899 --> 01:15:31,819
violate every Indian
peace treaty on this continent.

1372
01:15:31,902 --> 01:15:33,446
You signed them,
and we shouldn't be faced

1373
01:15:33,529 --> 01:15:36,115
with weapons of war,
in a civil society.

1374
01:15:36,198 --> 01:15:39,493
We signed this
for equal protection,

1375
01:15:39,577 --> 01:15:42,079
not for abuse by one party.

1376
01:15:42,163 --> 01:15:43,622
And that's what
we're faced with.

1377
01:15:43,706 --> 01:15:45,207
Weapons of war.

1378
01:15:45,291 --> 01:15:48,836
It's not about my backyard.
It's about my rights

1379
01:15:48,919 --> 01:15:51,380
and my obligations
and responsibilities

1380
01:15:51,464 --> 01:15:52,840
to protect all Americans.

1381
01:15:52,923 --> 01:15:54,800
And you have the same
responsibility

1382
01:15:54,884 --> 01:15:57,053
under the United States
Constitution to protect

1383
01:15:57,136 --> 01:15:58,888
my people and your own,

1384
01:15:58,971 --> 01:16:01,474
and you need to step up
as an American and do that.

1385
01:16:01,557 --> 01:16:03,059
And that's what makes me mad,

1386
01:16:03,142 --> 01:16:04,727
that other Americans think

1387
01:16:04,810 --> 01:16:08,147
they can just forget
what has happened.

1388
01:16:08,230 --> 01:16:09,774
I'm not gonna let them.

1389
01:16:21,410 --> 01:16:22,870
We're gonna
have our next meeting

1390
01:16:22,953 --> 01:16:26,165
third Saturday in April, okay?

1391
01:16:26,248 --> 01:16:27,666
So if you--

1392
01:16:27,750 --> 01:16:28,918
[Pauline] Third Saturday.
Yeah, right.

1393
01:16:29,001 --> 01:16:30,169
[lan] If you read in there, we--

1394
01:16:30,252 --> 01:16:31,587
A year ago, or two years ago,

1395
01:16:31,670 --> 01:16:32,588
we said
it's gonna be every quarter.

1396
01:16:32,671 --> 01:16:33,964
[Pauline] Okay.

1397
01:16:34,048 --> 01:16:35,299
[lan] So we'll see you then,
and--

1398
01:16:35,382 --> 01:16:37,093
-Yeah.
-[lan] Thank you.

1399
01:16:37,176 --> 01:16:38,844
[Keith] Where do you draw
the line between deterrence,

1400
01:16:38,928 --> 01:16:41,764
and-- and
the need for-- for peace,

1401
01:16:41,847 --> 01:16:45,017
and the need
to stop nuclear testing?

1402
01:16:45,101 --> 01:16:46,936
Well...

1403
01:16:47,019 --> 01:16:49,271
nuclear bombs have been tested.

1404
01:16:49,355 --> 01:16:52,942
We have those deterrent systems
in place.

1405
01:16:53,025 --> 01:16:55,861
We need to continue
to maintain those

1406
01:16:55,945 --> 01:16:59,824
so-- so that we can live safely,

1407
01:16:59,907 --> 01:17:04,870
without the fear that some
other nation's going to come

1408
01:17:04,954 --> 01:17:07,248
and try and blow us off the map.

1409
01:17:07,915 --> 01:17:11,710
But by the same token,
it was-- it was the--

1410
01:17:11,794 --> 01:17:16,006
The anti-nuclear movement
that brought a lot of awareness

1411
01:17:16,090 --> 01:17:17,675
to-- to the issues,

1412
01:17:17,758 --> 01:17:20,052
the issues of the health effects
of nuclear bombs,

1413
01:17:20,136 --> 01:17:22,888
the issues of, do we need
to test nuclear bombs,

1414
01:17:22,972 --> 01:17:24,557
is this a good idea?

1415
01:17:24,640 --> 01:17:27,685
Well, as long as there's
nuclear bombs in the world,

1416
01:17:27,768 --> 01:17:30,312
you're gonna have to
have a deterrent system

1417
01:17:30,396 --> 01:17:32,731
that works, and you have to--

1418
01:17:32,815 --> 01:17:34,483
You have to be able
to rely on it,

1419
01:17:34,567 --> 01:17:36,902
because that's what
keeps the peace

1420
01:17:36,986 --> 01:17:40,781
from a nuclear holocaust
from erupting.

1421
01:17:41,282 --> 01:17:43,325
[Darwin]
We were able to win the Cold War

1422
01:17:43,409 --> 01:17:46,370
with what we did at the site.

1423
01:17:46,453 --> 01:17:49,582
It contributed greatly
to the winning of the Cold War.

1424
01:17:49,665 --> 01:17:55,337
You saw that Russia wasn't able
to match what we were doing,

1425
01:17:55,421 --> 01:17:58,799
and so when
it all came to the end,

1426
01:17:58,883 --> 01:18:01,385
what we did
at the Nevada test site

1427
01:18:01,468 --> 01:18:03,053
helped win the Cold War,

1428
01:18:03,137 --> 01:18:06,265
helped assure the security
of the United States,

1429
01:18:06,348 --> 01:18:08,017
of the people
of the United States.

1430
01:18:08,100 --> 01:18:11,187
And so, nuclear testing
contributed to that.

1431
01:18:11,270 --> 01:18:13,939
[explosion booming]

1432
01:18:14,023 --> 01:18:15,691
I'm an activist, obviously,

1433
01:18:15,774 --> 01:18:18,360
but sometimes that has
a negative connotation,

1434
01:18:18,444 --> 01:18:20,321
because I'm also a patriot.

1435
01:18:20,863 --> 01:18:22,364
We own that flag, too.

1436
01:18:22,448 --> 01:18:24,992
We own that flag, too.
And you know what?

1437
01:18:25,576 --> 01:18:28,704
That government,
they work for us.

1438
01:18:28,787 --> 01:18:31,874
They work for us.
They need to listen to us.

1439
01:18:32,333 --> 01:18:33,751
It's still my country.

1440
01:18:33,834 --> 01:18:36,962
This government,
it's our government.

1441
01:18:37,046 --> 01:18:40,799
When they talk about "them,"
it's not them, it's us.

1442
01:18:40,883 --> 01:18:44,178
They work for us,
they need to listen to us.

1443
01:18:44,261 --> 01:18:45,930
They need to watch out for us,

1444
01:18:46,013 --> 01:18:49,516
they need to not harm us,
they need to protect us.

1445
01:18:50,267 --> 01:18:52,895
There's such a conflict in me
because I felt like

1446
01:18:52,978 --> 01:18:57,441
I was being un--
I wasn't being patriotic,

1447
01:18:57,524 --> 01:19:02,196
I wasn't being religious,
I wasn't following-- you know.

1448
01:19:02,905 --> 01:19:05,866
But I felt more spiritual

1449
01:19:05,950 --> 01:19:08,953
sitting in the desert
across from the test site

1450
01:19:09,036 --> 01:19:12,498
than I ever did
sitting at church.

1451
01:19:15,584 --> 01:19:16,752
[interviewer]
Are you an activist,

1452
01:19:16,835 --> 01:19:17,962
are you a patriot?

1453
01:19:18,671 --> 01:19:21,423
Uh, I'm a-- I'm an oath keeper.

1454
01:19:21,507 --> 01:19:23,342
I keep the oaths.

1455
01:19:23,425 --> 01:19:26,011
Uh, I-- I'm an oat keeper.

1456
01:19:26,637 --> 01:19:27,763
I drink Oatly.

1457
01:19:27,846 --> 01:19:29,807
Um, no, I'm a, uh...

1458
01:19:29,890 --> 01:19:32,351
I-- I wouldn't call myself--
I was an activist.

1459
01:19:33,227 --> 01:19:36,855
Uh, when I was a kid,
and I did it for a long time.

1460
01:19:36,939 --> 01:19:41,694
I consider my--
whatever activism I have, is...

1461
01:19:41,777 --> 01:19:43,529
uh, that I shoot my mouth off.

1462
01:19:43,946 --> 01:19:45,572
Um...

1463
01:19:45,656 --> 01:19:47,950
and that I try to--
uh, um, no, I--

1464
01:19:48,033 --> 01:19:49,994
What--
what I think has happened,

1465
01:19:50,077 --> 01:19:52,913
i-- is that, uh...

1466
01:19:52,997 --> 01:19:54,873
if we wanna get
anything accomplished,

1467
01:19:54,957 --> 01:19:56,709
and I hate to say this...

1468
01:19:56,792 --> 01:20:00,963
um, but-- and-- and it's--
it's because I'm older,

1469
01:20:01,046 --> 01:20:03,716
you want a government to work,
it has to work in the middle.

1470
01:20:03,799 --> 01:20:06,552
It doesn't work on either side.

1471
01:20:06,635 --> 01:20:09,138
And at times, uh,
what we're gonna--

1472
01:20:09,221 --> 01:20:11,056
What we will get is the--

1473
01:20:11,140 --> 01:20:12,891
You know,
the-- the right came along

1474
01:20:12,975 --> 01:20:15,394
and did its thing,
and now the left will--

1475
01:20:15,477 --> 01:20:18,022
For every action, there's
an equal and opposite reaction,

1476
01:20:18,105 --> 01:20:20,065
SO we--
so the left did some stuff,

1477
01:20:20,149 --> 01:20:22,192
if the-- if the election
goes a certain way,

1478
01:20:22,276 --> 01:20:23,652
the left may do more stuff.

1479
01:20:24,320 --> 01:20:28,866
Um, but in the end,
if you really want a country

1480
01:20:28,949 --> 01:20:33,078
that's together,
it has to be from the middle.

1481
01:20:33,162 --> 01:20:38,250
♪

1482
01:20:53,515 --> 01:20:55,726
[kids shouting playfully]

1483
01:21:20,751 --> 01:21:22,127
[announcer] The China Syndrome.

1484
01:21:25,381 --> 01:21:28,384
It's about people.
People who lie...

1485
01:21:29,718 --> 01:21:33,055
and people faced with the agony
of telling the truth.

1486
01:21:34,348 --> 01:21:36,850
It will start with a tremor
in a nuclear power plant.

1487
01:21:36,934 --> 01:21:39,728
Where it will end
will depend on three people.

1488
01:21:39,812 --> 01:21:41,522
[alarm blaring]

1489
01:21:41,605 --> 01:21:44,149
-[man] No!
-[machines beeping]

1490
01:21:44,233 --> 01:21:45,943
-[man] No!
-[machines beeping]

1491
01:21:46,026 --> 01:21:47,152
[announcer] The China Syndrome.

1492
01:21:47,236 --> 01:21:48,862
[worker] No, wait!

1493
01:21:48,946 --> 01:21:51,490
[announcer] Today,
only a handful of people know

1494
01:21:51,573 --> 01:21:54,493
-what it really means.
-[indistinct shouting]

1495
01:21:54,576 --> 01:21:57,413
[high-pitched humming]

1496
01:22:06,588 --> 01:22:11,927
I became active, um,
because of this script

1497
01:22:12,010 --> 01:22:13,720
that came over my desk,

1498
01:22:13,804 --> 01:22:17,641
unsolicited, early in my career,
called The China Syndrome.

1499
01:22:18,183 --> 01:22:21,937
Which was written by
a guy named Mike Gray,

1500
01:22:22,020 --> 01:22:24,982
uh,
who's a documentary filmmaker.

1501
01:22:25,065 --> 01:22:29,653
And I saw it as a, uh,
a great horror movie.

1502
01:22:29,736 --> 01:22:33,282
Then, as I began
the whole process of-- of,

1503
01:22:33,365 --> 01:22:35,826
uh, of-- of-- of working
on this picture,

1504
01:22:35,909 --> 01:22:38,036
and realized that
we needed to get some re--

1505
01:22:38,120 --> 01:22:39,830
Real legitimacy and credibility,

1506
01:22:39,913 --> 01:22:46,211
we hired two retired quality
assurance experts from GE.

1507
01:22:46,295 --> 01:22:49,214
And they had had
a loss of faith,

1508
01:22:49,298 --> 01:22:52,676
and they basically
go on to the other side,

1509
01:22:52,759 --> 01:22:58,265
and so we used them to give us
sort of the sequence of events

1510
01:22:58,348 --> 01:23:01,059
for our final meltdown.

1511
01:23:01,143 --> 01:23:03,437
And so we made this movie,

1512
01:23:03,520 --> 01:23:07,399
and, uh, we dealt with
a fair amount of criticism.

1513
01:23:07,483 --> 01:23:10,736
Particularly from Jane's,
uh, part of-- point of view,

1514
01:23:10,819 --> 01:23:12,237
where she was at.

1515
01:23:12,321 --> 01:23:15,199
And then 13 days
after the movie came out,

1516
01:23:15,282 --> 01:23:19,495
we had the Harrisburg
Three Mile Island, uh, incident.

1517
01:23:20,329 --> 01:23:22,331
And all of a sudden,
I, like everybody,

1518
01:23:22,414 --> 01:23:25,375
was watching the news,
and there was our...

1519
01:23:26,752 --> 01:23:28,754
our movie-- our movie,

1520
01:23:28,837 --> 01:23:31,548
uh,
public relations spokesperson,

1521
01:23:31,632 --> 01:23:35,093
on a split screen,
with Three Mile Island's person,

1522
01:23:35,177 --> 01:23:39,765
and-- and one began to see
these unbelievable sort of s--

1523
01:23:39,848 --> 01:23:41,475
Uh, similarities.

1524
01:23:41,558 --> 01:23:43,268
[reporter]
The accident occurred here,

1525
01:23:43,352 --> 01:23:45,729
at the Three Mile Island
nuclear power plant,

1526
01:23:45,812 --> 01:23:47,814
a dozen miles
south of Harrisburg.

1527
01:23:47,898 --> 01:23:49,942
At about four o'clock
this morning,

1528
01:23:50,025 --> 01:23:53,737
two water pumps that help cool
Reactor Number Two shut down.

1529
01:23:53,820 --> 01:23:57,032
Officials say some
50-60,000 gallons

1530
01:23:57,115 --> 01:24:00,369
of radioactive water escaped
into the reactor building.

1531
01:24:00,452 --> 01:24:02,287
Steam escaped
into the atmosphere,

1532
01:24:02,371 --> 01:24:05,749
and radiation was detected
as far as a mile away.

1533
01:24:06,375 --> 01:24:09,670
So this was an epiphany,
uh, for me.

1534
01:24:09,753 --> 01:24:10,963
It was like somebody
was trying to--

1535
01:24:11,046 --> 01:24:12,381
To-- to tell me something.

1536
01:24:12,464 --> 01:24:14,550
Uh, because we were under...

1537
01:24:15,467 --> 01:24:17,844
such pressure,
and as it was turning out,

1538
01:24:17,928 --> 01:24:19,888
this thing was,
uh, more accurate

1539
01:24:19,972 --> 01:24:21,473
than we had ever known.

1540
01:24:22,182 --> 01:24:24,017
So,
that was sort of the beginning

1541
01:24:24,101 --> 01:24:26,311
of my pursuit into this.

1542
01:24:27,062 --> 01:24:29,690
And then, um, uh,
a few years later,

1543
01:24:29,773 --> 01:24:31,108
Chernobyl happened.

1544
01:24:31,733 --> 01:24:35,904
Uh, and we watched
that unfold and unveil.

1545
01:24:36,697 --> 01:24:38,156
And a couple of years
after that,

1546
01:24:38,240 --> 01:24:39,950
I was just-- I was feeling...

1547
01:24:41,159 --> 01:24:42,661
I don't know, nostalgic,

1548
01:24:42,744 --> 01:24:45,789
but trying to trace
my family roots, you know.

1549
01:24:46,373 --> 01:24:50,502
And my father, um,
came from Belarus.

1550
01:24:51,253 --> 01:24:55,173
Uh, from the country of Belarus,
he was born here,

1551
01:24:55,257 --> 01:24:57,342
but my grandfather
was from there.

1552
01:24:58,385 --> 01:24:59,928
And as we tried to trace

1553
01:25:00,012 --> 01:25:03,890
where my father came
from in Belarus,

1554
01:25:03,974 --> 01:25:08,353
we discovered that Chernobyl,
which,

1555
01:25:08,437 --> 01:25:09,896
because of
all the current events

1556
01:25:09,980 --> 01:25:12,024
that are going on
with Ukraine right now,

1557
01:25:12,107 --> 01:25:14,067
we understand
that's on the border,

1558
01:25:14,151 --> 01:25:15,611
just about, with Belarus.

1559
01:25:16,403 --> 01:25:21,992
That after that, uh, tragedy,
Belarus took most of the fall,

1560
01:25:22,075 --> 01:25:25,746
because they were
downwind of Ukraine.

1561
01:25:26,455 --> 01:25:29,207
And lo and behold,
I couldn't find

1562
01:25:29,291 --> 01:25:33,128
my father's village anymore
because it was downwind.

1563
01:25:33,712 --> 01:25:35,380
It was in that area of Belarus,

1564
01:25:35,464 --> 01:25:38,592
what was lost,
it had been-- been vacated.

1565
01:25:38,675 --> 01:25:44,264
♪

1566
01:25:44,348 --> 01:25:46,391
I love my country, and, uh,

1567
01:25:46,475 --> 01:25:49,186
I'm s-- so proud about it,
in SO many ways.

1568
01:25:49,269 --> 01:25:51,188
It doesn't mean
things can't be better.

1569
01:25:51,271 --> 01:25:53,774
You still try to make things,
improve things,

1570
01:25:53,857 --> 01:25:56,526
and-- and the quality of--
of what they are.

1571
01:25:56,610 --> 01:25:58,153
You don't stand fast.

1572
01:25:58,820 --> 01:26:02,741
Patriotism, again,
is not one-- one thing,

1573
01:26:02,824 --> 01:26:04,576
it's a-- a--
it's a moving object.

1574
01:26:05,327 --> 01:26:06,787
Um, because
the country's moving.

1575
01:26:07,329 --> 01:26:08,830
I-- I wanted to thank very much,

1576
01:26:08,914 --> 01:26:12,292
uh, Mr. Douglas for, uh,
his great contribution

1577
01:26:12,376 --> 01:26:14,211
as a Messenger of Peace.

1578
01:26:14,753 --> 01:26:16,254
And I think
it's a great inspiration

1579
01:26:16,338 --> 01:26:18,256
for all of us, uh,
to talk out of the box.

1580
01:26:18,340 --> 01:26:20,133
And to make
this world that he's,

1581
01:26:20,217 --> 01:26:23,095
uh, looking for, and we're all
looking for, come a lot closer.

1582
01:26:23,178 --> 01:26:25,097
So it's a—-
it's a big task for all of you.

1583
01:26:26,098 --> 01:26:29,059
[Michael Douglas] It, um,
being the most patriotic,

1584
01:26:29,142 --> 01:26:32,354
in terms of whatever,
uh, I can do to fight--

1585
01:26:32,437 --> 01:26:34,564
To eliminate nuclear weapons,

1586
01:26:34,648 --> 01:26:36,024
and the secrecy,

1587
01:26:36,108 --> 01:26:38,443
the secrecy that's been in--
involved

1588
01:26:38,527 --> 01:26:40,779
for something
that is so poisonous,

1589
01:26:40,862 --> 01:26:42,698
has such a long lifespan.

1590
01:26:43,198 --> 01:26:47,786
Um, and how we have been-- uh,
how we have been lied to,

1591
01:26:47,869 --> 01:26:52,249
by both our government, and--
and-- and corporate America.

1592
01:26:54,876 --> 01:26:56,378
It's my privilege...

1593
01:26:57,462 --> 01:27:00,090
to have this opportunity
to recognize

1594
01:27:00,173 --> 01:27:04,469
the important role of scholars
in addressing an issue

1595
01:27:04,553 --> 01:27:07,514
that has plagued the
international community

1596
01:27:07,597 --> 01:27:09,141
for far too long.

1597
01:27:10,434 --> 01:27:15,772
Growing up in the Cold War,
I was routinely reminded

1598
01:27:15,856 --> 01:27:17,566
of the threat
of nuclear weapons,

1599
01:27:17,649 --> 01:27:20,485
either when I was hiding
under my wooden desk...

1600
01:27:21,403 --> 01:27:24,114
uh, looking out
for the bright light

1601
01:27:24,197 --> 01:27:25,574
that might fall.

1602
01:27:25,657 --> 01:27:28,869
Fallout shelters,
duck for cover drills,

1603
01:27:28,952 --> 01:27:31,663
it was part
of our-- our daily lives.

1604
01:27:32,414 --> 01:27:35,459
But the threat posed
by nuclear weapons

1605
01:27:35,542 --> 01:27:39,755
is no less important today
than it was during my childhood.

1606
01:27:39,838 --> 01:27:41,173
[explosion rumbling]

1607
01:27:41,256 --> 01:27:43,842
We may have
fewer nuclear weapons,

1608
01:27:43,925 --> 01:27:46,470
but these weapons,
and their delivery systems,

1609
01:27:46,553 --> 01:27:49,556
are more powerful
and more sophisticated

1610
01:27:49,639 --> 01:27:50,682
than ever before.

1611
01:27:51,266 --> 01:27:54,770
I really cannot forgive, um,
our leaders,

1612
01:27:54,853 --> 01:27:57,022
our politicians,
for not addressing this,

1613
01:27:57,105 --> 01:28:03,320
this has been a-- a terrible pox
on-- on-- on humanity.

1614
01:28:03,403 --> 01:28:06,114
This has--
it has created the worst fear

1615
01:28:06,198 --> 01:28:08,867
on our planet,
that ever-- ever existed.

1616
01:28:09,576 --> 01:28:12,537
Uh, in terms
of the possible contamination.

1617
01:28:13,038 --> 01:28:14,790
Uh, not to mention the weaponry.

1618
01:28:15,373 --> 01:28:20,128
Um, and we're seeing it,
as we speak, right now.

1619
01:28:21,630 --> 01:28:24,007
Uh, we-- we-- we-- we-- we watch
this sort of drift at--

1620
01:28:24,090 --> 01:28:26,593
Drift away
because of climate issues

1621
01:28:26,676 --> 01:28:28,011
sort of took over.

1622
01:28:28,094 --> 01:28:29,805
Climate became--
it was more important,

1623
01:28:29,888 --> 01:28:31,181
although there's-- there is--
they're interrelated.

1624
01:28:31,848 --> 01:28:33,391
But now we're--
we're looking at a--

1625
01:28:33,475 --> 01:28:36,311
At a Russian leader who's...

1626
01:28:36,394 --> 01:28:39,689
again, speaking about
nuclear weapons.

1627
01:28:40,190 --> 01:28:42,067
The one thing I'd hoped for
in my lifetime

1628
01:28:42,150 --> 01:28:45,070
was to rid this planet,
or to have some part of--

1629
01:28:45,153 --> 01:28:47,405
To rid this planet
of nuclear weapons.

1630
01:28:47,489 --> 01:28:49,241
It looks like
it's not gonna happen.

1631
01:28:51,952 --> 01:28:54,204
[plane whooshing]

1632
01:28:55,080 --> 01:28:58,083
[narrator] The United States
is the only nation on Earth

1633
01:28:58,166 --> 01:29:00,919
to use atomic weaponry
in wartime.

1634
01:29:01,545 --> 01:29:04,047
More than 200,000 people died

1635
01:29:04,130 --> 01:29:07,926
from the bombs dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

1636
01:29:08,009 --> 01:29:13,932
♪

1637
01:29:16,852 --> 01:29:20,438
The greatest marvel is not
the size of the enterprise,

1638
01:29:20,522 --> 01:29:23,692
its secrecy, or its cost,

1639
01:29:23,775 --> 01:29:26,403
but the achievement
of scientific brains

1640
01:29:26,486 --> 01:29:28,113
in making it work.

1641
01:29:28,196 --> 01:29:31,199
We have spent
more than two billion dollars

1642
01:29:31,283 --> 01:29:34,870
on the greatest scientific
gamble in history,

1643
01:29:34,953 --> 01:29:36,580
and we have won.

1644
01:29:36,663 --> 01:29:40,542
[static crackling]

1645
01:29:40,625 --> 01:29:45,672
♪

1646
01:30:01,813 --> 01:30:04,274
[narrator]
Despite a moratorium on testing,

1647
01:30:04,357 --> 01:30:06,693
the United States continues
to develop

1648
01:30:06,776 --> 01:30:10,196
its nuclear weapons program
in earnest.

1649
01:30:11,823 --> 01:30:14,784
The Nevada test site
remains operational,

1650
01:30:14,868 --> 01:30:17,537
and resumption
of nuclear testing

1651
01:30:17,621 --> 01:30:19,039
is under debate.

1652
01:30:31,051 --> 01:30:32,761
The United States Constitution

1653
01:30:33,511 --> 01:30:36,014
made this great nation
what it is today,

1654
01:30:36,097 --> 01:30:37,849
and we've lived here for 10,000
years

1655
01:30:37,933 --> 01:30:39,309
before the Common Era.

1656
01:30:39,392 --> 01:30:41,102
We're trying to share
our knowledge

1657
01:30:41,186 --> 01:30:43,438
of how to live with the land.

1658
01:30:43,521 --> 01:30:45,023
We are part of the land,

1659
01:30:45,106 --> 01:30:46,942
I am water, you are water.

1660
01:30:47,025 --> 01:30:50,987
We need to protect the water.
We need to protect the land.

1661
01:30:51,071 --> 01:30:53,615
We are sharing
our knowledge with you.

1662
01:30:53,698 --> 01:30:55,951
10,000 years
before the Common Era.

1663
01:30:56,034 --> 01:30:57,577
That's what we have to give.

1664
01:31:05,919 --> 01:31:08,129
I'm working with downwinders
in other states,

1665
01:31:08,213 --> 01:31:09,464
and I'll tell you,

1666
01:31:09,547 --> 01:31:10,966
that little group
of downwinders,

1667
01:31:11,049 --> 01:31:12,592
we've become, like,
this community

1668
01:31:12,676 --> 01:31:15,887
and-- because
it's a real sense of solidarity.

1669
01:31:15,971 --> 01:31:18,598
We've all lived the same thing,
you know?

1670
01:31:19,140 --> 01:31:22,936
And it's our shared experience
that kinda unites us.

1671
01:31:32,070 --> 01:31:34,489
I would just want to leave
the message

1672
01:31:34,572 --> 01:31:40,161
to e-- everyone
that we're all downwinders.

1673
01:31:40,245 --> 01:31:42,414
Everyone is a downwinder.

1674
01:31:42,497 --> 01:31:47,585
♪

1675
01:32:42,557 --> 01:32:47,645
♪

1676
01:33:42,617 --> 01:33:47,705
♪

1677
01:34:42,677 --> 01:34:47,765
♪

1678
01:35:42,737 --> 01:35:47,825
♪