# When did the American public find out about the horrors of Hiroshima?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 16, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867 "2003-09-16T01:55:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/21 "2003-09-17T04:58:06Z")
> [@](#):
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> That is, assuming that the American “public” ever really heard or cared about it beyond buying into the whole _myth_ that it was necessary to end the war…[italics added - Ringo]
There’s little argument that the atomic bombings spurred the close of the war, and much evidence and good argument to the effect that they ultimately saved many more lives than they took, both Japanese and American, over the alternative of a land invasion of the home islands.
But that’s not the point here. The OP asks how soon the American public was aware of the devastation of which atomic weapons were capable. and the answers provided indicate pretty soon.
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### Author:  [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/22 "2003-09-17T16:03:26Z")
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> _originally posted by ElectroSunDog_
> \*\* When did the American public find out about the horrors of Hiroshima?
>
> I know as a fact that coverage of the devestation was surpressed by the Japanese government, but when did they finally let people see it? \*\*
Given that the first question is the title of the thread, and the second question is the question posed in the body of the thread, I felt that there was some doubt, some lack of clarity, as to what the OP wanted to know.
Of course, I realize that some of you made allowances for the ambiguous use of pronouns in the OP, but given the insinuation of jocularity, I decided to not make allowances.
One reason for placing the word _public_ in quotes is my personal observation of the general ignorance of the American public (note the word “general”… ) when it comes to Japan and the rest of Asia… for example, the persistent confusion of things Chinese with things Japanese. Given that confusion, I feel dubious that any kind of majority of Americans were or are conscious of the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This, of course, excludes any who informed themselves by, for example, reading John Hersey’s treatise, or by travelling to Japan and seeing and talking to Japanese who survived. Typically, the term “the American public” means _most_, if not _all_ Americans.
I was responding to the OP directly, using terms introduced by the OP, who, incidentally, has remained conspicuously absent since starting this thread.
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> _originally posted by ElectroSunDog_
> **heh heh heh.**
> [@](#):
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> _originally posted by Ringo_ **The OP asks how soon the American public was aware of the devastation of which atomic weapons were capable. and the answers provided indicate pretty soon.**
Considering the acceptance of the “duck and cover” technique of surviving a nuclear attack during the Cold War, I disagree.
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### Author:  [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/23 "2003-09-17T17:04:00Z")
So are you saying that “duck and cover” would be useless in reducing casualties from a nuclear blast? I realize that people within a mile or so of ground zero would have no hope either way, but what about the (I presume much larger) area where the radiation levels are survivable, but the blast itself poses a great threat?
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [September 17, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/24 "2003-09-17T17:22:27Z")
We had little illusion of surviving a nuke blast at ground zero in the '50s and '60s. And even as a little kid, I knew you had to protect yourself from exposure to radiation. We all knew that.
Duck and cover was merely the best you could do to protect yourself from flying debris at a survivable distance from a detonation. The American public was well aware of the devastation of which nuclear weapons were capable very soon after the war.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/25 "2003-09-18T07:05:25Z")
I was seven when the bombs were dropped. WWII was so much a part of everyone’s life, during that time, that I knew what had happened. I remember my family looking at and discussing the horrible pictures that appeared in **LIFE MAGAZINE**. There were no secrets about it. Everyone was applaud by the sight of the people being burned so bad and the complete destruction that the pictures depicted (LIFE was a magazine that told stories with large, very professional pictures). The horrors of radiation were known and discussed. I think that it was something that you needed to live through to properly understand the effect it had on the “public”. Again, I was only seven, but I knew what had happened. I also knew about the horrors that had happened in the war up to that point. It all figured into our perception of what had happened and why.
[sup] **I also knew that it happened to the Japanese and not the Chinese. I even knew who Chiang Ki Chek was and that he was not the enemy.** [/sup]
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### Author:  [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/26 "2003-09-18T13:17:23Z")
around the fall of 1945. There was, of course television and a free press around that time. I’m just giving an answer to the OP, altho I bet the OP isn’t really interested in the obvious, factual answer.
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### Author:  [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/27 "2003-09-18T13:56:24Z")
I’d also kind of like to know when Dopers of London were first aware of the horrors of hairy-handed gents who ran amok in Kent. (I think that lately they’ve been overheard in Mayfair, not sure)
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### Author:  [@Zhen\_ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zhen_ka)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/28 "2003-09-18T15:30:45Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by kniz \*
> \*\*I was seven when the bombs were dropped. WWII was so much a part of everyone’s life, during that time, that I knew what had happened. I remember my family looking at and discussing the horrible pictures that appeared in **LIFE MAGAZINE**. There were no secrets about it. Everyone was applaud by the sight of the people being burned so bad and the complete destruction that the pictures depicted (LIFE was a magazine that told stories with large, very professional pictures). The horrors of radiation were known and discussed. I think that it was something that you needed to live through to properly understand the effect it had on the “public”. Again, I was only seven, but I knew what had happened. I also knew about the horrors that had happened in the war up to that point. It all figured into our perception of what had happened and why.
>
> [ \*\*
In addition to coverage in daily newspapers (New York Times), _Life_ did run a couple of articles related to the bombing.
Hanson W. Baldwin “The Atomic Bomb and Future War,” \* Life\*, vol. 19, no.8, August 20, 1945, pp.17-20.
“The Atomic Age,” vol. 19, no. 8, August 20, 1945, p. 32
_Time_ also ran an article “The Bomb” in its August 20 issue.
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### Author:  [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/29 "2003-09-18T19:56:35Z")
With all this American guilt-tripping I see here, what I don’t see is any mention of the fact that we had to drop a SECOND A-Bomb on Japan before those fanatical sonsofbitches called it quits.
Some naive people in our government back then, lobbied for dropping the bomb in Tokyo Bay, as a show and tell. Good thing more sensible ideas prevailed.
While in the USN in WWII, a revered uncle of mine functioned as a prosecuting attorney at war crimes trials held on Guam shortly after the war. He got a couple-three Japanese officers hung for cannibalism. They ate the hearts of American fly boys who shot down, captured, and…beheaded.
However, Hirohito, War Criminal Extraordinaire, got off scot free, as did a host of equally culpable Japanese who did unspeakable things to thousands of our people and millions of others.
I have no sympathy whatever for the Japanese. The overwhelming majority adored and fully supported their Emperor’s militaristic imperialism. Then, they paid the price.
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### Author:  [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/30 "2003-09-18T20:03:34Z")
With all this American guilt-tripping I see here, what I don’t see is any mention of the fact that we had to drop a SECOND A-Bomb on Japan before those fanatical sonsofbitches called it quits.
Some naive people in our government back then, lobbied for dropping the bomb in Tokyo Bay, as a show and tell. Good thing more sensible ideas prevailed.
While in the USN in WWII, a revered uncle of mine functioned as a prosecuting attorney at war crimes trials held on Guam shortly after the war. He got a couple-three Japanese officers hung for cannibalism. They ate the hearts of American fly boys who shot down, captured, and…beheaded.
However, Hirohito, War Criminal Extraordinaire, got off scot free, as did a host of equally culpable Japanese who did unspeakable things to thousands of our people and millions of others.
I have no sympathy whatever for the Japanese. The overwhelming majority adored and fully supported their Emperor’s militaristic imperialism. Then, they paid the price.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/31 "2003-09-18T21:26:09Z")
> [@](#):
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> With all this American guilt-tripping I see here, what I don’t see is any mention of the fact that we had to drop a SECOND A-Bomb on Japan before those fanatical sonsofbitches called it quits.
While that is one interpretation of the events, (and one that _can_ be argued), an alternative explanation is that we needed to simply display our might–we had already shipped the bomb to Tinian and we needed to use it before they could call it quits and we had to ship it home. Three days is hardly time for the sort of decision that you expect them to have made.
That argument has been carried out in many responsible threads on the SDMB, but asserting one belief as fact does not actually make it a fact.
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> I have no sympathy whatever for the Japanese. The overwhelming majority adored and fully supported their Emperor’s militaristic imperialism. Then, they paid the price.
Thank you for justifying any attack on the U.S. by citizens of Nicaragua, Haiti, Guatemala, Panama, or any number of other countries that have been harmed by the U.S. with the complete acquiesence of the U.S. populace.
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### Author:  [@Muldoon\_s\_Squishiness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muldoon_s_Squishiness)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/32 "2003-09-18T22:17:42Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Antiochus \*
> \*\*However, Hirohito, War Criminal Extraordinaire, got off scot free, as did a host of equally culpable Japanese who did unspeakable things to thousands of our people and millions of others. I have no sympathy whatever for the Japanese. The overwhelming majority adored and fully supported their Emperor’s militaristic imperialism. Then, they paid the price. \*\*
You could say the same thing about thousands of German soldiers who got off scott free without having to pay any proce for the atrocitites they committed.
As for Hirohito being a War Criminal Extraordinare, I’d have to say, not even close. Hirohito was a figurehead, the position of Emperor was largely ceremonial. The military held **all** of the power. In fact, there was an attempt to take Hirohito out when the military realized that he was going to demand that the military accept the unconditional surrender terms. Fortunately the coup failed, otherwise there would likely have been much more bloodshed.
Also MacCarthur quite rightly realized that if the Emperor was put on trial it would cause a huge amount of resentment towards the US which would have greatly hindered the rebuilding process.
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### Author:  [@Zhen\_ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zhen_ka)
#### Post date: [September 18, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/33 "2003-09-18T23:53:50Z")
Several folks have already answered the question of when the American public was informed.
Looking at the articles cited, a person can draw several conclusions about how people felt about the bombing(s). Whether they were justified is an interesting discussion we have had several times in GD.
[On the 58th Anniversary of the Bombing of Hiroshima](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=202791&highlight=Hiroshima+Nagasaki)
[How many American lives were saved with the dropping of the atomic bomb?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=190244&highlight=Hiroshima+Nagasaki)
[Why did the US drop the second atomic bomb?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=176876&highlight=Hiroshima+Nagasaki)
[Was the US attack on Hiroshima justified?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=107918&highlight=Hiroshima+Nagasaki)
There are many more, just do a search.
From my own reading, people opposed or supported it based on their political, social, personal beliefs, etc. And, as you can see from this thread, those kinds of opinions (on either side of the discussion) haven’t changed much in fifty years.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-the-american-public-find-out-about-the-horrors-of-hiroshima/201867/34 "2003-09-19T03:20:39Z")
My own take on this thread is that the OP was exploring the hypothesis that somehow nuclear weapons programs were able to proliferate because the citizenry remained blissfully unaware of the devastation of which such weapons are capable.
While this thought skirts peripheral issues that have been much discussed, such as whether their use was strategically necessary (as I believe), strategically unnecessary in the context of WWII, but a valuable early move in the Cold War (as some believe) or they were used because we’re just big bad meanies and we had 'em and nobody else did (as some apparently believe) - if I left you out, don’t forget to gripe - the fact of the matter relevant to my perception of the OP is that the citizenry here in the U.S., and The West, were very soon aware of the horrors that use of nuclear weapons might entail.
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