# OPERATION IVY 1952 HYDROGEN BOMB TESTS at ENEWETAK ATOLL 80294

“Operation Ivy” cold opens with an address by President Dwight D. Eisenhower discussing the rapid advancement of the Atomic Age. A scroll at mark 00:45 then details how the Federal Civil Defense Administration “firmly believes it is necessary for the American public to know the facts about the destructiveness of nuclear weapons” and leading to the “public issuance … a non-secret portion of a secret film” that takes the viewer to the Pacific Proving Ground “to witness an important test conducted in late 1952 involving an experimental thermo-nuclear or ‘hydrogen’ detonation.” (Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands.) Mark 02:10 takes us aboard the USS Estes (AGC-12), the command ship on Joint Task Force 132 which was used to transport high-ranking officials to the Marshall Islands. For several minutes, there are numerous scenes as naval personnel prepare for the detonation of “Mike” — the codename given to the first test of a full-scale thermonuclear device — including how information will be gathered. At mark 10:30 the film offers an aerial view of the three main atolls of the test site, including Elugelab on Enewetak Atoll, with first test was conducted. Officers and enlisted personnel continue their preparations at mark 11:35 , until finally at mark 17:10 detonation occurs and a blinding explosion fills the screen. Dramatic music plays in the background as the sky…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/80294OperationIvy)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/80294OperationIvy?play=1)