Hiroshima & Nagasaki

Postdam Declaration

July 26, 1945 – “We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconstitutional surrender of all Japanese armed forces…the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”

Little Boy & the Enola Gay• Little Boy – uranium

bomb• Weighs 9,700 pounds• 10 feet tall• Equal to 200,000 regular

bombs

• Enola Gay – B-29 bomber• Piloted by Colonel Paul

Tibbets, Jr. & 11 crew• Bomb was activated after it

was released & took 45 seconds to explode 1900 feet above Hiroshima

“I knew we did the right thing… I thought, yes, we’re going to kill a lot of people, but by God we’re going to save lives.”

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945• Industrial City• Bomb – ball of fire spread

3 miles, temperature over 5,000F – Everything within one mile vaporized

• Winds – shock wave went 7 miles in 30 seconds

• Damage over 25 miles

Fat Man & Nagasaki• August 9, 1945 – industrial

ship building city for Japanese navy

• Fat Boy – plutonium A-bomb – much bigger

• Exploded at 1,800 ft• Mountains helped to limit

destruction

Aftermath

• More than 90% of buildings in Hiroshima destroyed• After the initial blast – nuclear fallout- radioactive

particles are carried for miles• 45,000 killed by immediate blast in Hiroshima & 22,000

in Nagasaki – thousands more die of other injuries• Black Rain – 30 mins after the bomb, black, sticky rain

fell and spread radioactive material to more people• Radiation released enters the cells of a body and can kill

days, weeks, months, or years after the bombing

Survivors - Hibakusha• Suffered from radiation burns, people’s bones melted

inside their bodies, radiation poisoning, disfigured• No medical attention• Radiation Sickness – hair loss, bleeding in the gums &

under skin, weight loss, diarrhea – start dying within 10 days

• Cancer – leukemia…“Red spots appeared on my body, my throat hurt, I couldn’t eat, I had a temperature, my gums bled, and my hair fell out. For twenty days I remained in bed, on the verge of death.” – Mikiso Iwasa, Hiroshima survivor

Japanese Surrender

• August 15, 1945 V-J Day“The United States has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives.” – Emperor Hirohito to Japanese people

• Sept. 15th, signing of surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri

Rebuilding

• U.S. aid workers & soldiers went to help rebuild afterwards

• Peace Memorial Park• Hibakusha – survivors faced discrimination due to

disfigured • Hiroshima Maidens – 25 Hiroshima survivors were

brought to NYC to have 127 operations to help improve the disfigurement

“Because of my disfigured face, people often threw stones at me and mocked me, saying, ‘A monster is coming!” – Yamaoka Michiko

Resources

Books:• Hiroshima by Stewart

Ross• The Manhattan Project

by Dan Elish• Why did Hiroshima

Happen? by R.G. Grant

HBO Documentary:White Light, Black Rain

Websites:www.city.nagasaki.lg.jp/peace/english/kids/higai.htmlwww.ducksters.com/history/world_war_ii/ww2_atomic_bomb.php

http://atomicbombmuseum.org