Page "Rita Hayworth" Paragraph 20

Numerous reporters from hundreds of papers across the country were covering preparations in 1946 at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean's Marshall Islands for testing of the first nuclear bomb after World War II.

The United States had been the first nation to use nuclear bombs, against the civilian population of Japan.

Reporters publicized that young scientists had put the name of " Gilda " and Hayworth's image on the bomb, alluding to her bombshell status as a film star.

Coverage varied widely at the time, but the story stuck that her image had been put on the bomb, and was repeated in her 1987 obituary in The New York Times, which readers relied on as fact.

Her husband Orson Welles issued a public statement at the time, saying they would be pleased only if this were the last bomb test ever.

Hayworth was furious to be used in this way.