DBQ Essay on Atomic Bomb

What were the actions of the press directly after the atomic bomb and to what extent did the censorship regarding the consequences of these bombs affect the reporting?

The importance of studying the actions of the press directly after the dropping of the atomic bombs derives from the influence that it had on the cultural history of America in the 1940s. Immediately after the atomic bombs were dropped, the American population relied heavily on the press, as it was their most accessible source of information. Consequently, the study of the press is essential, as the changing attitudes of the population are mirrored within the tone of the newspapers. Similarly, the initial reporting of the atomic bombs conducted by these newspapers likely played a large role in the thoughts of the American population towards the decision and outcomes of the dropping of these bombs on Japan. The symbiotic relationship between the press and the population makes it impossible to understand the culture of America directly after the bomb without studying the press, its reaction, and its coverage of the dropping of the bombs.

Much of the historiography surrounding the American media and its reaction to the dropping of the atomic bombs is largely focused on the American government's censorship. This censorship was mostly focused on the articles and coverage of the bomb that referenced, or rather focused on, the large levels of radiation that were amassed because of the decision to drop the bomb. Uday Mohan views the press coverage of the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima as a narrative that was derived from the censorship of the government[footnoteRef:1]. Furthermore, he states that the control the government had over the release of this information, resulted in a lack of information within the media about the impact of radiation upon Japanese society[footnoteRef:2]. A social historian, Janet Farrell, also focused on media censorship by the American government. She believed that censorship eventually led to a legacy within American society as deception and that it played a large role in the blindness of the American public immediately after the dropping of the atomic bombs[footnoteRef:3]. Whilst not specifically historiography, secondary sources used will also include the release of ‘censored’ videos and Truman’s radio broadcast covering the bombs in the media today (such as on CBS News, BBC News, and the Asia-Pacific Journal) [footnoteRef:4]. These secondary sources, though not academic, require studying as they provide important primary sources for this essay whilst at the same time providing detail of the importance of studying this topic, as even today the press still has a strong influence over the opinion of the American public. [1: Uday Mohan, “Nuclearism and the Legacy of U.S. Media Coverage of Hiroshima” (speech, Washington, DC, 21 April 2007), Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, https://www.wagingpeace.org/nuclearism-and-the-legacy-of-u-s-media-coverage-of-hiroshima/] [2: ibid. ] [3: Janet Farrell Brodie, “The little-known history of secrecy and censorship in wake of atomic bombings,” The Conversation, 7 August 2015, http://theconversation.com/the-little-known-history-of-secrecy-and-censorship-in-wake-of-atomic-bombings-45213 ] [4: Greg Mitchell, “Hiroshima Film Cover-up Exposed Censored 1945 Footage to Air,” The Asia Pacific Journal 3, no. 8 (August 2005): https://apjjf.org/-Greg-Mitchell/1554/article.html ; “Nagasaki bomb account published,” BBC News, 20 June 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4110598.stm ; “Rare video shows Hiroshima right after the atomic bomb,” CBS News, 26 May 2016, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-video-shows-hiroshima-right-after-atomic-bomb/. ]

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Perhaps the historian who most closely focuses on the press directly is Paul Boyer, a cultural and intellectual historian. In his book By the Bomb’s Early Light, he uses the press to explain how the atomic bomb immediately played quite a large role in the development of American culture post-WW2[footnoteRef:5]. In Boyer’s book, he closely analyses many different types of sources. However, his study reflecting American culture post-WW2 allows a study of the press’ influence directly after the war to be new yet complementary to other historiographical sources on this topic. [5: Paul Boyer, By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age (North Carolina: the University of North Carolina Press, 2005).]

Though these secondary sources do provide quite a lot of detail on the censorship of the media during this time, the basis of this essay will largely derive from newspapers located all around America during 1945 and the media in the years 1947-48. One of the newspapers this essay will be addressing is the New York Times edition on the 7th of August 1945[footnoteRef:6]. This newspaper has a transcript of Truman’s and Stimson’s speeches regarding the bomb, allowing for an understanding of the importance of politics versus media opinions. This essay will also benefit from the analysis of articles from the Arizona Daily (8 August 1945), Evening Star (9 August 1945), and the Sunday Star-News as well as numerous others (12 August 1945)[footnoteRef:7]. However, whilst newspapers were arguably the largest source of media that the American public had access to, another large source was the radio. This essay will specifically use the radio broadcasts that were interrupted for Truman’s speech that could reach all Americans with access to radios[footnoteRef:8]. However, whilst the media (newspapers and radio) are likely to be the main source of documents used within this essay, I will also look at government sources to explain the importance of censorship during this period and how that affected the accuracy and depiction of the bombs within such newspapers. These sources include correspondence regarding the guidelines for censorship and disclosure found in the American National Archives and a document from the Education Resources Information Centre’s archives regarding the Office of Censorship’s attempt to have an influence in the press coverage of both atomic bombs[footnoteRef:9]. [6: Sidney Shalett, “Hiroshima is Target: ‘Impenetrable’ Cloud of Dust Hides City After Single Bomb Strikes,” The New York Times, 7 August 1945, https://searchproquestcom.virtual.anu.edu.au/docview/107268246/pageviewPDF/E8714D6C5PQ/] [7: “Japanese Report Sharp Fighting: Nagasaki Is Hit in New U.S. Blow,” The Evening Star, 9 August 1945, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1945-08-09/ed-1/seq-1; “Hour of Victory Near as Japan Given Terms,” The Sunday Star News, 12 August 1945, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78002169/1945-08-12/ed-1/seq-2; Douglas Cornell, “Atomic Bomb Threat Might End War Soon,” The Arizona Daily, 8 August 1945,https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-daily-star-60-of-hiroshima-is-w/20897375/. ] [8: Harry S. Truman, “First Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima,” NBC Inc., New York, 09 August, 1945, https://archive.org/details/19450809RadioReportAtomicBomb. ] [9: Patrick Washburn, “The Office of Censorship’s Attempt to Control Press Coverage of the Atomic Bomb during World War II,” July 1988, ERIC Archive, https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED295201/page/n3; “Public Relations and Censorship; Information Concerning,” 11 August 1945, The Conversation, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91066/original/image-20150806-5263-eiwtl9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip ]

The primary sources for this essay will be mostly derived from numerous archives including that of the many newspapers, archive.org (an internet website), and the Library of Rutgers University in America which has collected newspapers to find what was reported in times of history. The nature of this topic of study presents obvious geographical limitations to the initial research for this essay. Both time and monetary constraints have resulted in me being unable to access many of the physical sources that I need to complete this essay as I am unable to travel to the American archives. Thus, many of the primary sources will be located using digital archives. Though these digital archives provide ease towards the location of sources, the negatives of these archives mean the sources may be manipulated and therefore, taken out of context corrupting the integrity of the source itself. The largest physical archive that these primary sources will be identified from is the National Library of Australia, which has vast amounts of information including historical newspapers from America. This essay will be written from a cultural and social history viewpoint that requires an interpretive analysis of these many primary sources. The secondary sources, largely found because of footnotes of other secondary sources or through the online database Jstor, will be used to provide context and further analysis of both the primary sources and this question.

Bibliography

1. Boyer, Paul. By the Bomb’s Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age. North Carolina: the University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
2. Cornell, Douglas. “Atomic Bomb Threat Might End War Soon.” The Arizona Daily. 8 August 1945. https://www.newspapers.com/article/arizona-daily-star-60-of-hiroshima-is-w/20897375/.
3. Farrell Brodie, Janet. “The little-known history of secrecy and censorship in wake of atomic bombings. ” The Conversation. 7 August 2015. http://theconversation.com/the-little-known-history-of-secrecy-and-censorship-in-wake-of-atomic-bombings-45213
4. “Hour of Victory Near as Japan Given Terms.” The Sunday Star News. 12 August 1945. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn78002169/1945-08-12/ed-1/seq-2.
5. “Japanese Report Sharp Fighting: Nagasaki Is Hit in New U.S. Blow.” The Evening Star. 9 August 1945. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1945-08-09/ed-1/seq-1.
6. Mitchell, Greg. “Hiroshima Film Cover-up Exposed Censored 1945 Footage to Air.” The Asia Pacific Journal 3, no. 8 (August 2005). https://apjjf.org/-Greg-Mitchell/1554/article.html
7. Mohan, Uday. “Nuclearism and the Legacy of U.S. Media Coverage of Hiroshima.” Speech, Washington, DC, 21 April 2007. Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. https://www.wagingpeace.org/nuclearism-and-the-legacy-of-u-s-media-coverage-of-hiroshima/
8. “Nagasaki bomb account published.” BBC News. 20 June 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4110598.stm
9. “Public Relations and Censorship; Information Concerning.” 11 August 1945. The Conversation. https://images.theconversation.com/files/91066/original/image-20150806-5263-eiwtl9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip
10. “Rare video shows Hiroshima right after the atomic bomb.” CBS News. 26 May 2016. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rare-video-shows-hiroshima-right-after-atomic-bomb/.
11. Shalett, Sidney. “Hiroshima is Target: ‘Impenetrable’ Cloud of Dust Hides City After Single Bomb Strikes.” The New York Times. 7 August 1945. https://searchproquestcom.virtual.anu.edu.au/docview/107268246/pageviewPDF/E8714D6C5PQ/
12. Truman, Harry S. “First Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima.” NBC Inc. New York. 09 August 1945. https://archive.org/details/19450809RadioReportAtomicBomb.
13. Washburn, Patrick. “The Office of Censorship’s Attempt to Control Press Coverage of the Atomic Bomb during World War II.” July 1988. ERIC Archive. https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED295201/page/n3