The scene is set in July 25, 1945. Tensions between Japan and the U.S. were rising high and the term of the "Manhattan Project" became an ever-growing reality. After Trinity's test, President Truman decided that the need for Stalin's assistance against the Japanese had decayed. Unbeknownst to Truman, Stalin had been aware of the nuclear bomb for the last 4 years. Truman's decision to drop the bomb onto the Japanese is considered one of the most controversial issues of the 1900's. While the bomb prevented the necessity of a land invasion that would have cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and Japanese alike, the devastating weapon may not have been necessary for a Japanese surrender ("Hiroshima"). Enola Gay is what the B-29 plane was named. This plane, the most notorious bomber in history, would drop "Little Boy" over the city of Hiroshima. As the 9,700 pound bomb detonated about 2,000 feet above the city, the hopes for nuclear blew up along with it. Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of Enola Gay, witnessed Little Boy's residual cloud in all of its monstrosity ("Hiroshima"). "The city was hidden by that awful cloud... boiling up, mushrooming, terrible, and incredibly tall."-Colonel Paul Tibbets Bodies directly under the explosion charred instantly, turning into unrecognizable corpses. Children were blown through windows by the sheer force of Little Boy, and glass was strewn about everywhere within the residences. In the time frame of a mere minute, 9 out of 10 people within a mile radius would be dead ("Hiroshima"). 80,000 innocent civilians died due to the indiscretion of the Japanese government at the time, and America's urgency to end the bloody war (Smith). A family would have left their only son, or a father would have been left with no son to come home to and no wife to love. Mankind had seen devastation like no other. Despite the devastation of the initial explosion, the following radiation was detrimental to the health of the Japanese people. In 1956, professionals began to notice a sudden increase in occurrences of cancer within civilians. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation has released statistics that estimate around 46% of leukemia deaths from 1950 to 2000 can be acquitted to the radiation from the Little Boy and the following plutonium bomb (Smith). Fat Man. The history of the name leaves a bitter taste within the mouths of every American. After Japan's refusal to surrender, this name began to crawl its way around the heads of U.S. officials that seeked to end this war. The Soviets had entered into Japanese territory, giving them access to the Pacific that the Americans tried so hard to keep controlled. Panic and a sense of urgency hit officials and so Fat Man was devised. American aircrafts began to shower down leaflets that advertised the danger of the newly devised plutonium implosion weapon ("Nagasaki"). Truman ordered the bombing of Nagasaki on July 25. In August 9, 1945, "Bock's Car" dropped the Fat Man on Nagasaki. The results were immediately devastating. An estimated 70,00 peopled died as a result, with more left injured. Japan surrendered immediately ("Nagasaki"). Works Cited
“Hiroshima.” The Manhattan Project, https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/events/1945/war_1945.htm. “Nagasaki.” The Manhattan Project, https://www.osti.gov/opennet/manhattan-project-history/events/1945/nagasaki.htm. Smith, Lydia. International Business Times, http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/hiroshima-anniversary-what-actually-happened-when-atomic-bomb-was-dropped-1459894
2 Comments
10/14/2016 02:35:45 pm
I am wondering, in what ways did the Hiroshima bombings affect the resulting modern day nuclear weapons? Did this tragedy expand the horizons for nuclear weapons or decrease the interest of them? I hope you cover these topics in a later blog.
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Mrs. C
10/24/2016 01:52:44 pm
Good hook at the beginning. Nice job using in-text citations.
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AuthorMatthew Choi is a sophomore at Technology High School who wishes to correct preconceived notions of nuclear energy. Archives
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