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Showing posts from August 7, 2011

Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Necessary? Three Myths Debunked | TakePart - Inspiration to Action

Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Necessary? Three Myths Debunked | TakePart - Inspiration to Action As the story goes, prior to unleashing the atom bomb Americans dropped millions of leaflets over various cities in Japan as a warning. But according to the Nagasaki Memorial, none of those leaflets ever mentioned the atom bomb prior to August 6, 1945. The bomb destroyed 70% of Hiroshima's buildings instantaneously. (Photo: lanl.gov) Over the summer, during the systematic bombing of 35 cities, Allied forces did drop leaflets that promised "prompt and utter destruction" if they did not "evacuate these cities immediately". But it wasn't until a full two days after the bomb had dropped that they mentioned the existence of a brand-new weapon. As John J. McCloy, Assistant Secretary of War, recalled in his Challenge to American Foreign Policy: "Not one of the Chiefs nor the Secretary thought well of a bomb warning, an effective argument being that no on

The Great Hiroshima Cover-up | The Nation

The Great Hiroshima Cover-up | The Nation In the weeks following the atomic attacks on Japan sixty-six years ago this week, and then for decades afterward, the United States engaged in airtight suppression of all film shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings. This included vivid color footage shot by U.S. military crews and black-and-white Japanese newsreel film.