\ Honorable Richard M. Page 2 wixon May 4, 1973 Thus on February 10, 1946, the Military Governor of the Marshall Islands came to Bikini in an amphibious airplane to tell the Bikinians about the decisions made in Washington, 5,000 miles away. The Governor explained that the United States had a new and powerful weapon to be tested, and that it would be tested at Bikini. The people of Bikini, understanding little, and, faced by awesome power of the United States, and having no other recourse, relented. Their iroij (chief) Juda told the Governor that the United States could use Bikini if it would result in kindness and benefit to all mankind. The difficult problem of what to do with the "few" was left unanswered for the time being. By February 23 the United States had decided to move the Bikini people to Rongerik Atoll, an uninhabited atoll also in the Northern Marshall Islands. proved the choice to ke extremely unfortunate. Time Rongerik Atoll lies about 100 miles to the East of Bikini Atoll. In all measurements, it is a great deal smaller than Bikini. Bikini has 23 islands on the atoll; Rongerik, 10; the total land area of Bikini is 2.32 sq. miles; Rongerik consists of only .63 sq. miles. Bikini's lagoon consists of 243 sq. while Rongerik's lagoon is only 55 sq. miles. miles Events soon made evident that fact that the Pentagon never considered whether an atoll with one-fourth the lagoon size of Bikini and one-third the land area of Bikini could support 200 Bikini people. On March 7 and 8, 1946 -- less than a month after being told that they were to be moved, -- the Navy moved all 199 Bikini people to Rongerik atoll. The trouble began. The Bikinians had long con- Sidered Rongerik to be associated with Libokra, an evil female spirit who dealt in poisons. Many of the fish on Rongerik were in fact poison, and many people became sick from eating them. Furthermore, the food resources of Rongerik were not sufficient to support the Bikinians. A report by a medical officer in July, 1947 reported that the people were suffering from malnutrition. A disasterous fire had destroyed 30% of the food trees a month earlier. The United States investigated the situation, and dis- cussions were had about moving the people elsewhere. Nevertheless, nothing was done. Finally, in November, 1947, the United States and the Bikini people decided that the atoll of Ujelang would be a better place for them. With the help of ten Bikini men, construction was begun on a village at Ujelang. On December 2, the United States decreed that the Enewetak atoll was also to be used for atomic testing, and that the inhabitants of that atoll would also have to relocate. The Enewetak people would be moved to Ujelang. Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, the Bikini people had the rug pulled from under them. remained on Rongerik. They