Lecture 6 & 7 notes for the module Making Modern Japan (Great Expectations and Hard Times) PO52026A taught by Professor Rajyashree Pandey at Goldsmiths, University of London in the second year as an option module for students studying on the following degrees: BA (Hons) Politics, BA (Hons) Internat...
Module: Making Modern Japan: great expectations and hard times (PO52026A)
Lecturer: Rajyashree Pandey
Lecture 6 and 7 – The Politics of the Atomic Bomb
Hiroshima 6th August 1945
Early in the morning on the 6th of August 1945, an American B-29 bomber lifted off
an island in the Pacific. Piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, it was named Enola Gay
after his mother. It carried a ten-thousand-pound atomic bomb known as 'Little Boy'.
At 8:15am, the crew covered their eyes with dark glasses and the bombardier
Thomas Ferebee, released the huge orange and black bomb over Hiroshima, a city
of 250,000 people, who were just beginning their day. There was a brilliant flash of
purple light followed by a deafening blast and a powerful shockwave that heated the
air as it expanded. A searing fireball eventually enveloped the area around ground
zero, with temperatures rising to about those on the surface of the sun, and a giant
mushroom cloud rose up in the air. Within seconds, Hiroshima was destroyed, and
half its population was dead or dying.
Nagasaki 8th August 1945
The second bomb dropped a few days later in Nagasaki which killed more
than 60,000 people.
The story of the bomb has a genealogy. It can be linked back to Meiji Japan,
the project of imperialism and Japan's colonial expansion.
Japan brings the Americans to the war when it made the surprise attack on
Pearl Harbour.
After the Pearl Harbour attack, Roosevelt proclaims that the date 7th
December 1941 will be a date which will live in infamy.
The dropping of the atomic bombs
Why the decision to drop the bomb and was it necessary?
There is a lot of debate among historians on this ultimate question. The argument
put forward by President Harry Truman and other policy makers was that it would
bring the war to an end quickly and prevent larger casualties. However, this is a
retrospective argument because there is no way of knowing how many people would
have died in the war.
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