In the 1950s, people in the United States were enthralled by the power and potential of nuclear energy. Nuclear optimism and the atom bomb fever was in full swing, and President Harry S. Truman authorized a nuclear test site just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Indeed, mushroom clouds from the 100 nuclear blast tests were visible from the hotels in downtown Las Vegas and those tests themselves became tourist attractions.
So naturally, Las Vegas decided to combine that with another one of its major attractions - showgirls - and the Miss Atomic Bomb was born.
There were four Miss Atomic Bombs ever crowned. This one above was in 1955, where multiple delays of Operation Cue due to high winds got Linda Lawson crowned with as "Miss Cue." Her tiara was in the shape of a mushroom cloud!
Photo: University of Nevada/Las Vegas Libraries