BOMBS AT BIKINI 



To help those correspondents who were starting off 

 ''cold," Captain Lee arranged, besides press confer- 

 ences, various orienting schemes. Lectures were ar- 

 ranged; motion picture films were prepared and 

 shown; press packets of pamphlets on subjects rang- 

 ing all the way from nuclear physics to the history 

 of the Central Pacific were prepared and distributed. 

 No effort was spared in making this the Z)es^-reported 

 as well as being the mos^-reported technical experiment 

 of all time. 



Li the Nucleonics Age it is still true that a single 

 picture is worth a thousand words. Recognizing this, 

 General Betts asked Captain R. S. Quackenbush 

 (Navy) to plan an adequate nontechnical photograph}^ 

 program, whereby the press men and the world at large 

 could see vicariously all that security would permit. 

 His enormous program is described in a later chapter, 

 in connection with technical photography.* 



A sincere gesture of international goodwill was 

 made by inviting foreign observers to see the explo- 

 sions. The desire to invite foreign observers was ex- 

 pressed by the Services and by large sections of the 

 public even before the Task Force had been formally 

 created. The Joint Chiefs of Staff were considering 

 the matter as early as January 10, 1946. The State De- 



* A selection of over 225 of the photographs taken hy Captain 

 Quackenhush's group is presented in "Operation Crossroads, Offi- 

 cial Pictorial Record," published hy William H. Wise & Co., Inc., 

 New York, New York. 



38 



