Doomsday

Apocalyptic Scrapbook

I propose to create a scrapbook of newspaper articles dealing with apocalyptic thought. By tracking the development and adaptation of apocalyptic thought throughout the Vietnam War in mass media, one might find greater insight into the evolution of modern endism during wartime. I am hoping to find a clear evolution from the end of the world theories of yesteryear to the nuclear apocalyptic thinking that dominates society.

The presentation of the concept will be a scrapbook full of annotated newspaper clippings.  To do this, I will comb through the New York Times archive of past articles, conveniently collated in an online database, and see how the end of the world is portrayed. The clippings will appear in chronological order, which will help the reader see the gradual change in mentality toward the apocalypse. I will include a timeline of major events during the Vietnam War as well. Hopefully, seeing the date of the edition and the current events of the time will help in locating the source of the trends in apocalyptic thinking.

The Vietnam War was the first war fought by the United States after the creation of nuclear weaponry. With the Doomsday clock five minutes to midnight and the pictures taken of Hiroshima still ringing in the public consciousness, the media had ample opportunity to explore the possibility of Armageddon. Thus was the concept of nuclear Apocalypse was born.

I believe that theories on how the end of the world will come about stem from the fears of the time. In the first millennium, famine was an ever-looming specter, and the end of humanity could easily come from starvation. This fear is given apocalyptic status in the Bible as the black horse from Revelations. (Revelations 6:6) The idea that visions of the Apocalypse form from the current events is exemplified in the nuclear holocaust scenario, which is derived from the development of atomic weaponry in the world during the Cold War era, and really given life during the Vietnam War.