In the period immediately following August 6, 1945 there was almost universal familiarity with the word "atomic." And, by and large, to the average American citizen this familiarity was overwhelmingly positive: The word, to most, connoted power, ingenuity and, above all, supremacy. The American teenager, the most fickle barometer of popular culture, adopted the expression as a means of declaring anything "hot" or "cool." Not surprisingly, businesses (small and large) seized upon this unprecedented cultural awareness and set about harnessing the energy of the atom for strictly commercial purposes.1

One unusual example of the Bomb's favorable impact on industry was the Mosler Safe company of Hamilton, Ohio. By virtue of their product being at the right place at the right time, Mosler became THE safe company for the atomic age. Before World War II, you see, Mosler had supplied four large vaults to the Teikoku Bank in Hiroshima, Japan. After the bombing it was discovered that the contents of these particular vaults were all miraculously intact. The promotional value of this trial by fire was not lost on Mosler executives and, in 1950, the company reproduced a testimonial letter from Teikoku in their PR material. Soon thereafter the U.S. government chose Mosler to construct the "atomic proof" vaults that the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are to descend into during an attack or other disaster. The company would later build the giant vault doors for the now-decommissioned emergency congressional relocation facility beneath the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia. 2

While Mosler could lay legitimate claim to its wares being more relevant and useful than ever before in the post-war era, many other business owners simply cashed in and named, or in some cases, re-named, their establishments after the atom. In many cases these names were incredibly awkward. One can only imagine what it must have been like to check into the Atomic Hotel or digest Atomic Food Products or take your Atomic Sportswear to the Atom Cleaners.