“‘Why is it night already? Why did our house fall down? What happened?’ The befuddlement of 5-year-old Myeko Nakamura moments after the first atomic bomb fell at 8:15 on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945, as related in John Hersey’s classic account Hiroshima, remains to a large extent our befuddlement today. … Above all we are mystified that today’s leaders aren’t doing more to prevent a greater horror than Hiroshima; if anything, led by America’s history-shredding president, Donald Trump, they are making that prospect more likely.”
FP’s Michael Hirsh wrote these words five years ago to mark 75 years since the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. Five years on, in Trump’s second term, Hirsh’s analysis remains as relevant as ever. This edition of The Reading List revisits the legacy of the bombs over the past eight decades and considers what the world has—and hasn’t—learned from the nuclear atrocities of 1945.
An aerial photo shows the explosion over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, shortly after the “Little Boy” atomic bomb was dropped. Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty images
The Hiroshima Effect
Many years after the first nuclear bomb fell, we are grateful it hasn’t happened again, mystified it didn’t, and terrified it still might, Michael Hirsh writes.
A man stands amid the ruins of Hiroshima, Japan, after the United States dropped an atomic bomb, killing tens of thousands of civilians, on Aug. 6, 1945. AP
America’s Nuclear Rules Still Allow Another Hiroshima
U.S. leaders must take responsibility for past nuclear atrocities, Adam Mount writes.
General Douglas MacArthur and Japan’s Emperor Hirohito in 1945, a few weeks after Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945. AFP via Getty Images
The Dangerous Illusion of Japan’s Unconditional Surrender
For decades, U.S. foreign policy has been badly distorted by the way that World War II ended, Marc Gallicchio writes.
An aerial view shows the leveling of whole city blocks in Tokyo after U.S. incendiary bombing raids in 1945. Corbis via Getty Images
The Forgotten Bombing
Eighty years on, the focus on the atomic bombs overlooks the impact of the Tokyo air raid, Richard Overy writes.
The “Gadget,” the first atomic bomb, explodes in New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Corbis via Getty Images
The Long Shadow of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test
Today’s nukes would make the destroyer of worlds shudder, Jack Detsch writes.