The atom bomb
editorial, an
THE ATOM BOMB REPRINTED FROM COMMONWEAL AUGUST 24, 1945 Two MONTHS ago w c were writing about poison gas We .said: "To the Orient we are bringing the la ten inventions of our civilization T here...
...To save lives, of course...
...It was attacked by air without warning and the name Pearl Harbor was associated, and seemed likely to be associated for many years, with a Japanese idea that you could w in a war by attacking the enemy before declaring war on the enemy...
...Until we invent a new one.'' And then we said:' 'The time has come when nothing more can be added to the horror if we wish to keep our coming victory something we can use — or that humanity can use...
...There was a port in the Pacific which sheltered American naval power...
...These names of places — Rotterdam, Coventry — were associated, and seemed likely to be associated in men's minds for a great number of years, with a judgment of German guilt and German «baroe...
...Gas is no worse than flame...
...There was no opposition...
...It is now defiled...
...When it is created, Germans, Japanese, and Americans will remember with horror the days of their, shame...
...It was a matter of avoiding our Commonweal: 420 , own possible destruction...
...THE EDITORS 9 August 1985: 421...
...Our fleet and Britain's fleet stood off Japan's coast and shelled Japan's cities...
...Well, it seems that we were ridiculous writing that son of thing We will not have to write that sort of thing any more...
...Once we have won our war we say that there must be international law...
...And then we said that this bomb could mean the end of civilization if we ever gut into a war and everyone started to use it...
...After we had brought indescribable death to a few hundred thousand men, women, and children, we said that this bomb must remain always in the hands of peace-loving peoples...
...The name Pearl Harbor was a name for Japanese guilt and shame...
...That is what we said about the atomic bomb — together with odds and ends about motors the size of pin points which would • drive a ship three times round the world — that is what we said about it, after we had used it ourselves...
...Undoubtedly...
...Certainly, like everyone else, we will have to write a great deal about the future of humanity and the atomic bomb...
...An American plane dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki...
...The last one we have to use...
...So that we must keep it a secret...
...The name Hiroshima, the name Nagasaki arc names for American guilt and shame...
...For our war, for our purposes, to save American lives we have reached the point where we say that anything goes...
...We must keep it the property of peace-loving nations...
...There was no doubt before or after Russia entered the war that the war against Japan was won...
...It is gas If we use that we will have brought them all...
...But we will not have to worry any more about keeping our national victory clean...
...We had to test the bomb and we tested it in a desert, If we were to threaten the use of it against the Japaneese, we could have told them to pick a desert and then go look at the hole...
...That is what the Germans said at the beginning of the war...
...We must keep it as sole property of people who know how to use it...
...There were names ot places in Europe which from the early days of the war were associated with a German idea that bv disregarding the rights of civilians you could shorten a war...
...We had to invent the bomb because the Germans were going to invent the bomb...
...To secure peace, of course...
...THE ATOM BOMB REPRINTED FROM COMMONWEAL AUGUST 24, 1945 Two MONTHS ago w c were writing about poison gas We .said: "To the Orient we are bringing the la ten inventions of our civilization T here is only one we - have not brought...
...It is only that it is one more weapon...
...Then, without warning an American plane dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima Russia entered the war...
...The war against Japan was nearly won...
...Our planes, the greatest bombers in the world, flew from hard won, gallantly won bases and bombed Japanese shipping, Japanese industry, and already, Japanese women and children, bach day they announced to the Japanese where the blows would fall, and the Japanese were unable to prevent anything they chose to do...
...Without warning we dropped it into the middle of a city und then without warning we dropped it into the middle of another city...
Vol. 112 • August 1985 • No. 14
