Bombshell

Eighty years after the devastating atomic bombings that ushered in the nuclear age, Bombshell explores how the U.S. government manipulated the narrative about the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through propaganda, censorship and the co-opting of the press, the government presented a benevolent picture of atomic power, minimizing the horrific human toll. Bombshell sheds light on the efforts of a group of intrepid reporters to let the world know the truth.

On August 6, 1945, a revolutionary new weapon destroyed Hiroshima, a Japanese city of 300,000 inhabitants. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. America’s secret superweapon was lauded for bringing about victory in the Pacific and ending World War II. President Truman’s official announcement includes half-truths that shape the government’s official narrative: “Sixteen hours ago, an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese army base.” In fact, the bomb was aimed at Hiroshima’s city center for maximum psychological effect; the army base on its outskirts escaped much damage.

The U.S. media became pivotal in promoting — and then piercing — the official narrative. While Truman publicly declared that “it has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or this government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge,” that is precisely what General Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project, insisted upon. His strategy was a PR campaign fueled by press releases written anonymously by William L. Laurence, the science writer for The New York Times and an undercover member of the Manhattan Project team. Laurence’s assignment: downplay the radiation effects from the bomb.

Free admission! Sponsored by the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.

Part of our "Campus Collaborations" series. Distributor: PBS American Experience