What seems to look like a photo of a factory worker beside a huge machine may not raise eyebrows. But look again. This rare photo was taken in 1945 in the desert of New Mexico. What you think is a factory is actually the place where the government did its “Trinity” project.
Who knew that an inconspicuous desert would be the site of such a destructive time in history?
The FBI’s Official Documents on a Confidential Informant
The whole thing with confidential informants is that they are supposed to remain, well, confidential. In this document, which somehow made its way into the internet, the FBI discloses the involvement and cooperation of an informant named William L. Uanna. Mr. Uanna, apparently helped the FBI a great deal, as his position in the Atomic Energy Commission sounds like a big deal.
Feast your eyes on this top-secret paperwork! Although it's over 80 years old, so the compromised secrecy might not be the worst thing in the world.
A Draft of Mount Rushmore
Even the greatest of works had to have the first draft, and Mount Rushmore is no exception. It is impossible to create a masterpiece without having to create different versions of it. Mount Rushmore didn’t originally look like it does now the first time someone attempted to do it.
The art of sculpting requires diligence. Unlike drawing where one could simply erase an error on paper, one simply cannot erase a mistake when creating a work out of solid rock. This is a rare photo of how Mount Rushmore would have looked like if the presidents’ upper bodies were included. The creator probably thought it was too much work, it simply completed the faces.
Nuclear Explosion
After the United States government dropped nuclear bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, it detonated a thermonuclear device as a trial in the Pacific Ocean, in 1952. It was part of the United States' Operation Ivy.
The first test of a thermonuclear device – nicknamed “Ivy Mike” – was blown up in a top-secret place within the Pacific Ocean’s Marshall Islands, on November 1st, 1952.
The Fat Man
The Fat Man is not a description of a man but a name used to describe a bomb that was eventually dropped on August 9, 1945, over the Japanese city of Nagasaki. This rare photo is a piece of history that everyone should see.
This is how the bomb looked like before it destroyed the lives of Japanese citizens, and prior to it turning Nagasaki into a heap of ashes. It also offers a glimpse of a few of the secrets of the American military.