On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb (code-named “Little Boy”) on Hiroshima, Japan, that instantly killed an estimated 66,000 people in the first use of a nuclear weapon in warfare. President Truman issued the following statement: “It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that […]
The Potsdam Declaration outlined the terms for Japan’s surrender in WWII commencing with the warning: “We will not deviate from them. There are no alternatives. We shall brook no delay.” The mention of “unconditional surrender” and a warning came at the end of the declaration: “We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now […]
On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Only 316 out of 1,196 men survived the sinking in shark-infested waters. This “On This Day” item in The New York Times today brought my […]
