Fall, 1950. A fierce international war rips through a small country ... called Korea. Russia has successfully detonated the atomic bomb. ... Now more than ever before, ... we need to produce a greater number and variety, and possibly even more powerful atomic weapons ... new atomic bombs, ... must first be tested. But where?

Just before dawn on January 27, 1951, a white flash lit up the Las Vegas sky. Minutes later, a thundering blast left a trail of broken glass more than a dozen blocks long.

Over the next twelve years, 120 nuclear devices, an average of one every five weeks, were detonated above ground at the federal government's Nevada Proving Facility. It was just an hour's drive from downtown Las Vegas. Nevada State Senator Dina Titus says the atomic testing program made Las Vegas seem more legitimate:
"Up until that point, we were just a spot in the desert. We were prostitution. We were gambling. Suddenly, we were helping to win the Cold War and I think people could grab a hold of that because it was a good thing to do for democracy."

full transcript: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/lasvegas/transcript.html