Anonymous ID: 539792 Dec. 10, 2021, 8:58 p.m. No.15174447   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>4825 >>4962 >>5003

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Atomic Weather and Dead Sheep The success of Climax and the end of UpshotKnothole helped ease the test site’s public relations problems. Few newspapers outside the local area covered the fallout incidents, and these tended to stress reassurances provided by the AEC. Although the fallout issue continued to fester and the communities of southwest Utah had been somewhat unnerved by Harry, most people locally downwind from the Nevada Proving Ground did not complain about the roadblocks or having to remain indoors. The radioactive dusting, in general, had engendered neither public outcry nor open protest. After Harry, Utah Representative Douglas R. Stringfellow complained to Dean, in a letter made public, that he was “greatly disturbed” by the alarm, bitterness, and anxiety expressed by his constituents “as to the harmful effect which radiation from these blasts might have upon persons residing in the neighboring communities.” The New York Times did a “check of communities” near the test site that “failed to disclose any widespread public apprehension of the sort cited by” Stringfellow, but Dean and his staff moved quickly to alleviate any concerns the congressman might have. Several staffers met with Stringfellow in his Washington offi ce, and Kenneth E. Fields, director of the AEC’s Division of Military Application, accompanied him out to the proving ground to witness the Grable shot. Afterwards, Fields told Dean that Stringfellow had “got what he wanted” and would be “very helpful to us.” Two weeks later, Stringfellow informed Dean that he had “made several speeches and radio broadcasts in my district and also issued press releases in

which I reassured the people of Utah that every

precautionary measure was being taken to protect

their health and welfare. I also attempted to allay

their fears and reassure them that the degree of

radiation from atomic fallout was so low that it

could not have any adverse effect on their physical

well-being.”32

More nettlesome from a public relations

standpoint were widespread concerns that the

atomic tests in Nevada were affecting the weather

and sparking a seemingly unusual number of

severe tornadoes across the country.