"A SMELL OF DEATH PERVADES THE PLACE"

UNITED STATES DROPS SECOND ATOMIC BOMB ON JAPAN KILLING 40,000

Nagasaki, Japan (JFK+50) At 11:02 a.m. local time on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan.  This one was a plutonium implosion bomb dropped from the B-29 "Buckscar" piloted by Major Charles W. Sweeney*.

The bomb exploded over Nagasaki**, a major port and industrial center, at an altitude of 1,650 feet.  Although for varied reasons the result was not as destructive as the one dropped three days earlier at Hiroshima, this bomb was 40 per cent more powerful than the first.

According to the Manhattan Project*** website, "almost everything up to one half mile from ground zero was completely destroyed."  40,000 persons died in the initial blast with 60,000 more injured.

More than a month later, an American naval officer visiting the ruins of the city said...

"A smell of death...pervades the place."

The day following the atomic bomb drop on Nagasaki, the Japanese Imperial government surrendered.  At long last, World War II was over.

*Charles W. Sweeney (1919-2004) was born in Lovell, Massachusetts & served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in WWII.  CWS was awarded the Silver Star & Air Medal.  He served in the Massachusetts Air National Guard until his retirement in 1979.

**Nagasaki, 'long cape', is located on the northwest coast of the island of Kyushu.  Prior to Aug 9 1945, the city had been hit by tons of U.S. high explosive, incendiary & fragmentation bombs from 136 aircraft. 

***Manhattan Project (1942-1945) Headquartered at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the project involved research & development of nuclear weapons.  It was named for the Manhattan Engineering District & led by General Leslie R. Groves. 

SOURCE

"The Bombing of Nagasaki," The Manhattan Project, www.usti.gov/ 

   

 

Mushroom Cloud Over Nagasaki

August 9 1945

Photo by Charles Levy

NARA

"THE MOST TERRIBLE WEAPON IN HUMAN HISTORY"

TRUMAN BRIEFED ON MANHATTAN PROJECT

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 24, 1945, President Harry S Truman was briefed on the Manhattan Project*.  When Mr. Truman assumed the presidency upon the death of FDR on April 12, 1945, he was informed by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson** that work was in progress on a "new, terrible weapon." 

After the briefing on the 24th, President Truman authorized the continuation of the Manhattan Project and agreed to form a committee to advise the POTUS on the use of the atomic bomb.

*Manhattan Project...In 1942, the US government authorized  a concerted attack on the atom to produce an atomic bomb.  The Manhattan Engineer District of the Corps of Engineers, a.k.a. Manhattan Project, was organized to accomplish this goal.

The first experimental explosion of an atomic bomb took place at Alamogordo, NM on July 16 1945 & the 1st atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on Aug 6 1945.

**Henry Lewis Stimson (1867-1950) was born in NYC & educated at Yale & Harvard.  HLS served as Secretary of War under Presidents Taft, Hoover, FDR & Truman.  He called the atomic bomb the "most terrible weapon ever known in human history."

SOURCE

"Atomic Bomb," The World Book Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, Chicago, 1967.   

   

 

Henry L. Stimson Arrives at White House

Photo by Abbie Rowe (1945)

NARA/Truman Library Image

A NUCLEAR CHAIN REACTION IN A LARGE MASS OF URANIUM

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2468

FDR RECEIVES SZILARD-EINSTEIN LETTER ON ATOMIC BOMB

Washington, D.C.  (JFK+50) Seventy-eight years ago, October 11, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt received a letter written by Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard* and signed by Albert Einstein**.

The letter, dated August 2, 1939, was not presented to the president until an appointment could be set up with him.  The letter includes the following statement...

"It may be possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium...(which) would also lead to the construction of...extremely powerful bombs."

It was recommended that experimental work be sped up.

The President replied...

"I found this...of such import that I have convened a Board...to investigate the possibility of your suggestion."

Einstein was most concerned about Nazi Germany developing the atomic bomb first.  He later regretted signing the letter because it led to the development and use of the atomic bomb.  The Szilard-Einstein letter is considered pivotal in the establishment of the Manhattan Project (work of fission research assigned to the United States Army Corp of Engineers, East Manhattan District).

*Leo Szilard (1898-1964) was a Hungarian-born American physicist & inventor who patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi in 1934.

**Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity & received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.

SOURCE

"Einstein's letter to President Roosevelt-1939", www.atomicarchive.com/

Einstein Letter to FDR

THE INVISIBLE HARRY GOLD

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1791

RESEARCH CHEMIST SPY SENT TO PRISON FOR ESPIONAGE

Philadelphia, PA (JFK+50) Sixty-five years ago today, December 9, 1950, Heinrich Golodnitsky, a.k.a. Harry Gold*, was sentenced to thirty years in prison having been convicted of serving as a courier of United States government atomic secrets for Soviet spy rings.

Gold, a 39 year old research chemist at the Los Alamos Laboratory, admitted being involved in espionage since 1934 and of helping Klaus Fuchs to pass information about the Manhattan Project to agents of the Soviet Union.

According to Allen M. Hornblum...

"Harry Gold was the human tripwire that brought down a host of Americans who had spied for the Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s."

*Heinrich Golodnitsky, a.k.a. Harry Gold (1910-1972), was born in Philadelphia, PA.  HG became a lab chemist for the Manhattan Project where he made a crude drawing of the atomic bomb and passed it along to his Soviet handlers in New York City.

HG was paroled in May 1965.

SOURCES

"Harry Gold:  The man who testified against the Rosenbergs," by Jonathan Kirsch, Jewish Journal, October 7, 2010, www.jewishjournal.com/

"Harry Gold sent to prison for his role in atomic espionage," This Day in History, October 9, www.history.com/

"The Invisible Harry Gold:  The Man Who Gave the Soviets the Atomic Bomb," by Allen M. Hornblum, Yale University Press, 2011

Harry Gold

Soviet Spy

MANHATTAN PROJECT BRIEFING

PRESIDENT TRUMAN BRIEFED ON MANHATTAN PROJECT 70 YEARS AGO 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Seventy years ago today, April 24, 1945, President Harry S Truman was briefed on the Manhattan Project, the top-secret building of the atomic bomb.

The briefing came twelve days after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Secretary of War Henry Stimson, appointed by FDR, told Truman, shortly after he was sworn in as president, of work in progress on a "new, terrible weapon" but did not provide details.

After the briefing, President Truman authorized the continuation of the Manhattan Project and agreed to form a committee to advise the President on the use of the atomic bomb.

JFK ACCEPTS TOTAL BLAME FOR BAY OF PIGS FAILURE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago tonight, April 24, 1961, The White House issued a statement telling the American people that President John F. Kennedy, as the "responsible officer" of the executive branch of government,  bore sole responsibility for the failure of the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.

The statement reads:

"President Kennedy has stated from the beginning that as president he bears sole responsibility for the events of the past few days.  He has stated it on all occasions and he restates it now so that it will be understood by all."

JFK CONDEMNS MURDER OF CIVIL RIGHTS PROTESTER

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, April 24, 1963, President John F. Kennedy publicly condemned the murder of William Lewis Moore, a postal worker and former Marine from Baltimore, Maryland, who was making a solo march from Tennessee to Mississippi to deliver a letter to the governor of Mississippi asking that he integrate the University of Mississippi.

Before he could reach his destination, however, Mr. Moore was murdered near Attalla, Alabama.

ENRICO FERMI

ENRICO FERMI DIED 60 YEARS AGO

Chicago, Illinois (JFK+50) Physicist Enrico Fermi, the first person to create and control a nuclear chain reaction, died of cancer here in Chicago 60 years ago today, November 28, 1954, at the age of 53.

Born in Rome in 1901, he earned his doctorate at the University of Pisa. In 1929 became the youngest man ever elected to the Royal Academy of Italy.

In 1938, Dr. Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for "identifying of new radioactive elements."

Fermi sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt warning of the danger of German development of the atomic bomb.  The letter led to the Manhattan Project which culminated in the use of two atomic bombs on Japan resulting in the end of World War II.

Dr. Fermi became a professor at the University of Chicago on July 1, 1945 and after the war served on the Advisory Board of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Enrico Fermi

Department of Energy

National Archives Image (1943)

LBJ ADVISED TO ESCALATE BOMBING 50 YEARS AGO

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Fifty years ago today, November 28, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson was advised by the National Security Council to escalate the bombing of North Vietnam.

The NSC included chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maxwell Taylor, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara and Secretary of State Dean Rusk.

The measure was recommended to the President in order to boost the morale of the South Vietnamese, cut communist infiltration into the south, and force Hanoi to stop its support of insurgency in South Vietnam.

The President's civilian advisers reportedly want a graduated escalation in the bombing while his military advisers favor a "fast and full" escalation.

LBJ ordered Operation Rolling Thunder which began in March 1965 and lasted through October 1968.  This bombing operation followed the gradual escalation recommendation.

Bombing of North Vietnam

US Navy Photo (1968)