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[[image - photo of man in uniform with hand written inscription: To Mom and Pop Bill]] ^[[192]] PERSPECTIVES NEWSMAKERS—2C CROSSWORDS—5C EDITORIALS—6C [[vertical line]] C THE JOURNAL-GAZETTE Sunday August 5, 1990 [[line]] Why Truman dropped bomb Invasion specter launched nuclear era 45 years ago It was the most terrible weapon ever devised, and on Aug. 6, 1945, no one knew what its effects would be. But the new president, Harry Truman, didn't hesitate to order Special Bombing Mission No. 13 to go ahead and drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In this excerpt from the August Washingtonian, Victor Gold offers a detailed account of the deliberations that led up to the fateful move, the pressures on Truman and his aides and the historical context of World War II that made the bombing necessary. Dialogue has in some places been reconstructed based on interviews and extensive research. By VICTOR GOLD Washingtonian magazine "Single Atomic Bomb Shakes Japan With Force Mightier Than 20,000 Tons of TNT to Launch New Era of Power" - banner headline, Washington Post, Aug. 7, 1945 On the day Special Bombing Mission No. 13 took off from Tinian Island, headed for the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the weather forecast in Washington called for hot and humid, temperatures in the mid-80s. It was a typical August day in the nation's capital. The movie houses were filled from noon to midnight with Washingtonians trying to beat the heat in what was advertised as "air-cooled comfort." Everybody who was anybody - with the exception of Secretary of War Henry Stimson, Army Chief of Staff George Marshall and Maj. Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the top-secret Manhattan Project - was out of town. The president and secretary of state were somewhere in the Atlantic, returning from their meeting with the British and Soviet leaders in Potsdam, Germany. With the 79th Congress in summer recess, Capitol Hill staffers and lobbyists had headed for seaside resorts like Virginia Beach, close by the naval air station where VT-153, a Navy torpedo bomber group that included Lt. j.g. George Bush, was gearing up for operations Olympic and Coronet, the two-stage invasion of Japan expected to begin in the fall. "Everything I'd experienced in my year and a half of combat in the Pacific told me it was going to be the bloodiest, most prolonged battle of the war," Bush would later write. "Japan's war leaders were unfazed by massive raids on Tokyo. They seemed bent on national suicide, regardless of the cost of human life." Most Americans, both in and outside of the armed services, shared Bush's view of the brutal fighting that lay ahead. The Japanese had put up a suicidal, no-surrender defense of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Would they do anything less in defending their home islands? Aboard the USS Augusta in Atlantic, President Harry S Truman was eating lunch in the enlisted men's mess when news came that Special Bombing Mission No. 13 had delivered its cargo. The message, from Stimson in Washington, read in part: "BIG BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA. ... FIRST REPORTS INDICATE COMPLETE SUCCESS." Truman, only four months on the job as president, pushed his plate aside and turned to the officer who handed him the message. "This," he said, "is the greatest thing in history." Baffled, the sailors around the table glanced at one another. Moments later, a second message arrived: "HIROSHIMA BOMBED VISUALLY. ... NO FIGHTER OPPOSITION AND NO FLAK. PARSONS REPORTS 15 MINUTES AFTER DROP AS FOLLOWS: RESULTS CLEAR-CUT SUCCESSFUL IN ALL RESPECTS. VISIBLE EFFECTS GREATER THAN IN ANY TEST." The president read the message, then got up and walked across the mess to the table where Secretary of State James Byrnes was sitting. He showed it to Byrnes, then picked up a fork and rapped it against a glass. As the room fell silent, he held up the message for everyone to see. "I've just received confirmation from Washington," said the president, "that we've completed a successful bombing mission at Hiroshima, an important Jap army base. One bomb was dropped, and atomic bomb, with more power than 20,000 tons of TNT." Truman paused to let his words sink in. "What this means," he said, a broad smile on his face as he looked around the room, "is that the war's going to be over a lot sooner than we expected." Now the crew members of the Augusta were on their feet, cheering. Clutching the message in one hand and his secretary of state's elbow in the other, the man who had made the final decision to drop the bomb hustled out of the mess, headed for the officers' wardroom to repeat his announcement. At the Pentagon, Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, was regaling his subordinates with stories about the trials and tribulations of dealing with "scientific double-domes," when and unexpected visitor walked in. "General Marshall," said Groves, getting to his feet and dismissing his aides. "Great See BOMB/Page 4C. [/article]] The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette Sunday, August 5, 1990 [[advertisement]] [[cutoff]] T SALE OF THE SUMMER! [[cutoff]] MMER [[cutoff]] YS! SUNDAY 11-5, MONDAY 10-9 [[cutoff]] ZZLERS * IT'S YOURS FREE IF WE DON'T BEAT YOUR BEST PRICE BEFORE OR AFTER THE SALE! WE WILL NOT BE UNDERSOLD! ASK FOR DETAILS IN STORE BM is a registered trademark of IBM Corporation. $1697 $51 PER MONTH [[drawing of TV]] 13-INCH $166
