Children in Gas Masks, 1941
Leading up to WWII, there were fears that Germans would attack the U.S. with poisonous gas. By 1938, the government had issued respirators to everyone in the nation—including children.
Hydrogen Bomb, 1946
This photo captured the aftermath of a hydrogen bomb detonated at the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Between 1946 and 1958, 23 other nuclear devices were tested by the United States at Bikini Atoll. The U.S. was engaged in a Cold War nuclear arms race with the U.S.S.R. to build more advanced bombs from 1947 to 1991.