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Anton Smith 1/14/12 Professor Knippling English 102H The Atomic Promise In the second half of the 20th century, two superpowers stood poised on the brink of nuclear holocaust, each with enough weapons to end the world several times over. This time

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period known as the Cold War was one of the most volatile in human history, and this extreme danger can be traced back to the discovery of atomic power (mainly atomic fission). The public attitude towards this new and powerful science was skeptical, and to this day nuclear reactors remain under extreme scrutiny. The effort to change the popular opinion of this possible world-ending power was a monumental task taken on by many governments around the world, including the United States. This image is an attempt to get the target audience to support the development of nuclear science. What is up for debate, however, is whether or not the image is a nave attempt to pacify the fear (most likely by the US government), or an attempt by the public to get the government to change focus from nuclear arms to peace and nuclear energy. The poster uses a powerful image, meant to stir up emotions in the audience. The hand holding the atom can be interpreted to represent the control that we hold over the power of the nucleus; that we have harnessed nuclear power. The fact that there are 3 atoms surrounding the arm and hand seem to say that the atomic possibility is all around us, and all we need to do is reach up and grab it. The lights directed out from the nucleus seem to be glorifying the atom as a new and amazing thing. Also, a mushroom cloud is a frightening thing, and including it in a poster aimed at promoting peace is curious. Its clear from the content of the image that the goal of the poster is to promote the progress of nuclear technology, military or not. The choice of color in this work of propaganda is also a purposeful choice by the artist; the background being a very neutral white, the blue detailing, and then the outline of black.

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The white/cream background gives the image a hopeful or uplifting feeling, which is a good choice for an image meant to be portraying nuclear power as the way of the future. The strong presence of the color blue (the blue atom, blue energy, and blue shading on the mushroom cloud) tends to hold the image as a cohesive whole. The image is held together as a cohesive whole by the strong presence of the color blue (the blue atom, blue energy, and blue shading on the mushroom cloud). Blue being a naturally soothing color also adds to the emotion of hope that this propaganda poster is trying to sell to the intended audience, especially by the shading of the mushroom cloud, the threatening part of the image. The outlining itself, done in black, contrasts very well with the white background and creates a very good effect with the blue elements. Also, the thick black outlining of the hand creates a great sense of strength. The text in this poster also plays into the propaganda. The words atomic energy are written in blue (as we said before a more peaceful color), which attempts to negate the scary, potentially world-ending connotation of atomic energy (similarly to the mushroom cloud). Peace, clearly the main subject of the text, is written in a different font and made lar ger, making it POP from the page. The last set of text, a promise of the future, works with Peace to set the context and goal for the poster. Considering the point of view and intended audience of this image can drastically change the interpretation of these observations. If the government was the designer and producer of this poster, then the poster could probably be interpreted as glorifying the nuclear option. Given the time period of this poster (mid 1950s), this would not be too much of an assumption, as context offers a huge window into the deeper meaning of the image (Ramage,

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Bean, and Johnson 292). The period belief in peace through atomic supremacy could be viewed through this poster, with the hand being part of the mushroom cloud and holding the atom as if upon a pedestal. When interpreting the arm as part of the mushroom cloud, it becomes much more of an ominous image, and reaching for the atom turns into an attempt at worldwide control. The attempt at political spin is very evident by the attempt to pacify the mushroom cloud and atom itself. Given hindsight, its clear to us to see just how wrong the makers of this poster were about the future of atomic warfare. This is clearly a much more militant view of the poster. However, if the responsible party was instead a pro-peace activist group, then pacification of the content of the image could be understood to be an attempt at changing the connotation the atom has with warfare, and instead trying to connect it with atomic technology and cleaner energy. Instead of seeing the hand and mushroom cloud as one object, they can be interpreted as a hand of science transcending the warmongering past of the nuclear weapon, and reaching up to capture the atom for the benefit of mankind. In this interpretation, the promise of the future is peace through brotherhood, not military superiority. This image represents two divergent theories of the promise of the future, one through military and warfare and one through science and research. It manages to hold both of these morals, and support them, with open interpretations of the same context, whether its the hand, mushroom cloud, or prominent atom. It functions well as a propaganda poster, and achieves its intended goal.