| Winter is almost over. The warm weather is here. | | | | smallest bathing suit." It soon got its better name, |
| The beaches are calling. And heeding the call is | | | | which was the bikini. |
| that fabled teeny tiny piece of female attire | | | | Just three weeks after Heim began marketing his |
| known as the bikini. From the time of its inception | | | | swimsuit, Louis Reard, a mechanical engineer who |
| in the 1950s to the present day, the bikini is the | | | | had decided to dabble in swimsuit design, He also |
| most singular word spoken in every language on | | | | sent out skywriters over the French Riviera. The |
| the globe. | | | | message these skywriters carried was simple but |
| The history of the bikini began long before the | | | | powerful marketing: "Bikini-smaller than the |
| official introduction of the swimsuit in the summer | | | | smallest bathing suit in the world." |
| of 1946. It would have to wait until that | | | | Perhaps due to Reard's obvious marketing skills or |
| momentous year of 1946 before it would bear | | | | a simple turn of fate, the name "bikini" became |
| the name "bikini". Some historians believe that the | | | | the official tag for the two-piece swimsuit. The |
| two piece swimsuit may have been one of the | | | | thunderous impact of the two nuclear explosions |
| first public swimming costumes in existence. | | | | certainly had more to say about the new bathing |
| Drawing evidence from 300 A.D. Roman mosaics, | | | | suit. Life on Bikini Atoll would never be the same |
| historians point to this as the swimsuit of choice | | | | again. Life on every beach and resort around the |
| for ancient Roman women. | | | | world would never be the same, either. |
| Where did the name "bikini" come from? It all | | | | While sales of the bikini swim suit soared to |
| started with (you guessed it) the aftermath of | | | | astronomical heights around the world, the native |
| World War II. | | | | Bikinians were living a miserable existence. They |
| Bikini Atoll is located in the central Pacific. It is one | | | | were sickened by irradiation from Operation |
| of the 29 atolls and 5 single islands that form the | | | | Crossroads, no matter where they were |
| Republic of the Marshall Islands. Bikini is perhaps | | | | resettled in the Marshalls. It was now time for yet |
| best known for its role in a series of nuclear tests | | | | another chapter in the Bikini Atoll tragedy. This |
| conducted by the United States in the 1940s and | | | | was Operation Castle. |
| 1950s. | | | | Operation Castle was a series of tests that would |
| Just prior to World War II, Bikini suddenly became | | | | include the first air-deliverable, and the most |
| strategic. The Bikini islanders' peaceful life of | | | | powerful hydrogen bomb ever detonated by the |
| harmony drew to an abrupt close when the | | | | United States. |
| Japanese decided to fortify Bikini Atoll to guard | | | | Early in the morning on March 1, 1954, the |
| against an American invasion of the Marshalls. | | | | hydrogen bomb, code named Bravo, was |
| Throughout the conflict the Bikini station served | | | | detonated on the surface of the reef in the |
| as an outpost for the Japanese military | | | | northwestern corner of Bikini Atoll. The area was |
| headquarters in the Marshall Islands, | | | | illuminated by a huge and expanding flash of |
| However, Bikini became a quiet Japanese | | | | blinding light. A raging fireball of intense heat that |
| stronghold whose garrison spent the war | | | | measured into the millions of degrees shot |
| gathering flowers. American naval strategy used | | | | skyward at a rate of 300 miles an hour. Within |
| submarines and aircraft carriers to leapfrog over | | | | minutes the monstrous cloud, filled with nuclear |
| such islands and carry the war to Japan. | | | | debris, shot up more than 20 miles and generated |
| World War II came to a formal end in September | | | | winds hundreds of miles per hour. These fiery |
| 1945 with the detonation of nuclear weapons at | | | | gusts blasted the surrounding islands and stripped |
| Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would now be Bikini's | | | | the branches and coconuts from the trees. |
| turn to face the aftermath of World War II. The | | | | Millions of tons of sand, coral, plant and sea life |
| developers of the two piece bathing suit had still | | | | from Bikini's reef, from three islands [Bokonijien, |
| not given it a name. Soon they would have an | | | | Aerokojlol, Nam] and the surrounding lagoon |
| outstanding name for their creation. | | | | waters were sent high into the air by the blast. |
| Because of its location away from regular air and | | | | Three to four hours after the blast, white, |
| sea routes, Bikini Atoll was chosen to be the new | | | | snow-like ash began to fall from the sky virtually |
| nuclear proving ground for the United States | | | | everywhere. |
| Government. | | | | Bravo was a thousand times more powerful than |
| While the 167 Bikinians were getting ready for | | | | the Fat Man and Little Boy atomic bombs that |
| their exodus, preparations for the U.S. nuclear | | | | were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima during |
| testing program advanced rapidly. Few people | | | | the end of World War II. Its "success" was |
| would think the Bikinians were terribly interested in | | | | beyond the wildest dreams of the American |
| the development of the nuclear bomb or the two | | | | scientists who were involved in the |
| piece bathing suit in 1946. Their interests were | | | | detonation--they thought that the blast would only |
| simply that of survival. They were faced with | | | | carry a payload of approximately 3 megatons. |
| finding food, raising families and maintaining their | | | | Not understanding what was happening, the |
| culture. They could barely understand the | | | | Rongelapese watched as two suns rose that |
| progression of events set in motion by the Cold | | | | morning. They observed with amazement as the |
| War. Events that happened in Washington and | | | | radioactive dust soon formed a layer on their |
| Moscow were for the most part out of their | | | | island two inches deep. The fallout turned |
| control. The residents of Bikini Atoll were not | | | | everything into a state of terrified panic. |
| about to model swimwear, either. | | | | The people had received no explanations or |
| The nuclear legacy of the Bikinians thus began in | | | | warnings whatsoever from the United States |
| March of 1946 when they were first removed | | | | Government. Two days after the test the people |
| from their islands in preparation for Operation | | | | of Rongelap were finally taken to Kwajalein for |
| Crossroads. The history of the Bikinian people | | | | medical treatment. |
| from that day forward has been a story of their | | | | On Bikini Atoll the radiation levels increased |
| struggle to exist in the midst of Cold War issues. | | | | dramatically. In late March following the Bravo |
| Operation Crossroads was an atmospheric nuclear | | | | test, the off-limit zones were expanded to include |
| weapon test series conducted in July 1946. The | | | | the inhabited atolls of Rongerik, Utirik, Ujelang and |
| series consisted of two detonations, each with a | | | | Likiep. It is startling to note that none of these |
| yield of 23 kilotons. The two atomic bomb blasts | | | | islanders were evacuated prior to this blast or |
| of Operation Crossroads were both about the | | | | even before the subsequent nuclear weapons |
| size of the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, | | | | tests. In the spring of 1954, Bikar, Ailinginae, |
| Japan. These were the first nuclear tests held in | | | | Rongelap, Rongerik, were all contaminated by the |
| the Marshall Islands. | | | | Yankee and Union weapons tests which were |
| In preparation for Operation Crossroads, the | | | | detonated on Bikini Atoll. |
| Bikinians were sent 125 miles eastward to | | | | Between 1957 and 2007, the problems subsided |
| Rongerik Atoll. Within two months after their | | | | but the memories and the long range effects of |
| arrival on Rongerik, they began to beg U.S. | | | | radiation did not go away. There was no further |
| officials to move them back to Bikini. | | | | nuclear testing except for a test conducted in |
| Meanwhile, the official history of the bikini | | | | New Caledonia by the French in the late 1980s. |
| swimwear also began in the summer of 1946. | | | | The Soviet Union faded into history and the |
| Almost immediately after Operation Crossroads, | | | | Russian Federation did not resume nuclear testing |
| Jacques Heim, a fashion designer and beach shop | | | | of any type. With countries such as India, |
| owner in the French resort town of Cannes, | | | | Pakistan, and North Korea still on the loose, |
| introduced his swimsuit creation, the "Atome," | | | | nuclear weaponry continues to be a threat. |
| The swimsuit was named after the two atomic | | | | The name "bikini" will never pass from our |
| bombs that were set off in Bikini lagoon. | | | | vocabulary. It is now 50 years since Bravo was |
| Heim intended to sell his swimsuit in his beach | | | | tested. It is very doubtful that those living today |
| shop. To drum up business and increase | | | | will remember the horrifying message left in Bikini |
| awareness of the new swimsuit, Heim sent | | | | Lagoon with the Bravo test. It is well that only |
| skywriters high above the Cannes sky, | | | | the name of the bathing suit "bikini" remains. |
| proclaiming the new Atome to be "the world's | | | | |