Unlike with other tests, all information about the Ivy Mike test was initially kept secret in order to prevent the Soviet side from gaining any information, in particular about radioactive measurements. In 1954, two years after Ivy Mike, some of the original footage was released to the public. It was quickly picked up by media in the United States and in other countries, fuelling protests against nuclear testing. The Soviet Union warned that devices like Ivy Mike could destroy “the fruits of a thousand years of human toil”. That same year, Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru called for a “standstill agreement” on nuclear tests.



