Accident: The basing of the Nuclear Navy at Staten Island threatens us all
- Title:
- Accident: The basing of the Nuclear Navy at Staten Island threatens us all
- Alternate Title:
- Accident
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Riverside Church Disarmament Program
- Other Creators:
- Livermore Laboratory, University of California
- Date:
- 1984
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1393.01
- File Name:
- PJM_1393_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- New York City
Disaster/Health/Environment
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 46 x 66 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- In July 1983, the government proposed to establish a home port for a group of Navy warships at Stapleton on Staten Island. The proposal became quite controversial; it was supported by local political and business leaders who saw potential economic benefits for the area and opposed by environmental groups throughout the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. This powerful poster was issued by the Riverside Church Disarmament Program. It shows a blood-red area of destruction, "a cloud of plutonium dust 28 miles long" that "would cause death within hours," citing the Livermore Laboratory, University of California.
The poster is undated, but was probably produced in connection with two days of hearings in December 1984 (see Rohter, Larry, "Foes of S.I. Navy Base Proposal Air Concerns," New York Times, December 9, 1984, http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/09/nyregion/foes-of-si-navy-base-proposal-air-concerns.html, accessed January 15, 2015; Arce, Rose Marie, "Missiles on the Harbor: Economic Boom or Security Threat? Columbia Daily Spectator - Broadway, December 6, 1984, 5-6, http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19841206-01.2.47, accessed January 15, 2015). The Columbia article quotes a spokeswoman from the Riverside Church Project and discusses the 28-mile plutonium plume and Livermore Laboratory study. It also reported that the Mayor's office questioned the accuracy of the statistics cited.
The ongoing dispute stalled the project for years, and it was finally canceled in 1993 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the reduction in U.S. military spending.
For another map along the same lines, see ID #2422, "Nuclear Threats to the Bay Area" (1981), calling for a Nuclear Free Zone in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Red is often used to emphasize the significance of fire or other hazards. Examples in the collection include ID #1157, San Francisco Burned District (1906); ID #1399, Mayhem - Major Chemical Accidents/Incidents Reported 1986-92; ID #1393, [Nuclear] Accident (1984); ID #2155, Region of Rat-Bitten Babies (1988); ID #1401, Adirondack Areas Burned By Forest Fires During the Spring of 1903.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.