Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 6. August 1945 / Timeline August 6, 1945
Version 3.55. August 1945, 7. August 1945
08/06/1945
Amerikansk atombombe
eksploderer over den japanske by Hiroshima.
43 af byens 45 hospitaler ødelægges.
Chefen for det amerikanske bombefly, piloten Claude Eatherly,
har siden december 1960 været indlagt som skizofren på
en psykiatrisk klinik.
Litteratur: Et Afsindigt Angreb, siger Tokio Radio.
I: Berlingske Tidende, 08/08/1945.
Ritzaus Bureau: Atom-Bomber skal knuse Japan -
Krigsførelsen revolutioneres : Epokegørende
Indsats af Professor Niels Bohr i Amerikas Krigsindustri. I:
Berlingske Tidende, 08/07/1945.
Atomic John: The Bomb as Fetish
Lawrence S. Wittner and David Samuels
- http://japanfocus.org/_L_Wittner__D_Samuels-Atomic_John__The_Bomb_as_Fetish
Introduction by Lawrence S. Wittner
"Atomic John," an intriguing article that appeared in the New
Yorker on December 15, 2008, is particularly remarkable for what it
reveals about the inability of some Americans to confront the
consequences of the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan.
On the surface, it is the story of John Coster-Mullen, a
61-year-old "truck driver" from Waukesha, Wisconsin, who, through
years of painstaking effort, has succeeded better than the
ostensible experts have in constructing a precise model of the
weapon that annihilated Hiroshima. This is a formidable
intellectual achievement, and the author of the article, David
Samuels, emphasizes this fact. Moreover, Coster-Mullen has made
available his findings about the bomb's technology in a
self-published book and on the Internet...
Atomic John
A truck driver uncovers secrets about the first nuclear bombs.
by David Samuels
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/12/15/081215fa_fact_samuels?yrail
08/06/1945
USAs præsident Trumans offentliggørelse om
atombomben:
'Statement by the President, August 6, 1945
THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C.
IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- August 6, 1945
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on
Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more
power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand
times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the
largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.
The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have
been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet. With this bomb we
have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to
supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In their present
form these bombs are now in production and even more powerful forms
are in development.
It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the
universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been
loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.
Before 1939, it was the accepted belief of scientists that it was
theoretically possible to release atomic energy. But no one knew
any practical method of doing it. By 1942, however, we knew that
the Germans were working feverishly to find a way to add atomic
energy to the other engines of war with which they hoped to enslave
the world. But they failed. We may be grateful to Providence that
the Germans got the V-1's and the V-2's late and in limited
quantities and even more grateful that they did not get the atomic
bomb at all.
The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us as well as
the battles of the air, land, and sea, and we have now won the
battle of the laboratories as we have won the other battles.
Beginning in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, scientific knowledge useful
in war was pooled between the United States and Great Britain, and
many priceless helps to our victories have come from that
arrangement. Under that general policy the research on the atomic
bomb was begun. With American and British scientists working
together we entered the race of discovery against the Germans.
The United States had available the large number of scientists of
distinction in the many needed areas of knowledge. It had the
tremendous industrial and financial resources necessary for the
project and they could be devoted to it without undue impairment of
other vital war work. In the United States the laboratory work and
the production plants, on which a substantial start had already
been made, would be out of reach of enemy bombing, while at that
time Britain was exposed to constant air attack and was still
threatened with the possibility of invasion. For these reasons
Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt agreed that it was
wise to carry on the project here. We now have two great plants and
many lesser works devoted to the production of atomic power.
Employment during peak construction numbered 125,000 and over
65,000 individuals are even now engaged in operating the plants.
Many have worked there for two and a half years. Few know what they
have been producing. They see great quantities of material going in
and they see nothing coming out of those plants, for the physical
size of the explosive charge is exceedingly small. We have spent
two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history -
and won.
But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its
secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in
putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge held by
many men in different fields of science into a workable plan. And
hardly less marvelous has been the capacity of industry to design,
and of labor to operate, the machines and methods to do things
never done before so that the brain child of many minds came forth
in physical shape and performed as it was supposed to do. Both
science and industry worked under the direction of the United
States Army, which achieved a unique success in managing so diverse
a problem in the advancement of knowledge in an amazingly short
time. It is doubtful if such another combination could be got
together in the world. What has been done is the greatest
achievement of organized science in history. It was done under high
pressure and without failure.
We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every
productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city.
We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their
communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely
destroy Japan's power to make war.
It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the
ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly
rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they
may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never
been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and
land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and
with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.
The Secretary of War, who has kept in personal touch with all
phases of the project, will immediately make public a statement
giving further details.
His statement will give facts concerning the sites at Oak Ridge
near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland near Pasco, Washington,
and an installation near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although the workers
at the sites have been making materials to be used in producing the
greatest destructive force in history they have not themselves been
in danger beyond that of many other occupations, for the utmost
care has been taken of their safety.
The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new era in
man's understanding of nature's forces. Atomic energy may in the
future supplement the power that now comes from coal, oil, and
falling water, but at present it cannot be produced on a basis to
compete with them commercially. Before that comes there must be a
long period of intensive research.
It has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or
the policy of this Government to withhold from the world scientific
knowledge. Normally, therefore, everything about the work with
atomic energy would be made public.
But under present circumstances it is not intended to divulge the
technical processes of production or all the military applications,
pending further examination of possible methods of protecting us
and the rest of the world from the danger of sudden
destruction.
I shall recommend that the Congress of the United States consider
promptly the establishment of an appropriate commission to control
the production and use of atomic power within the United States. I
shall give further consideration and make further recommendations
to the Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and
forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.'
Litteratur: The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum: The
Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb Online Research File.
- http://www.trumanlibrary.org:80/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/large/index.php
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