Bikini Bomb
(Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
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In 1995 then President Bill Clinton strode to a podium in the White House to declare the nuclear program for North Korea was being dismantled. Clinton declared the North Koreans were abandoning their pursuit of nuclear weapons and would be rejoining the family of nations. He told the world that neighboring nations like South Korea and Japan would help the North build electrical manufacturing infrastructure and would foot much of the cost.

Fast forward to the early days of 2018 and what we find is not only were all the declarations false but Americans are running, sobbing, and trying to find cover from an incoming ballistic missile attack. It turned out to be a false alarm but for 38 agonizing minutes parents were pushing children into underground sewer pipes, surfers were calling loved ones to say goodbye, and others filled bath tubs with water in the hopes of hiding from expected nuclear attack.

Hawaii has been a frequent target of the threats thrown out by Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean boy dictator. His war of words with American President Donald Trump has had many flash points in the Administrations first year in office. But the bottom line is Hawaiian residents believed without a doubt that Kim had gone ahead with the unthinkable and unleashed a nuclear attack on the island state.

This was the biggest panic in Hawaii since the end of World War Two. This was never supposed to happen. Bill Clinton told us he had taken care of that. He lied. And now we all get to live with the kind of panic that flooded through the Hawaiian Islands.

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