The United States government launched its Atoms for Peace initiative in the 1950s and 1960s to promote nuclear technology for energy, medicine, industry, and other civilian applications. In fact, the entire United States nuclear energy program was actually launched out of fear that the Soviet Union or the United Kingdom would use their early start in the technology to sway the developing world to their side with the promise of cheap energy. Obviously the costs never quite worked out, but that's something that was looked at. If it had worked it would have been an excellent idea though, because energy is directly correlated with economic and human development.
Domestically, the United States considered nuclear energy to be useful for national defense. The facilities are hardened and difficult to destroy with air attack or far away nuclear explosions, and they can operate for extended periods of time without fuel delivery. This is in contrast to coal plants, which weren't as sturdily built and require constant train deliveries.
What if the United States had considered doing something similar with renewable energy during the Cold War? It would allow remote areas of developing nations to acquire at least some energy, and even some energy can dramatically improve quality of life. For the United States it would allow energy generating capacity to be spread out and become less vulnerable to attack or natural disasters.