Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
Published In
Historical Journal of Massachusetts
Abstract
The nuclear testing program the United States conducted in the Pacific a half-century ago was a national event with life-altering consequences for ordinary citizens who participated in the undertaking. This is the story of Dick Clayton, a Dorchester resident who struggled for years to find meaningful employment before securing his dream job at a local electronics firm with links to the Manhattan Project. Clayton’s career took off during an economic boom fueled by the expansion of defense spending after World War II; on assignment at Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands during the height of the atomic age, he engaged in the important work he had always craved. He paid a price for his unexpected brush with history—his health suffered in the aftermath—but he also discovered his life’s work and became a productive member of his community.
Rights
© Institute for Massachusetts Studies, Westfield State University
Recommended Citation
Danker, Anita C. "Eyewitness to the Mushroom Clouds: A Dorchester Native, the Bomb, and Its Power to Transform an Ordinary Life." Historical Journal of Massachusetts 41.1 (Winter 2013): 77-103. http://www.westfield.ma.edu/historical-journal/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Eyewitness-to-the-Mushroom-Cloud.pdf