FEDERAL CIVIL DEFENSE ADMINISTRATION
National Office

BATTLE CREEK,

MICHIGAN

March 29, 1956

MY, Robert L. Corsbie, Chief

Civil Defense Liaison Branch

Division of Biology and Medicine
Atomic Energy Commission

16th & Constitution Avenue

Washington 25, D.C,
Dear Bob:

This is in reference to my letter to

you of January 3;

1956, and your reply dated January 27, 1956#%on the plans of

the Feceral Civil Defense Administration for motion picture
treatment of thermonuclear weapons,

As you know from our discussions, we do not have in mind

a film on any one particular test.

What we want very much to

do is a Job of "balanced reporting" on the hydrogen bomb, show-

ing the destructive powers of multimegaton weapons factually
and vividly, and at the same time indicating the passive defenses which can be taken against them.

We do not want to show the H-bomb as the ultimate in
destructive force for fear of deepening the very apathy we are
trying to eradicate, Thermonuclear weapons should be made to
appear, on the contrary, as a serious threat, but a manageable
one,
From this you will conclude that an FCDA picture on
REDWING 1s not proposed, In fact, the final product will undoubtedly use footage from IVY and CASTLE and perhaps from
GREENHOUSE.
In our original request for footage from REDWING, FCDA's
Special, but not exclusive, interest in SHOT CHEROKEE was men~
tioned. To emphasize the deliverability of multimegaton weapons,
footage should show activities related to loading, takeoff,
delivery, and escape of the drop aircraft, to the extent that
such footage would be subject to declassification,
The objective is to produce a motion picture that will
demonstrate visually the effects of thermonuclear weapons, relating these effects to the problem of Civil Defense,
It is assumed that automatic camera coverage of various
effects will be obtained for technical purposes, and that some
amount of this footage will be available for unclassified release,
In addition, there are specific activities and events
that may lend themselves to routine or special coverage, and which
would be useful for a Civil Defense film. These include:

*Circulated as Appendix "A" to AEC 787/12,

**On file in the Office of the Secretary,

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