Weisgall! military control in the Marshalls, American ships visited Bikini on a regular basis, bring- ing food, supplies, and medical officers who provided free treatment for the people. By the end of 1945 the Americans had built a store, an elementary school, and a medical dispensary on the atoll. Although they are geographically and culturally Marshallese, the Bikinians effectively have become wards of the United States. ~ The persuasive power of the Americans went beyond material largess. The Bikinians had been converted to Christianity a half century earlier by New England missionaries: Wyatt's arrival on a Sunday after church services and his comparison of the Bikinians to the Children of Israel undoubtedly had considerable emotional impact. His description of the awesome capabilities of nuclear weapons, moreover, led the people to believe they were powerless to resist the wishes of the United States. The option of staying on Bikini and telling the Unired States to lool: elsewhere was simply not a realistic alternative. Navy records do not disclose whether thz Bikinians were told when—and if—they could move back to their atoll. It seems that the topic was never directly confronted by either side: the people were simply promised the return of their aroll when ir was no longer was not. The people chose Rongerik. As they prepared to leave their atoll, the first of the 250 vessels. 150 aircraft, and 42,000 mihi- tary and scientific personnel involved in Op- eration Crossroads began to arrive. The islanders were overwhelmedby all the fanfare. Geologists, botanists. biologists. and Oceanographers categorized the flora and fauna of the atoll, and engineers blasted a deep-water channel through the reef to the beach on the main island of Bikini. Mean- while. the Bikinians, who had never before seen motion pictures, were entertained with Mickey Mouse cartoons. Roy Rogers westerns. and Hollywood bedroom farces. ~ The removal of the Bikinians became a major media event. The islanders had never received such attention, and they seemed to thrive on it. Cameramen photographing the last church service on the atoil were not satis- fied with their angles. so the Bikinians obliged by repeating the service three times. Publicity was so intense that rhe demands of news agencies and Navyphotographers forced a one-day postponement of the Bikinians’ departure. Finally, on the morning of March 7, 1946, cameramen recorded a re-enactmentof Wyatt's visit and negotiations with the Bikinians. The Bikinians then decorated the community cemetery with flowers and held a ceremony to bid farewell to their ancestors. The ceremony was restaged as the delighted islanders vied with one another for positions in front of the cameras. That afternoon thelast of the needed for a testing site. As for the problems of displacernent and relocation, Navy records show only that Wyatt. before flying to Bikini, “‘asked the Navy what commitments Bikinians left their atoll aboard a Navy land- people, and he wastold that he could promise nary speed and admirable logistical planning concerning reparations he could make to the them no more than the opportunity to submit claims for damages.”’ The U.S. government offered the Bikini- ans the choice of moving to one of three other atolls in the Marshall Islands. Two of them—U jae and Lae—were inhabited: the third, Rongerik, 140 miles east of Bikini. 78. ing crafr. A few of them lining therails sang songs of farewell; some wept. Most were silent. The United States acted with extraordi- in removing the Bikinians. In just one month it implemented its decision to use Bikini Atoll as an atomic weapons testing ground. One U.S. military official, quoted in Time magazine, referred to the removal of the Bikinians as “‘one hell of a good sales job.”"” The New York Times, in an article entitled ‘The 79.