DID THE GOVERNMENT LIE TO THE IÑUPIAT ABOUT PROJECT CHARIOT? Finding a long-lost and widely traveled tape recording would settle the question.

The article focuses on the 1960 meeting between the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Iñupiat residents of Point Hope, Alaska, regarding Project Chariot, a proposed nuclear excavation project. It highlights the unanimous and forceful opposition of the Point Hope community to the project, contrasting with the muted responses of other nearby villages, and details the misleading assurances given by AEC officials about the safety and environmental impact of nuclear detonations. Central to the discussion is the discovery and verification of a long-lost tape recording of this meeting, made by Episcopal missionary Keith Lawton, which preserves the exact dialogue and reveals the government's inaccurate and dismissive statements. The article underscores the importance of this recording as a historical document for understanding Indigenous resistance and government communication during this controversial Cold War-era project.