RE: "Fallout" Major Complaint!!

["Weiner, Ruth" <rfweine@sandia.gov>]

1.  I was only quoting the guy interviewed on TV and it sure was not my idea
of a flame.  That's what he said: to wit "It probably saved my life."  So
argue with him, not me.

2.  Whatever the truth of the matter may have been, the U. S. forces in the
Pacific were told at the time that they were being mobilized for a possible
invasion, so the interviewee on the program had reason to believe his life
had been saved.

3.  The recent biography of Truman, whose author had access to the diaries,
goes into considerable detail about Truman's agonizing over the pros and
cons of both atom bombs.  All I can say is, it's not a simple issue.

Clearly only my own opinion.

Ruth F. Weiner, Ph. D.
Sandia National Laboratories 
MS 0718, POB 5800
Albuquerque, NM 87185-0718
505-844-4791; fax 505-844-0244
rfweine@sandia.gov
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Kay [mailto:makay@teleport.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 1999 2:03 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: "Fallout" Major Complaint!!




"Weiner, Ruth" wrote:

> I did watch part of "Fallout" last night; my husband watched it all, as he
> has a greater tolerance for TV.  At best, I can say it wasn't entirely
> unbalanced; e.g., they did have a WWII veteran who said he was glad he
> didn't have to be in the invasion of Japan, and his life was probably
saved.

THERE NEVER WAS GOING TO BE AN INVASION OF JAPAN!!!!!!!!!

Please, Please read "Why the United States Dropped the Bomb" in the
August/September 1990 edition of Technology Review (Published by MIT).
Copies of
the pertinent pages of Truman's Diaries in his own handwriting are included.
The
war was all but over. Japan was negotiating for a surrender and peace in
Geneva.
The only question was how to allow the Emperor to remain a titular head.
Russia,
under Stalin, was set to attack about August 10th from the Manchuria area
which
would have had the effect of forcing the surrender post haste.

THE BOMB WAS DROPPED BECAUSE TRUMAN DID NOT WANT TO SHARE POST-WAR HEGEMONY
WITH
STALIN!

I worked for many years at the classified U.S. Naval Defense Laboratory at
Hunters Point in San Francisco. Part of my work was on Effects of Nuclear
Weapons. At that time, almost everyone believed the "Invasion Myth" because
the
diaries had not been released. For many scientists who worked on the
Manhattan
Project, and for many others, the revelations in 1990 created moral
problems.

The US was responsible for First Use of Atomic Weapons because of the
political
(and egotistical) drives of the one person responsible for their deployment.

Therefore, I think it is a travesty of journalism to repeat this fairy tale
over
and over on these programs. It was the failure of the Smithsonian
Institution to
present this information in a straight-forward, no-holds barred manner that
was
responsible for the ultimate non-opening of a World War II exhibit a couple
of
years ago. How about putting Truman's own handwriting as a full page news
article in all papers. That would give everyone something to think about.

Please read the article before flaming away.

Michael A. Kay, ScD, CHMM
makay@teleport.com

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