The Nuclear Option

Project Chariot Part I: "We're going to work miracles"

In the aftermath of World War II, America was an aspirational empire, buttressed by trade relationships across the globe and animated by a sense of possibility. The Suez Canal crisis and launch of Sputnik revealed that the American economic empire could be a fragile beast. But the United States had an ace up its sleeve - nuclear development. Atomic architects decided to build a harbor in Alaska - one in the shape of a polar bear, if people wanted, bragged Edward Teller. The Alaskan harbor project, code named Project Chariot, was to be built on stolen Inupiaq land. The flagship project dissolved into a fierce contestation between indigenous ways of life and atomic scientists' scientific empire. Were the Inupiaq people ready for miracles? Part one of a two-part series.

Nuclear Lunacy

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into space, the United States knew they needed to demonstrate something new, something spectacular. The plan? Nuking the moon.