Dale and the Bomb: Exploring the Nuclear Future and Cold War Anxiety in 1950s Canadian Children’s Literature

Abstract

Between 1950 and 1962, Joe Holliday wrote an adventure series called Dale of the Mounted, which consisted of 12 novels featuring Dale Thompson, a young constable of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Written for children and adolescents at a time when few books were directed toward young Canadians, these books stood out. What is more remarkable about this series is the author’s use of contemporary Cold War headlines in Dale’s adventures, such as nuclear meltdowns and atomic research, espionage plots, refugee crises, and the construction of northern radar systems. Holliday presented Cold War dramas to children as a means of educating them about their country and current events in an entertaining manner. This article focuses on two of Holliday’s Cold War adventures in particular, Dale of the Mounted: DEW Line Duty (1957) and Dale of the Mounted: Atomic Plot (1959). Both books express excitement for the future of Canadian science, technology, and industry, while the storylines are weighted in Cold War anxieties about espionage and nuclear disaster. This article explores the balance between fear and hope in the nuclear era. Holliday’s books stress the importance of control and order in a period of uncertainty and potential chaos. As rare examples of Canadian atomic culture in a decade dominated by American film and literature, DEW Line Duty and Atomic Plot are unique displays of Canadian Cold War society during the 1950s.