A US nuclear test in the Bikini atoll went horribly awry in early March. The explosion was much bigger than anticipated - whoops! and fallout rained down on a Japanese fishing boat - Lucky Dragon 5. Not so lucky for them it turns out. It gave rise to the story behind Godzilla, released later that year. The terrible monster from the deep created by nuclear radiation.

Like the errant nuclear test in Bikini, the rapidly expanding power of the USA - dueling with the Soviet Union around the world in a Cold War while also on an epic tear of economic growth - was transforming into a world-crushing monster like the one that that emerged from the deep.

The USA had its own monsters - including Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the famous drunken, redhunter. Another lurking monster was the US involvement with the French as our ally tried to hold onto its colonial vanity while slowly losing its final battle in Vietnam at a place called Dien Bien Phu.

Doomed French paratroopers, Communist ghosts, tail gunners and monsters, and lots of nuclear fallout. This is the Raspberry Podcast looking at the week of March 20-26, 1954.

In February 1978 the good old USA had big problems, inflation was high and also unemployment was high. This was stagflation and it was raging. No one seemed to have a handle on how to address these multiple issues.

Jimmy Carter was the serious president attempting to deal these issues in a serious way, as an adult president.

1978 was the final year of the era when you could be a president looking to solve problems. From 1979, with the start of the "Killer Rabbit" fake scandal, the right-wing attack machine found its stride and has not let up since then. In fact, you can draw direct line to Joe Biden stealing the 2020 election.

Today we are looking at the week of December 25 to December 31, 1941. The start of the US involvement in World War 2.

It was a surprisingly smooth transition from the chaos of December 7, where no one had any idea what was happening either in Hawaii or Washington.

World War 2 was 3 weeks old and already we knew the outcome. It was assumed that we would win. Where and when this ultimate victory would occur was not known. But not whether we would achieve ultimate victory.

Now, three weeks into the war, the transition to a plan for victory was deftly performed. Factories switched over to wartime production. Leaders were putting plans into motion for how to finance, arm and transport this massive war machine.

In the last week of December 1941 here was no hint that victory was not within reach. It was not a plan for survival or a plan to eke out a victory. The plan was clear, we are going to create a massive war machine and crush the enemies into an unconditional surrender. There was anger, there was determination, there was fear and anxiety. But there was no doubt.