On the Media #1

I listened to "Covering the First Atomic Bombs" which is an account of two journalists; George Weller and William L Laurence, who each reported on very different aspects of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and how, in George Weller's case, his report was covered up and lost for sixty years, until his son found old carbon copies of Weller's initial reports in 2005. The latter being eventually published.

This podcast talks about how George Weller, disobeyed government instructions to stay away from both Nagasaki and Hiroshima, to report on the effects of what he considered to be a bigger bomb, upon seeing the devastation caused by the explosion. Until he went to one of the local hospitals and saw what he coined as "Disease X" knowing nothing of radiation.

Brooke Gladstone, in an interview with Author Greg Mitchell, speculates that the government did not publish Weller's articles and allowed them to become lost, because they knew about the effects of the radiation on human beings.

The podcast goes on to suggest that this could have been the reason journalists were, in fact barred from even approaching the affected areas.

Another interview included in the podcast speaks of William L Laurence, who was commissioned by the government to report on the bombing, which he witnessed from high above the island of Hiroshima in the B-52 that dropped the bomb. He essentially described the explosion as something beautiful in its power and destructiveness.

As the podcast continues, it becomes apparent that the government did take precautions to keep the truth of just how devastating and destructive the atomic bomb was, not wanting the American to know that the radiation caused by the bomb could cause such a horrific disease, but also spread, unseen for miles.

The knowledge that there was a cover up of this magnitude seventy one years ago, does not necessarily sway my opinion on whether or not America should have dropped the A bomb or not. For the record, millions of lives would have been lost, had the war with the Japanese continued and the Japanese people very nearly made extinct. Thus, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though terrible and horrific the affects were, was necessary to save those millions of lives in my opinion.

Additionally, it is my feeling that the government felt that covering up the truth was necessary in order to maintain the idea that bombing Japan was the only option they had to end the war, which it eventually did, because once Japan realized that the America had such immense destructive power at their disposal, it became more important to preserve the existence of the Japanese people and culture.