RE: First atomic bomb - 58 years ago today

["Strickert, Rick" <rstrickert@signaturescience.com>]

While liberal angst continues to rage over the moral use of atomic bombs in WWII, the following is worth noting.



On June 16, 1945, Arthur Holly Compton, E. O. Lawrence, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Enrico Fermi, members of the Scientific Panel of the Interim Committee on Nuclear Power submitted their "Recommendations on the Immediate Use of Nuclear Weapons".  The Recommendations noted in part:



	"The opinions of our scientific colleagues on the initial use of these weapons are not unanimous: they range from the proposal of a purely technical demonstration to that of the military application best designed to induce surrender. Those who advocate a purely technical demonstration would wish to outlaw the use of atomic weapons and have feared that if we use the weapons now our position in future negotiations will be prejudiced. Others emphasize the opportunity of saving American lives by immediate military use, and believe that such use will improve the international prospects, in that they are more concerned with the prevention of war than the elimination of this special weapon. We find ourselves closer to these latter views; we can propose no technical demonstration likely to bring an end to the war; we can see no alternative to direct military use." 



Much has been made of a July 17th petition by Leo Szilard and 69 cosigners at Chicago's Met Lab opposing military use of the atomic bomb.  However a July 18th poll by Compton includes the responses of 150 voluntary participants (more than half the scientists at the Met Lab).  In the results of the poll, 131 (87%) voted for options favoring eventual military use of the weapon against Japan; the rest voted for options opposing any military use.  On July 24, Compton passed on both Szilard's petition and the poll results to General Grove's assistant, Col. Nichols.  



On August 10, 1945, after the Nagasaki bombing, President Harry Truman stated:



	"Having found the bomb we have used it.  We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare.  We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.



	"We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's power to make war.  Only a Japanese surrender will stop us."



Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, 1347 days after its attack on Pearl Harbor.





Rick Strickert

Austin, TX



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