^[1]

If you believe they put a man on the Moon;

A Fiction-Meets-Fact Story about Stanley Kubrick’s involvement with the Department Of State  

By Nicholas R. Morrish

This is the strange tale about investigating whether or not it was possible that world renowned director Stanley Kubrick had been involved with the 1352nd Motion Picture Squadron. Since then, it’s morphed into something of a chronicle of events focusing on Kubrick’s involvement with the Department of State during 1952.

Like many during the Pandemic, some of us picked up ….hobbies; mine was dusting off my old history degree and seeing if I could ever actually make it as a historian. After graduating into the worst recession in decades, I had drifted into tech and long left my aspiration of writing history books behind. But like millions of people trapped in their homes with nothing to do, I figured why not.

Some of the most significant instances of the 1950's with regards to the military and State Department were documented by the 1352nd Motion Picture Squadron. What makes this group so special is while they were not responsible for any tests or research, they were the ones there documenting only a tiny portion a few would get to see. The rest was confidential - what they witnessed and saw they could tell no one.

This is a story about trying to demystify Stanley Kubrick and disprove conspiracies - but in doing so, I find I create new mysteries and conspiracies. This is meant as a light hearted piece of fiction blended with facts, thus “Fiction-Meets-Facts”.

This is intended to academically and professionally approach what would otherwise be regarded as fringe or “Conspiracy Theories”, not to glorify or reinforce them, but to look at inconsistencies that have led to rumors, legends, myths, and confusion. Within every conspiracy lies a theory, and that theory is based on some “Grain of Truth”. However, what that “Grain of Truth'' is actually revealing may be something completely different than you’d ever imagine, if only you leave your preconceived notions behind. I leave it to the reader to enjoy these coincidences with a dose of salt and a word of warning; don’t let your obsessions become your reality, otherwise, your reality becomes obsessing over that which isn’t real.

Lost tapes and vague statements — introduction

In 2015, a youtube user called The Solomon Society released the "lost tapes" video, which included previously cut and discarded recordings from a 1966 interview with Stanley Kubrick and Jermey Bernstein. At about 19:51 of the video, Kubrick makes a rather bizarre statement;

"I was interested in whether or not I was going to be blown up by an H bomb", then mentions the Berlin Crisis having occurred around the time they were either acquiring the rights or filming 'Lolita'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsSV6yZZIVk

The video played to the footage then alludes to the live infantry atomic testing, which I was convinced was the Humboldt nuclear test during the Hardtack II operation on Oct 28th of 1958. One of the first inconsistencies I discovered was that many erroneously attribute the live infantry tests to 1959 - that wouldn’t even be possible, as in November 1958, President Eisenhower agreed to a one year test ban on nuclear weapons. There were no nuclear tests in 1959.

I tried to contact the Solomon Society to ask if this was intended for artistic purposes or deeper intentions, but no one replied. While this may be an out-of-context statement somehow connected to say The Cuban Missile crisis, it is interesting to note that The Berlin Crisis began about a month after Hardtack II in November.

I ended up doing an analysis of the nuclear test footage, comparing blast yields from declassified docs and potential geographic surroundings to see if they match USGS maps of the Ajo crater from the Humboldt Shot, as well as radiation exposures and presumed radioactive areas. However, nothing states that a 1352nd member or any unit were to be present at the Humboldt Shot. I did some rough trig on the image to estimate their distance based on the blast height calculated through NUKEMAPS using the Humboldt shot estimated blast kt, but this led to a rather disturbing conclusion;

By these estimates, these troops were 900 feet. To give you a rough visual anecdotal example, this is 1000ft from the World Trade Center which is 417 meters tall.

I did a slightly broader estimate based on google maps while comparing to known USGS maps, putting these troops within a closer tolerance of about ~1300 feet. That still puts everyone involved within roughly 400 meters. It’s a bit hard to read the USGS maps, but the purple circle is labeled “trenches” while the light blue says “Bunker” and “Tower”. But something wasn’t quite right; the trenches on the map were North West of the blast; the trenches on the film based on assumed time, shadows of the troops, and location, were south of the blast? Could the times be wrong?

The footage for Hardtack II is actually available. I accidentally found parts of the footage when looking through Lookout Mountain’s archives posted online.

The Hardtack II footage is rolled into the Hardtack I operation footage, though this isn’t mentioned anywhere. There’s no sound.

The footage offered some incredible details. First was seeing just how much the wind impacted the blast cloud - blowing significantly to the south(as reports show below), rather than being perfectly vertical presumed by the blast calculation tool, it’s actually more diagonal.

This, I assumed, may have accounted for the roughly 100 meters variance in the original trigonometry. I thought “Not too bad though for a rough guesstimate.” The perspective is from the East looking West, as we know the winds blew the cloud Southward.

A bit hard to see on the other image, but by taking a frame right at the moment the blast illuminates everything, since the landscape is relatively flat and uniform, unlike the left side, there appears objects sticking out of the horizon on the right side. That which we can see circled in yellow, are the bunker and the tower referenced in the USGS map above, which only one other footage shows the previously mentioned tower, which I didn’t see in the Lookout archives, instead published on YouTube. We see from that footage Humboldt 60850, that this perspective goes from the West looking East as the winds blow South, maintaining the exact shape, but the image is far more clear in this one with regards to the towers, and a small mound that can be assumed to be the bunker.

Documents on the Humboldt blast would paint a darker picture about what happened closer to the blast. Labeled the Very-Low-Yield Bursts on Biological Specimens(Mice and swine), it makes no mention of any human participants.

Within 15 minutes, cameramen from the 1352nd had descended on a massacre. But as the film continued, things got interesting…and very dark…

There’s the armored vehicle described above in the report about the 1352nd documenting recovered vehicles.

The test and recovery crew with a Geiger counter.

And then some grim comic gold.

We see two men attempting to pull pigs out of the armored vehicle;

only for the scene to immediately jump to two completely different men assisting a third attempting to pull what turns out to be three, no wait, four pigs tied together out of the vehicle. The footage is a strange mix of grim apocalyptic like hellscape, mixed with some hillbilly-esque pig chasing fun. You can’t help but laugh at points in order to help stay sane, yet then it continues to go back and forth between the grim reality.

The scene after recovery is documentation. A line of pigs, some still alive and twitching, as a serviceman leans down and gently pets one of the dying animals, checking vitals and pupil response. I grew to immediately appreciate there not being any sound. There was no evidence of mice [or humans] present during the blast.

Looking at the placements of 5-20 meter fox hole based on Humboldt documents, and the frantic pace this person takes as they quickly assess radiation, this is without a doubt ground zero of the Hardtack II, Humboldt test.  

What a nightmare to have to film and have to watch every small part happen. But with regards to the previous question, doesn’t this all feel a bit ….small? The live infantry blast looked huge; this, while still intimidating, was seemingly all a bit…inflated.

Data on Gamma Radiation Exposures also showed an odd name;

Assuming the footage involving live infantry was actually from the Humboldt shot, looking at data on radiation exposure rates amongst squadrons with higher than average rates based on the theory, it made sense to pin these men to the 4926th Test Squadron and the 4950th Test Group, but interestingly, there was someone claiming from the 1352nd to be part of the "Air Police Squadron" that had received a semi-decent exposure rate. I was never able to find an "Air Police", but I was able to find something known as the "Air Pictorial Service (APS)", which started in 1951. However, that's not what the rest of the documents reference the 1352nd as.

And this is when I began reaching out to fellow historians on the topic of Stanley Kubrick and the 1352nd. I decided to start with the 1352nd;

Emails with Ned O’Gorman on Lookout Mountain and the 1352nd Motion Picture Squad

I began my search by first asking someone that best knew the 1352nd and the Lookout Mountain Air Force Station, and that was hands down Ned O’Gorman, a Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois, and author of Filming a Nuclear State. Strange random fact; the actor Jared Leto now owns the grounds that make up Lookout Mountain Air Force Station. Before him, it was owned by Dehl Berti, an American and Indian actor, who claimed(without any real source on wikipedia btw) that upon touring the newly purchased grounds, discovered a “fake moon landing” set. To the obvious observer, the reality is that urban myths have long preceded the former Air Force Station for decades. So I sent Mr O’Gorman this email;

“I’m a historian working on a piece about nuclear weapons. Many are familiar with the footage of infantry being exposed to nuclear weapons, however many know very little about the footage, and many falsely label the date “1959”, a historical implausibility under Eisenhower’s nuclear ban at the end of October 1958.

When researching the history of a declassified film with regards to pinning down the exact blasts recorded, using DOD records and US Geological survey maps from aerial records between 1959–61, I was able to [incorrectly] determine that the footage was in fact that of Operation Hardtack II, in which on October 15th and 29th two tests involving live infantry and personnel occurred during the Hamiliton and Humboldt blasts, so much so that I am able to show the exact location of the trenches from the blast origin for the Humblodt, however the Hamilton is a bit more difficult as USGS maps don’t declare any trenches only copious ruins and tank debris, though current google maps between the Nevade test region of Frenchman Lake shows land masses consistent enough with presumed trenches.

DOD records show that the 1352nd Motion Picture Squadron was deployed with one project officer and 6 cameramen, and this can be verified by what’s within the known 1352nd’s records as [Classified title] FTA 438a. Is much known about this group? Who made this unit? Were they military or contractors?”

Ned replied;

“[referring to the live infantry test] I do not think it is 1352nd footage. More precisely, I don’t think it is 1352nd cameramen. I suspect it is Army provenance. I say this because the 1352nd prided themselves on the quality and professionalism of their work (and proved it over and over) — this all looks like very amateurish footage, like something the Army would do.”

My response;

“That’s possible, I’ll look into that. I realize there are a lot of various divisions of photography within the branches. I did notice at 1:10 we can see them recording three others working around camera equipment; while the one carrying gear may just be assistance unloading from the truck, there are two people setting up positioned cameras, and while the perspective is handheld, based on 0:29 we can see them riding in the back of a truck.

I don’t think it’s too farfetched to assume they’d travel together, as hauling logistics makes more sense to just throw it all into one rather than space it out. This makes it harder to say if they’re a part of the Armed Forces, 1352nd, or just some private contractor, though the footage is clearly meant as some sort of ‘PR’.

I think it’s feasible to say at least the men setting up the cameras can be assumed to be 1352nd by the nature of the cameras(Mitchell NC #701 which were commonly used by the squadron) and DOD docs supporting the 1352nd being present.

1352nd archive footage does show both the Hamilton and Humboldt explosions, which does also suggest that the unit were in fact there. It also shows the aftermath of men pulling out the irradiated pigs that were reported in the DOD docs to have been placed around the various areas in tanks, trenches and stuff into aluminum barrels.

However, as an engineer that has worked around hazardous materials, you don’t wear a full bunny suit and respirator when hauling heavy materials for the exercise and sweat loss; you do it cause you’re being exposed and this is the small barrier between you and cancer in the short time you have to do your job and get out.

So the 1352nd were definitely there around ground zero, recording pigs the US army had to round up from the aftermath. Not sure if that’s better or worse; having to record a blast in person, or record the aftermath of the animal testing while standing on irradiated soil.”

I realized I had come off pretentious and pedantic, so I tried to switch things up by saying;

“I read Filming a Nuclear State. Great work by the way.

Random side question; how did Kubrick get access to 1352nd’s nuclear blast footage? They use a lot, like…a lot of nuclear footage at the end, and while everyone always questioned the B-52 interior, what strings would you have to pull to get in with the 1352nd or at least the people controlling that to get nuclear test footage that you plan to just openly show the public? Pardon if my statements come off a bit frank.”

They replied;

“I don’t know exactly how Kubrick got the footage, but I know that LML regularly provided footage to Hollywood directors. Sometimes it was a this-for-that arrangement, but not always. As LML saw it, part of their job was to provide “hot takes” on behalf of the Air Force for general audiences via Hollywood. This was seen, generally, as a positive thing for the image of the Air Force.

As for Kubrick, again, I don’t know. I do know that Dr. Strangelove was started as a serious rather than comedic film — it is possible he requested the footage early; it is also possible he got it from another source, since LML footage was circulating in Hollywood.”

After talking to Ned O’Gorman, I realized focusing on Lookout Mountain wasn’t going to answer these questions. If Kubrick had deeper connections to the Army or State Department, you’d have to actually prove some sort of connection between them.

Following up on those claims of Lookout Mountain

having a fake moon set

        Since I realized I’d quoted many author’s, I’ve tried my best to get most of their consent with regards to publishing our messages. I think my intentions were always clear that I intended to document what they said, but I made sure just to follow up on some of them. I thanked Ned O’Gorman, he thought it was a fun(and somewhat wild) piece. There was one small thing I had remembered I wanted to ask in passing - the fake moon landing set Dehl Berti had claimed to find, and is still shown on Wikipedia with little explanation or even sources of quotes. I asked if he’d ever heard such rumors and his thoughts on the topic, such that the whole rumor could be put to bed. Ned replied;

Yes, those rumors are rampant. A couple of thoughts, right quick: It is possible that he found such scenery, but the Nevada desert and the moon are not that far apart in appearance, so if he did find such scenery, he was likely ignorantly or intentionally “mistaking” it for the moon and thus stoked the rumor that the moon landing was filmed there. Even if we were to take the claim seriously, the problem with it is timing. LML was closed in and around 1968/69 because their operations – which had changed dramatically since the days of nuclear testing – were being moved elsewhere. They did not have the “Hollywood” capacities at the time, but had transformed into a footage outfit for the Vietnam war and missile testing (see later chapters of Lookout America!). More like an industrial film center than a Hollywood studio by middle 1960s. The “set” he claims to have found, if it was there, would have been left over from another era, and would have been a desert scene, not the moon.

Someone needs to clean up, edit that Wikipedia entry based on all the research we did for our book. Maybe someday.

And there you have it. Within many of these claims and conspiracies, there truly is some ‘grain of truth’ - but the problem is, what they think they’re understanding is in fact the truth to something completely different, and while some may find the simple truth boring, I find the events of how these rumors and myths came to be fascinating. Dehl wasn’t wrong to think they’d found some strange set that maybe fit in the current time with the theories the whole moon landing thing may have actually been staged, but the reality was something far more plain - it was just worthless props the Air Force film trying to promote US/Vietnamese relations, in which apparently they weren’t bothered to dispose of. Maybe they were forgotten. Maybe the military just didn’t care. Either way, it was clear after catching up with Ned that it’s safe to say that no, a fake moon landing set did not exist on Lookout Mountain Air Force Station.

Ghosts in the film — Kubrick and the State Department

To start, I again returned to world’s most usefully useless site for known sources — wikipedia. Looking through Kubrick’s film history, there was an interesting note on the fact that a resume of Kubrick’s had been discovered in which he referenced a State Department film called “World Assembly of Youth” filmed in 1952. An inaccurate posting online claimed the film had never been found, so I went on a misguided quest to see what I could find and contacted the National Archives. Side Note; those people are a literal national treasure.

I sent them this email;

“I’m a historian and I’m trying to find information on Stanley Kubrick’s involvement in a 1952 film for the DOS called World Assembly of Youth. Since the film was made in 1952, I realize the footage is probably still considered classified, but since this is before 1960, is there a name card with the DOS between 1950–1954 for Stanley Kubrick?”

Why a Name Card Index? Because our entire government before modern computers literally ran off of punch cards. If you worked for the government, you should have a card with your name on it. And since all NCI are declassified between 1950–1954, of which the WAY film was made in 1952, Kubrick should technically have one.

The NA’s response?

“Stanley Kubrick does not appear in the NAME CARD INDEX to the 1950–54 segment of the Central Decimal File, part of RG 59: General Records of the Department of State. I did, however, locate two documents about the motion picture WORLD ASSEMBLY OF YOUTH. Complimentary copies are attached.

That motion picture was produced by the International Information Administration (IIA), an organizational element of the Department of State. There might be documentation about it among the files of the IIA preserved in the National Archives. While somewhat extensive, those records are far from comprehensive.

We regret that we cannot undertake the extensive research necessary to identify the exact documents in which you are interested. We are staffed to assist researchers with their work, but not to undertake substantive research for them.”

I’ve only attached the front page, as the other documents were unredacted addresses the films were to be sent to, though the next page does allude to some possibility of a follow up film.

I looked up the UK address, and, well the most comically stereotypical “intelligence” front popped up - a flat above a dry cleaners.

I have made an (poorly) attempt to block out anything of real relevance to help prevent any potential rumors or misconnections. But the coincidence was too hard not to note; a cleaners where you go to drop off your intelligence films. You can’t help but conjure up some images of James Bond style drop offs where some agent drops off a suit and picks up an intelligence briefing. However, let me reel you back in - the WAY group rented the flat, not the dry cleaners. While it’s fun and entertaining to imagine a more complicated world, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a dry cleaner’s is just a dry cleaner’s.

I looked back at what I’d found. Holy smokes; While the Name card was a miss, I’d found proof the film was real, and not only that, that it was a legit Intelligence operation not intended to allude to any USIS involvement. While Kubrick was never employed or in service, we can still reflect back that Kubrick worked on this project and still in some shape or form, working for the State Department. This was something I figured was worth bringing up to historians focused on Kubrick’s past.

A Waltz through HAVC(History of Art and Visual Culture)

While looking for topics that had brought up both Kubrick and the WAY film, I ended up dragging Dr. Kate McQuiston, Professor of Music — Musicology at the Department of Music, University of Hawai’i at Manoa into this. Dr McQuiston wrote We'll Meet Again: Musical Design in the Films of Stanley Kubrick and had caught my attention for their work with regards to the workshop Life and Legacy- Studying the Work of Stanley Kubrick.

I explained my strange journey and even more bizarre things I had uncovered, and they told me that I should try reaching out to Nathan Abrams or Mick Roderick. They had both written in depth on Kubrick’s film career.

I reached out to Nathan Abrams, a Professor in Film at Bangor University who wrote about Kubrick in his novel Stanley Kubrick: New York Jewish Intellectual and the supposedly missing WAY film and the documents, at first it appeared to go well.

“Fascinating. I'd be very interested to see what you have. I haven't heard of any such rumour but it strikes me that maybe he learned of something through James B. Harris who served in a signal corps based in Queens during the Korean War. There is a copy of the film on YouTube by the way.”

*internal screams from the author* AHhhhhhh I hadn’t bothered to check whether or not wikipedia was accurate and just checked to see if the darn film actually existed. We talked a bit and they replied;

“Here is the link to the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWaMXsak0tk.

I think the key thing to consider is that on WAY, Kubrick was a hired hand possibly not hired directly by the USIS but by someone else who was hence why he might not have a name card, etc. In 1952, he was not an established filmmaker, just a documentarian looking for more work in that field. Once he was established, with films like Paths of Glory and Strangelove, he did not endear himself to the military either.”

*sigh* that… didn’t go so well…but wait a minute…someone found the footage?

Andy, are you goofing on Elvis(are we losing touch)?

The potential signatures and Pareidolia

At some point, I had looked back at things with a fine-comb pick; every small detail in documents to film; did I miss something? I matched time tables, estimated the angle of the sun based on the time of day from the footage while using maps of roads to USGS stated blast zones to double check which test it was. What was there on the film that illuminated the person behind the camera?

It was so weirdly obvious — the film itself. The first few frames would be the personal notes, presumably from the cameraman or at least the person that processed the film.

They appear as this

It’s interesting to note that Seper is Hungarian for “to sweep, broom”, thus possibly ‘Red Sweep’. No other government or military documents allude to the blast as “Red Seper”, though I’d found an inconsistency with regards to the lost tapes; Kubrick’s statements had said “H-Bomb” — this clearly says “A-Bomb”.

Yet curiosity is a mischievous cat. I went through images of Stanley Kubrick's handwriting, this is where things become comically coincidental. The similarity in use of what I describe as “Disney'' styled loop on B and O’s appeared. I deduced that Kubrick had three types of handscript; Cursive for formal, semi-cursive for personal and informal, and a rough block type for informal external use. When writing in his block type, it is interesting to note that letter shapes don’t always remain consistent; notably the N and the B’s.

The last slide appears as such;

Looks like gibberish right?

It’s a signature.

This is the closest I was able to find that showed consistent similarity with regards to the shape of the e and the y, though no images were ever found alluding to Kubrick ever having added a “John Handcock” style flair of adding loops after the Y.

I watched the film again and again, focusing on the camera crew; Could this man behind the camera be him?? Was this Kubrick all along?

I felt like I was starting to lose my f*cking mind. I’d become obsessed, and in such, beginning to become susceptible to Pareidolia, which as Websters defines, the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. It is not that experts didn’t recognize the similarities and coincidences, but on some level of professionalism, you can’t start a discussion with such.

I realized I needed to start putting some of these coincidences to rest and refocus on Kubrick and the WAY film.

Emails with James Fenwick

Dr James Fenwick is a senior lecturer in media and communication at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He is the editor of Understanding Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and author of numerous book chapters and journal articles on the life and work of Stanley Kubrick. James is the one that had dug up the WAY film and published the video. In his work Stanley Kubrick Produces, James discusses Kubrick’s life in the early 1950’s, tying together these small events such as the WAY film while trying to make sense of what Kubrick was doing.

I read James’ book, and thought it was great. I then reached out with what I had on the WAY, as well as most of the random docs and thoughts. I had a simple question; are you aware of any evidence, instances, references, or even rumors/myths/conspiracies about Harris(Kubrick’s business partner) or Kubrick being in the 1352nd motion picture squadron or involved in recording Nuclear explosions?

“In terms of Kubrick or Harris’ involvement in recording nuclear explosions, it is the first I have heard about this. Mick Broderick, author of Reconstructing Strangelove, might know more about this, but again I can’t recall him ever telling me anything about it — and we’ve had many conversations about the secret world of Kubrick.

However, what you have found is incredibly strange — whether a coincidence or whether there is something more to it is of course what makes it fascinating. The archival material that I have been through from Kubrick’s early filmmaking life between 1950 and 1955 doesn’t suggest anything to this end, nor does the Harris-Kubrick material I have been through.

In his early years, Kubrick seemed more fascinated with sex, psychoanalysis, relationships, and New York. He was always skint, as you say, which was also another pre-occupation in his early writing. None of this is to say that he might not have had further work for the State Dept and there are still gaps in his biography and clearly things that he was up to that none of us know about.

The signature is incredibly uncanny, though!!”

It felt encouraging to be given some credence that the time I’d spent obsessing wasn’t all for nothing. Talking with Fenwick and reading over Stanley Kubrick Produces helped me to understand that Kubrick had a vision for his film career's future, but how he’d get there was seemingly through any means necessary. I responded in kind;

“Thank you so much for your response! Professor Kate McQuiston from the University of Hawai’i mentioned Mick Broderick, but said they’d retired. I haven’t had much luck contacting them, though it’s been kind of understandable — this is all a bit too strange while having no real connection, mostly just conjecture. With the notion of dis/misinformation and ‘conspiracies’ running rampant these days, it’s understandable some would rather not be involved. I’ve attached the other document, it goes further into the details of the objective of the film.

Talking a bit to Nathan Abrams(another person McQuiston recommended), it is understandable some are more reserved about this — if there is no evidence, there is no connection. They didn’t really agree with any of the signature features from their own observation of signatures, though they didn’t really respond when I sent them the comparison between films.

What I’m mostly interested in is the period after May 1958, when the Termination agreement occurred; how desperate would they be to get funds or at the least, gain some studio favors? 1352nd was literally filled with the heads of studios and film guilds. Looking at the declassified document “The History of 1352d”, a new technical advisor comes in sometime after Hardtack II to film something called “Springboard to the Stars”. Seemingly around that time period though, it’s also recorded that an airman was discharged. What for, I don’t know.

I understand because no one seems to have evidence, so from here, I plan to request information on “Springboard to the Stars” in order to see what can be found, either footage, scripts, or release information. I’m not sure if it’s possible to request information on military discharge of an airman, but I might try seeing what I can find with that.

{Follow up email}I found this with regards to “Springboard to the Stars”. It says it appeared on Oct 1st of 1958 in the Air Force magazine(it’s a bit vague, but the 1352nd were technically a part of the AF, so privy to their media), and it talks about Vandenberg Airforce base becoming a Nuclear weapons training ground, and the apparently blunt issues of leadership and morale. If the 1352nd had to make a film about this(I’m not yet sure if they’re connected), putting the article in a better light and showing how professional Vandenberg AF really was, yet if you were the crew having to make this, and realized the reality on the ground was still what the previous article wrote about, it would start to feel like you’re almost directing a comedy about a bunch of incompetent idiots with authority and control of nuclear weapons. https://www.airforcemag.com/article/1058springboard/ ”

James responded;

“Really interesting stuff! And again, I love the coincidence (or not) of the name of that project.

In terms of what they were up to in the late 1950s, they had a very complicated financial situation, which included shares in restaurants and other commercial activities. They were also involved with Joseph Harris’s business interests, including hiring out their services as dubbing editors for foreign language films. Given what I’ve seen in the archive, and the level of activity, my hunch would be that they just did not have the time to work on the Springboard to the Stars project — but I could be wrong.

Mick does still continue to research — he moved institutions, as well as being appointed to the Smithsonian Chair a while back now. Given his background and expertise, it might be worth having a chat with him.”

It’s not everyday you get recommended to talk to a chair of the Smithsonian, especially about Stanley Kubrick and one of the most sophisticated motion picture squadrons, the 1352nd.

I’d decided to check the WAY film like the nuclear footage for anything written on the first few frames; sure enough there was

Pretty minimal stuff, but when compared to the other film?

But again, Pareidolia is allowing us to see whatever similarities exist. The full extent of what Kubrick’s job or function was involved with regards to the WAY film are still not fully known, so thus the coincidences are just that.

James had documentaries and other work that he needed to focus on, so I realized if I wanted these answers, I’d have to find Mick Broderick.

Turned out to be fairly easily — just contact the email directory, stated my work, and that I’m trying to find said email for Mick Broderick. My email was forwarded, and I waited.

Doubts about James Fenwick finding Kubrick’s film

Reviewing the documents and emails at a later date after first publishing, I realized something - I have doubts that James Fenwick found Kubrick’s film. This is not to lend him credit for find the film and proving its existence, however, looking back at what James wrote in his blog on researching the WAY film, I caught something I hadn’t realized. From professor Fenwick’s piece The World Assembly of Youth and Archival Serendipity

Baxter’s claims seemed to be further substantiated, however, by contemporary reports in the press. A. H. Weiler published a column in the New York Times in June 1952 that summarised Kubrick’s filmmaking activities. I have highlighted in bold the relevant section concerning World Assembly of Youth:

PRODUCER: Proof that a producer-director need not be a man weighed down by years is here in the person of Stanley Kubrick, a New Yorker who is 23 and is currently negotiating for the release of “Shape of Fear,” his first feature and the fourth film he has turned out thus far. The picture, a study of four soldiers trapped behind enemy lines, developed from a story by Howard Sackler, a 22-year old friend of Kubrick’s, was made on location in California’s San Gabriel Mountains with Frank Silvera, Steve Coit, Ken Harp, Irwin Mazursky and Virginia Leith, professionals whose names obviously have not been in lights. The youthful producer-director, whose credits already include “The Day of the Fight” and “Flying Padre”, short subjects released by R.K.O., and a short on World Assembly of Youth, made for the State Department, has “a few stories he would like to film.” But his approach to the future seems to be both realistic and wise. “There’s no point in talking about my next picture,” he said, “until we see how ‘Shape of Fear’ does both critically and financially.”[ii]

However, this makes little sense, as the national archives confirmed "Stanley Kubrick does not appear in the NAME CARD INDEX to the 1950-54 segment of the Central Decimal File, part of RG 59: General Records of the Department of State".

To understand this better, we need to look back at the previous USIS document I had posted. It states clear as day they did not want any USIS affiliation. What is more interesting, is it is dated June 11th, 1952 - the same month the New York Times made the claims the film was made for the State Department. I present page two of the document.

What is important is paragraph two - a second film was in production. Currently, I am not able to confirm nor deny Stanley Kubrick’s involvement. Furthermore, I find it nearly impossible that Kubrick could have faked or simply made-up such claims by mere coincidence, as Kubrick couldn’t have known another film was in production, and unless he had been working in that production, it is feasible to say that knowing the film was sponsored by the State Department without even working on said film wouldn’t be common knowledge.

I am attempting to follow up on these claims through federal civilian records, but these things take time. I went back to the National Archives in order to see if any follow up documents existed;

Dear Mr. Morrish:

This is in response to your recent inquiry to the National Archives about the records of the Department of State.

While the National Archives holds some records of the International Information Administration (IIA), as I noted previously, those records are far from complete or comprehensive.  I searched the extant, but fragmentary, records of the motion picture office within IIA.  I located no files relating to the World Assembly of Youth or Stanley Kubrick.

Since the two documents previously found come from file “511.005” in the Department of State CENTRAL DECIMAL FILE, it is possible that there will be other documents of interest there.  We regret, however, that we cannot undertake the extensive research necessary to identify the exact documents in which you are interested.  We are staffed to assist researchers with their work, but not to undertake substantive research for them.              

Perhaps, I thought, I hadn’t taken the WAY film seriously, so I asked myself a deeper question - what was the film about?

Breaking down the original 1951 WAY film

 At first glance, the film feels old, and since the opening credits say nothing of Kubrick, it’s understandable to think the film was a deep end. Since observations show Kubrick likely didn’t even work on the Original film at all, this would appear to be almost a complete waste of time with regards to research and resources. But one could argue not properly looking at the film was doing the opposite - asking the National Archives over and over didn’t produce or prove anything, and was really just a waste of their time and mine.

The film starts off setting the scene - it’s summer 1951, and delegates from 65 countries from around the world have flown into New York for a two week long event.          

Their eventual destination will be Cornell University. It goes on to explain that a similar event occurred in London in 1948, Brussels in 1949, and Istanbul(not Constantinople) in 1950. Not sure how that came into the works, but I guess it’s nobody's business but the turks. Puns aside, it becomes very apparent that the World Assembly of Youth and the United Nations seemingly work hand in hand, with the delegate from the WAY visiting the UN headquarters in New York. Their mutual goal is quite simple - a universal bill of rights for all peoples of the world. Their next location was Hyde Park, the residence of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt.

To most this doesn’t mean much, but when looking back, it floored me - I’d been there! Last October in 2022, I’d gone to see relatives in New York, and stopped by Hyde park. They knew I’d studied history, and thought I’d love it(Ps, I did). I had gone to the library, taking my time going from exhibit to exhibit, eventually finding myself looking through the window to the door marked “Archives”, and pondered to myself “What if’s”. I did a full tour of the house, noting the fascinating 19th Century Persian rug little appreciated as they stomped through, and in FDR’s office, the replica of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, as well as the complicated yet clever mechanisms used to help FDR move between rooms in his frail state, but still not raise too much suspicions for those that visited. I walked upstairs, looking at their bedrooms, the furniture, and as I approached Eleanor Roosevelt’s bedroom, I appreciated the simple yet eloquent life she lived. As I took it all in, I noticed to the left of the doorway was a painting that was difficult to see. I leaned over to try and get a better glance…and then set off the motion sensors. Two loud BOOP’s suddenly rang out, scaring the hell out of me, while many of the other visitors were confused and thinking perhaps it meant the tour was over. As I slipped back to my fiance, we worked our way with the rest of the crowd outside, where I explained my hilariously embarrassing faux pas, and she laughed since no one appeared to have noticed anyways.

The entire delegate of the WAY visited the Hyde Park estate in order to pay respect to the late President. The film comments even the representative from Japan presented floral arrangements as a token of peace. But then it gets into something interesting - the Delegates meet with Eleanor Roosevelt. Of course it makes sense that the wife of the late President would host such meetings, but as the film alludes, many may misunderstand and even disregard Eleanor Roosevelt’s involvement with the UN and humanitarian efforts.

The film then shifts into WAY resolutions, emphasizing the display of Democratic principles in order to resolve political issues. It then discusses the simple experiences the Delegates experience in the town of Ithaca while they attend seminars at Cornell University. It briefly gets into a pretty neat feature - how they were able to get so many representatives from so many countries together and more importantly, how they communicated.

Individual booths housing translators speaking through broadcasts on specific channels were transmitted to portable radio receivers that could tune to those channels. The recipient would then wear a pair of headphones and dial in the specific channel that was intended to be heard in their language. This would allow for not only pre written speeches to flow easier, but also assist when mics were open for forum and debate. This might not seem like much in the age of translation apps and smart devices, but for a group of young Delegates from countries all around the world, this was probably the most state of the art thing they’d ever experienced.

The film then goes to shine a little more light on the City of Ithaca, following up with an art exhibit for the Delegates. The Assembly is then shown hearing a speech from Eleanor Roosevelt.

Her speech is interesting;

You’re going to see one little game made, and then another little game made, and you’re going to leave the world a better world than you found it.

Now I’m not going to say to you that you’re not going to live in an uncertain world. I think you are.

It’s going to be a very difficult world and you’re going to have to learn to live with uncertainty, and it’s always harder to live with uncertainty when even to accept a fight that you can’t get away from no matter how unpleasant it may be. And I’m not going to promise you what I don’t think can possibly be achieved quickly and I’m going to tell you that you’re going to have a tough road to hold but it’s also going to be a most exciting world in which to live a world in.

There is the possibility of changing all the conceptions that have existed in the past. A world in which you may be able to bring about these changes peacefully. A world in which men are truly brothers, and women too our sisters.  

I’ve since contacted the FDR museum and archives about the footage, so as to share with their records this speech and footage, and request any potential documents they may have on Eleanor Roosevelt’s involvement with the WAY group.

Thinking back on the Stanley Kubrick Lost Tapes, I remembered what Kubrick had said about his work during High School - He had actually produced a photograph documenting a newsstand selling papers on the news that FDR was dead, and centered around the gloom and depressed character of the elderly newspaper vendor. Here is an example of it found on the internet. The image was sold to Look magazine for an estimated $25,000.

Now this raised an interesting question - was Eleanor Roosevelt a fan of Look magazine? This opened a world of knowledge when reading Eleanor Roosevelt; First Lady as Magazine Journalism by Maurine H. Beasley. Not only did Eleanor read Look magazine, they wrote articles for them, and well before FDR had passed. I then found a reference in the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers a journal entry from July 23rs 1953;

On Saturday I started working on my article for Look Magazine immediately after breakfast but shortly Mr. and Mrs. Vilfan and Mr. Milatinovic appeared to finalize our program here and the rest of our days in Yugoslavia. They said the President and Mrs. Broz would like us to join them at eleven o'clock and go out to the island again, returning at three. I wondered for a minute if I had a right to stop working for that amount of time but I realized that this was an opportunity which I had really asked for.

It then hit me what I really had caught onto - not just the Look magazine, but I had stumbled across Eleanor Roosevelt’s digitally documented journal entries called “My Day”. They say nothing about Stanley Kubrick, but everything on the WAY was right there.

AUGUST 4, 1951

HYDE PARK, Friday—Last Monday I made my annual visit to the Vassar Summer Institute for Family and Community Living. This group is a most interesting gathering of parents and children who spend some time at Vassar. While the children are being taken care of by trained people the parents have an opportunity to attend courses and study a variety of subjects, some of them dealing with the children's lives and their upbringing.

I can always depend on this group to ask extremely interesting questions, and this year was no exception. I find these people stimulating and am always glad of the opportunity to talk with them.

On Thursday a section of the young people who are here to attend the World Assembly of Youth, meeting at Cornell University, came to Hyde Park. I had missed seeing one of the earlier sections which came on a day when I was in New York City, but I was pleased to have an opportunity to talk to these youngsters. They had bus trouble, which I find is not infrequent on these expeditions, and they were very late in arriving but they made the most of their time and seemed to enjoy their visit.

I wonder if many people realize what a tremendous piece of work has been undertaken by CARE in Yugoslavia through this summer.

Yugoslavia is one of the countries that suffered most during World War II, but it was nature which seemed to frown upon her recovery last year and brought her 75 days of drought. Four million tons of foodstuffs were lost—60 percent of the harvest that had been expected to feed the people until the end of this summer when the new harvest could be made.

There was already in Yugoslavia a great deal of economic dislocation because of her break with the Soviet countries in 1948. This break was made because of the patriotic nationalism of the Yugoslav people, who, even though they are convinced Communists, want to retain their national freedom. In making the break with the Soviet area it meant that much of their trade, which had been with the countries behind the Iron Curtain, was cut off. This created great hardship. Our government has helped Yugoslavia by loans and our people have helped by sending food packages through CARE.

CARE is always able to organize the most difficult undertakings, so it was rapidly able to distribute thousands of food packages. These were donated by Americans who have friends or relatives in Yugoslavia, and even by Americans who have no personal tie but who wanted to help where there was need.

Congressman John A. Blatnik of Minnesota said in a speech recently that CARE had successfully obtained nearly 35,000,000 pounds of surplus food from the Department of Agriculture. This included powdered milk and egg powder, which is being distributed under the supervision of the CARE mission staff. This staff is composed of Americans and they see that the food goes to the neediest people. This food was contributed without cost, but the transportation and packaging has to be paid for by CARE, so they are asking for $5.35, which will guarantee the delivery of each 300 pounds of this surplus food.

Every mouthful that reaches these people not only is a token of our goodwill but is a weapon against Communist domination.

AUGUST 11, 1951

HYDE PARK, Friday—I left Hyde Park early Wednesday morning for Cornell University. In Syracuse I was met by some of the staff of the World Youth Assembly and after a pleasant drive through the beautiful Finger Lake countryside, we arrived at the Inn at Cornell, which is run as part of the hotel management course.

The World Youth Assembly is an interesting group of young people who came together some years ago in opposition to an international youth movement that seemed at that time completely controlled by the Communist group.

These young people all get on extremely well and are doing a good job in trying to understand one another. For that reason, however, there seems to be less real outspoken divergence on any subject. You feel perhaps it would be well for these youngsters to forget that they might hurt one another's feelings and to speak more frankly and openly on a number of things.

Some very plain questions were asked after my talk but each delegate who asked a controversial question said he hoped his colleagues from this country or that would not be offended. As a matter of fact, no one should be offended by honest questions or honest differences of opinion. I think the question period and the chance to talk with a few of the young people afterwards was the most interesting part of the time I spent with the World Youth Assembly.

I was up early Thursday morning in order not to keep the officers from the Sampson Air Force Base waiting, but they were ahead of me at the desk when I went down at 10 minutes before nine, and we left at once for the air base.

I was very much interested in talking with one of the trainees who came over in the car with one of the officers to get me. This young man came from Westfield, N.J., and had been attending Lehigh University. One summer he bicycled in Europe with a group of students and I was impressed by how much he had learned during that trip. If all of us learned as much and observed as much, the various exchanges of students and various groups now going on would show even more tangible results than they do.

I spent an hour at Sampson and then went to visit the George Junior Republic. Here I lunched with Mr. Urquhart and some of the students, after which the students took me around and showed me how the Republic is run.

A third of the students are sent by juvenile courts, one-third are referred by various welfare organizations, and the remainder are attracted to the Junior Republic by the type of education they can receive there.

It is certainly good training for future citizenship. They hold town meetings once a month, and all the citizens attend. They elect their officers and these, in turn, appoint minor officials. They do a tremendous amount of work around the place, have their own currency and manage their own money. Having passed the laws, they enforce them and have their own court where they mete out punishment to offenders.

They told me quite frankly that they have made mistakes but that they have learned through their mistakes.

They have built their own swimming pool, they are reshingling their chapel, they keep the grounds in order. In fact, there is no job that they cannot tackle. I was much impressed by the girls and the boys who took me around and their great interest in the institution.

AUGUST 20, 1951

HYDE PARK, Sunday—Day by day, those who are responsible for our policies in the Far East must revise their actions in the light of new events. I constantly get questions asking why we do not have a definite policy and stick to it. The reason is simple. We cannot govern other people nor control what may happen in the various parts of the world. We can only meet what happens as best we can, as it occurs, keeping always in mind our basic objective of peace.

I think perhaps we might play a better game of guessing what is going to happen if everyone were gifted with foresight and imagination. Many of our diplomatic representatives, prior to their arrival at the country in which they are stationed, are not very well versed in its history and literature. Hence they are not always successful in interpreting the reasons for the actions of people living in parts of the world which are little known to the greater part of the people in the United States.

Someone offered me a plan the other day for bringing in an ever-increasing number of people to this country, both old and young, and letting them stay for a few months before going back to tell what they have seen and heard. Of course, there is nothing so valuable as firsthand information, and it would help us, too, if we sent people abroad. You may think you can get the feeling of something by reading, but you do better if you actually see it.

I don't know whether any plan of travel exchange could be carried out on a sufficiently wide scale to be of any value in the fight against Communism, but I am sure that every incident which brings better first-hand knowledge is important. For instance, I was told at the World Youth Conference that one of the delegates from the French Cameroons, on reaching here, found that he had to put one of his fellow delegates in a New York City hospital. He did this with great reluctance; but when he went to visit his comrade he found two colored boys in a room with two white boys, and all were getting the same attention from a white doctor and a white trained nurse. This completely changed his opinion of race relations in this country. He confided in one of the World Youth Assembly staff members that he had been told by the Communists that in the United States no colored man was taken into a hospital, no matter how ill he was, nor would he be allowed to eat the same food as the rest of the people.

People who preach isolationism or do anything to lessen the bonds between the United States and the United Nations are deliberately fostering fears which will eventually bring us war. Not supporting the continual strengthening of our forces at home, and not fostering a sense of responsibility for our work with the United Nations to create closer world relations and wider acceptance among our own people of their position in the world and their ability to accept leadership, will do us great harm in the long run.

On Thursday morning I went out to speak at Fort Slocum. I returned to New York City in time to see a number of people by appointment, and now we are back in the country after a busy and warmish few days in the city.

This still doesn’t answer the questions about Stanley Kubrick’s involvement with the State Dept and the film, but it fills in the blanks nicely with regards to framing the importance that the World Assembly of Youth meeting in Ithaca really had on the current world affairs, while giving us a more personal view of Eleanor Roosevelt’s involvement, hopes, and aspirations for not only the WAY, but all of humanity.

I heard back from the National Archives - outside of what I’d already found, they only had 7 pages on record. This was starting to feel odd - here was a major accomplishment and display of American art and culture, and seemingly, any conscious awareness of this by the American public seemingly didn’t exist.

I jumped around from just going through piece to piece to random phrases with regards to Eleanor’s entries. Page after page of unnamed “visitors” and inquiries only really revealed the day to day things Eleanor must have felt, but I caught something from what I’d picked up about Kubrick going to films at Museum of Modern Art, and then searched the “Museum of Modern Art” that really hit a note;

JUNE 24, 1949 

NEW YORK, Thursday—Yesterday afternoon I had my first real time off since this past session of the United Nations General Assembly began in April. I found myself arriving a few minutes after two at the Museum of Modern Art.

First I went to see the model house on display in the Museum garden. I don't really like it from the outside and the price seems too extravagant for most people who would live in it. If one could get the price down, there are features about it which would be tremendously attractive to a housewife who was doing her own work.

[shortened cause she talks extensively about furniture]

Afterwards I saw the exhibition of prints which I enjoyed immensely and from there went up to look at the Italian exhibition of modern painters and sculptors which soon will be on view. They were all very interesting, for they reflected the effect of Mussolini, the war and the after-war period.

Finally the time arrived for me to go to my meeting with Mrs. William Dick Sporborg and to see a very remarkable film called "The Land of Liberty," on which Dr. James T. Shotwell was the historical adviser.

The question of producing or rather of asking the movie industry whether it would consider producing a film on Human Rights which had commercial value, was brought up for discussion and I hope will receive serious consideration, since it is essential that people everywhere throughout the world gain a knowledge of these rights and what can be done to achieve them.

I typed in another - “Taft High School”, the High School Kubrick attended. Nothing about Kubrick, but something else caught my eye.

OCTOBER 27, 1959

[Shortened again cause it’s just “interesting facts”]

At 9:15 Friday night I reached the Taft High-School auditorium in the Bronx, where the Bronx chapter of the American Association for the United Nations was celebrating United Nations Day. A highlight of their program was to have various groups of peoples of foreign descent sing some of their own particular folk songs.

Mr. Clark Eichelberger and I spoke, and I answered some questions before finally adjourning at 10:30. The chapter gained many new members and I hope it will be a more active and stronger chapter in our metropolitan district from now on.

I felt myself going down a familiar hole - here we are, jumping from one conclusion to another. You’d imagine that someone would have literally made a “Jump-to-conclusions” random generator app or something, cause boy howdy, I was making some. I realized I just had to step back, breath, and take it in. And that’s when I struck the motherlode.

The men behind the curtain

If you have hundreds of people from dozens of countries, you don’t use a national agency to screen foreign individuals - you use an international one. You’d use the Central Intelligence Agency. I pulled up whatever FOIA’s had been made with regards to “World Assembly of Youth”, and there they were;

I typed “Allen Dulles” into Eleanor Roosevelt’s Diaries - I got two entries; the first a rather positive outlook;

APRIL 11, 1950

NEW YORK, Monday—It was a surprise to wake up yesterday morning to find snow on the ground and on every single branch, making the world look like a bleak, winter etching.

I walked in the woods with the dogs and snow blew down on me and it did seem a strange beginning for Easter Day. But the dogs had a wonderful walk and then the four children had a very successful Easter egg hunt right after breakfast before we went to church.

The flowers in our little church looked beautiful, as they always do on Easter Day. I suppose it is because it is the first time one sees a great mass of them together and it makes one feel that summer is near at hand.

Straight from church I started for New York City, a little afraid I would be late for my television program. But we made good time and since there was no crowd coming down, I had an hour and a half after I reached New York City, which was plenty of time to do everything unhurriedly.

Saturday afternoon we had all driven down to my son's place at Beekman. His house and garden are sheltered by hills back of them and the result is that their daffodils are already blossoming. They also have the most delicate little bluebells blowing in the wind. Crocuses are all I can boast of as yet.

Now I must come to the serious business of discussing the subject of Sunday's television program.

There were presented, and argued for, four different approaches to peaceful world government. The one that seemed to me the most immediate was that of the group for European Union, represented by Allen W. Dulles, who is the group's vice chairman. General William Donovan is its chairman.

This group is advocating something that quite obviously should have been done long ago. For the good of Europe it maintains that the nations of Europe must join in an economic union and change many of their cultural and political patterns. The group acknowledges that the European countries are not able industrially to compete with the efficiency of mass production in the United States, but must find ways that will enable them eventually to do so. And I think the program of European Union is one that can be carried forward within the United Nations and can bring about immediately some good results.

When we come to the Atlantic Union, represented by Elmo Roper; the Citizens for United Nations Reform, militantly argued for by Eli Culbertson; and the United World Federalists, presented by Cord Meyer, we find their programs are much more ambitious.

Mr. Culbertson said his plan is as simple as A-B-C, but I did not get the feeling that it remained so simple when one actually reached the point of having Russia refuse to cooperate. He seemed to know definitely more about what is going on inside of Russia than I thought it probable anyone could ascertain.

In all these discussions there is one thing that always bothers me:

We agree that there is a danger of war. We also agree that we do not like the prospects of atomic warfare or the back-breaking cost of the arms race that is going on at present. We agree that the United Nations is not providing us with some of the things we think essential to preserve peace in the world—a joint force instead of individual force—and an assurance that atomic energy will be safely controlled for the benefit of mankind and not for its destruction.

Some people think these points can be resolved through a federal union. But when it comes down to whether you can assure it without Russia and whether the United States would join a federal union, I cannot find that anyone knows the answer.

The second speaks like a bad lesson learned through experience;

JUNE 4, 1954

NEW YORK, Thursday—I think the time has come for us to reconsider carefully our entire policy for finding Communists in our Government—or anywhere else, as a matter of fact.

The President, in telling what the Administration and the executive branch had accomplished in this direction, emphasized the fact that they had used the regular Government officials charged with this duty, had observed the due processes of law, and had still achieved satisfactory results. It seems to me that if we continue the Congressional investigations in this field, we are going to find ourselves living in an atmosphere akin to that of Communist countries, for we are using the very weapons which those countries use.

I believe strongly that our country is not one in which Communist propaganda, or even Communist infiltration, will spread easily. We have not achieved a satisfactory standard of living for all our people, for there are still people with incomes below the level that we think is a minimum, but we are working incessantly to achieve better conditions through the cooperation of the people with their Government and with the leaders in those fields which affect our economic life.

There is hope in this country that people can help themselves and that they can do it in freedom. The hope is one we cannot afford to lose, because it is the real defense against Communist propaganda and the type of infiltration which tries to recruit dissatisfied citizens to accept a new ideology. The more dangerous type of infiltration, which might attempt sabotage or espionage and would be dangerous in military areas, must be watched by the regular FBI agents, as has been done in the past very successfully.

I do not think it possible for us to retain confidence in ourselves if we continue to allow such loose charges as were recently made against the Central Intelligence Agency—charges which were promptly denied by CIA Director Allen W. Dulles.

When a certain Senator announces that there are subversives in the CIA, he should immediately produce names and proof, for it is a sensitive spot. One is tempted to believe that this may be as ridiculous a charge as that levelled months ago against the State Department.

I think the country is profoundly shocked by the divided report on Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the nuclear scientist. All three members of the investigating board called him loyal and discreet, and yet two wish him to be barred from future contact with our atomic development. Who will suffer most—the United States or Dr. Oppenheimer? It seems to me the U.S. will, because secrets of the past and the power to think are in Dr. Oppenheimer's head and cannot be removed. Here is a man who has loyally served his Government, who has been honest about his past and who is a scientist, not a politician.

We will get less and less free thinking—and less and less cooperation from people who must think freely to achieve results—if they are told they cannot express an independent opinion on whether or not it is wise to develop a certain weapon.

Dr. Ralph Bunche of the United Nations Trusteeship Council, after investigation by a Government loyalty board, was cleared of a charge which should never even have been considered. His record spoke for his loyalty. I think the people begin to feel that we need a new evaluation of methods. I know the system of loyalty boards started under a Democratic Administration but I think our whole procedure needs reconsideration. The developments have become more harmful than the protection these methods afford.

I tried to reach out to any sort of representative from the CIA about this matter, but did not hear anything back.

Emails with Mick Broderick

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that due to the nature of bureaucracy requiring everything to be verified that it was completed, it is a surprisingly easy way of getting someone’s attention. This is because the person I was trying to contact, well, I’ll quote their bio;

Dr Mick Broderick is an internationally recognised researcher of nuclear culture, the apocalyptic and mediated trauma. During the past three decades he has produced over 100 scholarly works on related topics across a variety of media forms.

Mick retired from Murdoch University as Professor of Media Analysis at the end of 2020. He continues his scholarly pursuits as the 2021-22 Smithsonian Chair of Aerospace History at the US National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC and Adjunct Professor of Media & Creative Arts at Curtin University.

Now that’s one hell of a career. No pressure lols.

Hi Nicholas; happy to confirm your query reached me at NASM via the Smithsonian fellows office. Please pass on my best to James.

How can I help?

I laid out everything above, from the 1352nd, to the films, to Kubrick, to the WAY.

Have you looked at the opening chapter/s of my Reconstructing Strangelove (2016)? It details SK’s early fears (throughout the 50s and 60s) about being nuked in NYC. The first chapter and a half are available to view free via Amazon and kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/Reconstructing-Strangelove-Stanley-Kubricks-Nightmare-ebook/dp/B01G12DXOK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&asin=B01G12DXOK&revisionId=7f08f082&format=1&depth=1

I’m pretty sure Kubrick wasn’t involved in the Hardtack film production. He was also quite preoccupied with Brando’s ONE EYED JACKS around that time (and paid $100K)

As for the proximity of troops to the blast, it doesn’t look as close to 300 yards to me. The real issue, and evidenced in the film though not described, is the potential of alpha particles being inhaled and/or ingested as the shock wave passed the trenches. My understanding is alpha emitters were not monitored by US health physics teams at the time. I wrote something recently about this in the context of British atomic tests in central Australia:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17503280.2022.2066332?journalCode=rsdf20

Peter Kuran is the person to contact re official nuke documentaries and he’s been involved with restoring and digitizing classified films for decades. https://www.atomcentral.com/contact.html

And there’s been a bit of film history scholarship undertaken on the secret Lookout Mountainfilm studio in LA, in case you don’t know about that facility. Check out Hamilton & O’Gorman’s book and associated website which has a famous pic of an Op Hardtack II cameraman (named) in full ‘rad-safe’ gear: https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/739553

Good luck with your research and keep in touch if you find a smoking gun, or perhaps ‘radioactive crater’ is more apt.

I didn’t hear back after that, but to be fair, I’d used up plenty of his time searching for “radioactive crater’s” as Mick said.

Pair of Jacks against a 2 & 7

With this in mind, I then turned to the filming of One-Eyed Jacks. I found an article by Sven Mikulec called Sam Peckinpah’s original version of the screenplay for ‘One-Eyed Jacks,’ Marlon Brando’s only directorial effort and was able to find this great quote from Frederick Raphael that explains the tense nature between Kubrick and Brando;

        “In his 1999 book Eyes Wide Open, Frederic Raphael relates a different story, as purportedly told to him by Stanley Kubrick in a telephone conversation: ‘One-Eyed Jacks. Two years I spent on that… Marlon was going to star and produce… He couldn’t make up his mind about things, and he wouldn’t let anybody else. We never got the story straight. We never got anything straight. At the end of two years, Marlon decided to get decisive suddenly. He got everybody in and we had to sit round the table. He put this stopwatch on the table… He was going to allow everybody just three minutes to tell him what their problems were… and we could decide what needed to be done. He started around the table… and each of them, as soon as he’d had three minutes, the buzzer would go and-bop!—that was all the time they got, no matter if they’d finished or not. So it went all the way around the table, and Marlon looked at me and said, ‘Stanley, what are your problems?’ And he pressed the button. ‘You’ve got three minutes.’ I said, ‘Come on Marlon, this is a stupid way to do things.’ And he said, ‘Now you’ve got two minutes fifty.’ So I started with what I thought had to be done on page one and page two, and I’d maybe got to page five when he said, ‘That’s it, you’ve had your three minutes.’ So I said, ‘Marlon, why don’t you go fuck yourself?’ He just got up and walked into the bedroom and slammed the door… He never came out of there. We sat around and finally all went home. I figured he’d call, but he never did. Truth was, it was all a setup. He wanted to direct the picture, which is what he did eventually. He wanted me out of there, and he couldn’t figure how else to do it. That was Marlon.’” —The Encyclopedia of Stanley Kubrick

I found this interesting small article clipping on a cinearchive site;

OUT OF THE PAST: BRANDO AND KUBRICK TO COLLABORATE ON "ONE-EYED JACKS"

News blurb from Film Daily, November 20, 1958 regarding the beginning of production on "One-Eyed Jacks". Stanley Kubrick was originally signed to be the director but he had a falling out with star Marlon Brando, who was also producing the film. Brando ended up taking over the direction, a bold move for someone with no experience behind the camera. "Jacks" went far over-budget due to Brando's sense of perfectionism and laissez faire attitude regarding studio concerns. The film wasn't ready for release until 1961, following a contentious period during which considerable footage had to be cut in order to produce a final version of the film everyone felt was acceptable. The movie earned high marks from critics and did attract large audiences that should have ensured a significant profit, but due to the fact the film ended up costing over $6 million, it was deemed a money-loser for Paramount. Nevertheless, Brando did create an innovative take on the western genre and a riveting film, as well. However, he never aspired to direct a film again.

Dated Nov 20th, 1958, this shows that up until roughly midway through November, things between Kubrick and Brando were still happening. I couldn’t find a date for when the conflict between the two resulted in quitting, other than “two weeks before filming began”.

I refocused my efforts on Kubricks. One of the locations planned for filming One-Eyed Jacks was in “Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Monument, California, USA".

If you google it, it’s a mere 1–2 hour drive to Camp Mercury Nevada, the military base hosting the live Nuclear blasts in October 1958. Having driven these roads, they haven’t changed much in nearly a century, many of the original foundations still existing today. Note, I end at a Historic Marker, rather than the actual Camp Mercury, since, well, Google won’t actually give you directions there, cause most of us aren’t supposed to be there.

Zabriskie Point is the second location shown on the film One-Eyed Jacks, about 11 minutes into the film when they’re trying to escape, though I’m not sure what locations were filmed and if they were sequential. But they were definitely there at Zabriskie Point.

Assuming that Mick was right and Kubrick had in fact been working preproduction on One-Eyed Jack during October 1958 out in Zabriskie Point, he was less than 100 miles from the Hardtack II testing.

Could that have been what Kubrick meant in the lost tapes? That he’d had those concerns of being blown up because he’d actually been so close to the blasts, that perhaps he could even see and hear them in the distance?

We’ll never really know, and it’s better to assume he probably didn’t. It was all just coincidence in the end.

Newton got beamed by the apple good

Getting to the truth on the live infantry blast footage

But something kept bugging me. I went back to the footage from the infantry live test and the blast from 1352nd archive footage. Both showed a similar cloud shape, while appearing to be blowing southward.  The footage looked similar; the estimates based on height and distance looked correct; it all looked like I had this in the bag.

So why did I find myself staying up late at night, my brain going over and over, continuing to focus on a single vehicle stamped “USMC”? Why did my mind keep going back to that one small, stupid and seemingly useless detail?

And like an apple to the head, it came to me. Because there were no Marines at the Humboldt test. There were Marines, however, at the May 1st, 1952 DOG shot during Operation Tumbler-Snapper.

This picture was taken a few minutes after the shot DOG.

Besides the obvious similarities, for the first time, I’d found troops wearing similar fatigues and desert camo helmets. I looked up the video for the footage.

And there it was.

Ned O’Gorman had been right - this wasn’t the 1352nd. This wasn’t even 1958-59 or shot Humboldt, or even Operation HARDTACK I or II - it was May 1st 1952, the US Marine Corp, and it was, without a doubt, Operation Tumbler-Snapper, shot DOG.

The troops were located in the South, matched with shadows from the time of the blast. As stated by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency;  I wasn’t the first to document these connections once I better understand what it was I was looking for. A website/blog I later found called SonicBomb corroborated everything. That was that.

If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve

 then nothing is cool

— closing statements

I would like to thank everyone involved, my fiancée, and everyone supporting this. There are still some loose ends with regards to the question of just how involved in the State Department was Stanley Kubrick?

This piece was always meant to be light hearted and fun. It’s supposed to put conspiracies and fringe ideas to bed — but find myself leaving a half finished mess; while Stanley Kubrick was in fact connected in the early 50’s somehow to the State Department during periods of his life, current evidence shows that Stanley Kubrick was not involved with the 1352nd Motion Picture Squadron - I don’t honestly believe that was ever really going to be true, though as warned, I’d let one idea become an obsession. However, as I grew to understand the person that was Stanley Kubrick, I also grew to better understand the culture of the era, and the impacts the 1352nd would have not just on popular culture, but how films would be made.