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Hiroshima - What We Think

From: Richard Paul
Length: 00:06:32

How American public opinion has changed in the 60 years since Hiroshima Read the full description.

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Piece Description

In the first days after atomic bombs were dropped, 86% of Americans thought it was the right thing to do. By the 60th anniversary of the bombings, the nation was split 47/46. This story takes a look at what brought us to this change in thinking by looking at what Americans saw, heard and read in the intervening years.

Broadcast History

Originally aired 8/5/05 on NPR's Morning Edition

Transcript

HOST INTRO : Tomorrow we mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima … American public opinion about the bombing has changed a lot over the years. Producer Richard Paul takes a look at how and why.

To every generation, the past becomes something different. The Atomic Bombing of Japan that ended World War Two is no exception.

[Movie clip - A Tale of Two Cities
ANNOUNCER: The bomb was exploded above the city and in the towering mushroom, Japan could read its doom.]

[WINKLER: Every generation re-writes history, as indeed it must. This is simply part and parcel of the very nature of history itself.]

Alan Winkler is a history professor at Miami University in Ohio and author of “Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety About the Atom”. And he says the different ways of thinking about the bomb emerged over a period of several years.

[WINKLER: There was enormous re...
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