Today in Labor History May 20, 1956: In Operation Redwing, the U.S. dropped the first airborne hydrogen bomb over the Bikini Atoll. From May to July, the U.S. detonated 17 nuclear devices in the Bikini and Enewetak atolls. They tested both thermonuclear and fission weapons. They cynically named each of the tests after a different Native American tribe, and then, in the following years, went on to devastate indigenous lands within the U.S. mainland through nuclear mining, testing and waste storage.
Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. detonated 67 nuclear devices in the Marshall Islands. According to anthropologist Holly Barker, it was the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized bombs dropped on the islands every day for 12 years. As a result of these tests, the U.S. completely vaporized three of the Bikini Islands and polluted huge swaths of water and land, poisoning countless indigenous people there. Many starved to death because they were relocated to places that couldn’t produce enough food. Each resident now receives a paltry $550 annually from the U.S. government to cover medical treatment related to radiation poisoning.
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