In 1945 and at the peak of the end of WW2, the US government has given an order to bomb the city of Hiroshima in Japan, which caused the death of thousands of people and living creatures, the bombing was the first of its kind because it was a nuclear bomb and caused a lot of destruction and loss to Japan and its government.
After the bombing of Hiroshima, the US didn’t get the reply they wanted so they bombed another city Nagasaki after three days and Japan couldn’t hold on more because of the huge loss and the amount of destruction that happened. After this incident, the US was known as the greatest power in the world until nowadays. But what made the US the greatest power was the photograph ( pic 1) that was taken from above 45,000 -foot-high by Lieutenant Charles Levy and accompanied by pilot Charles Sweeney.
In WW2 the destruction and ravage for both countries was because Americans saw this war as revenge for what they did in Pearl Harbor and for the Japanese it was a war to protect their culture from them ( Americans). The amount of destruction was not as huge as what the US has done to two cities in Japan the loss that Japan had was way much more than the US. Historically it was not meant for Nagasaki to be bombed but was Kokura, but because there were some problems the US forces changed their aim to Nagasaki. If we think about it for a moment, Japan was the greatest power for a short amount of time during WW2 and there were a lot of photographs taken during that time, but the US is still the greatest power thanks to just one photo. I really believe that photographs are strong, but the power of the story and the weapon itself made America strong. In addition, the US censored all 5 photographs of what the bomb caused was it to avoid problems or because they didn’t get their hoped results. And note that they also wanted to throw another bomb if Japan didn’t surrender and that also gives us more questions to ask.
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Furthermore, the photograph of the bombing made some people sad because of the destruction and loss of people or happy because they won the war. In 1995 America was about to build a museum about the bombing and wanted to put all the evidence and things used during the bombing to celebrate their victory. But a lot of controversy has happened between opposing and supporting the idea. Americans also had different points of view about the bombing which is to either take it as history or as a victory to their side. But we mostly know that this controversy was between nationalism and multiculturalism which the US president and officials had to discuss secretly to avoid bigger problems. but unfortunately, the US has built a museum to celebrate the nuclear power they have and it is one of the most famous ones around which is “the National Atomic Museum in Albuquerque”. And the world surely knows that Japan had really lost a lot because of the bombing of two of its cities and took a lot of time to return strong financially and environmentally. And the bombing also caused a lot of pain to the citizens since they had to leave their homes not only because of destruction but because of the radiation even if they rebuilt their houses they couldn’t live there because of how dangerous the radiation was which causes diseases and mutilations. Moreover, the bomb was a disgrace in Japanese history where in their culture they would do anything for their country to be strong and approve of that is, Japanese soldiers would have some poison with them if they fought in other countries so if the forces of the other country catch them they would die with dignity and they would not confess anything to them.
Aesthetically the photograph of the mushroom cloud doesn’t give us that much of emotions or things to see. Anyone who sees the picture for the first time wouldn’t notice that the bomb, since its a nuclear bomb, doesn’t fall on the ground but explodes in the sky, and what destroys is not the fire or dynamite but the radiation, “I think anybody who has ever seen a hydrogen bomb go off at fairly close range knows that you don’t ever want to see that used on people, ” said Martin Harwit. And since no one saw that bombing except for two people who were, as I said before, Lieutenant Charles Levy and Pilot Charles Sweeney. Lieutenant said “It was purple, red, white, all colors—something like boiling coffee. It looked alive .” and that helps us imagine the colors and the way the bomb fell and how the colors were.
In conclusion, photographs have always had a great impact on the world and on us as individuals. In addition, even if we didn’t know the backstory of the photographs we saw, we would have a personal connection with it either because of personal experience or empathy. And the photograph of the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki is one of a lot of photographs that changed the world and changed the view of war and nuclear bombs from different perspectives.
- https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-photograph-nuclear-destruction.
- http://100photos.time.com/photos/mushroom-cloud-over-nagasaki-lieutenant-charles-levy
- http://100photos.time.com/photos/mushroom-cloud-over-nagasaki-lieutenant-charles-levy
- https://www-jstor-org.kulibrary.vdiscovery.org/stable/pdf/489733.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:7218c877f1b76aae4a695aab9db011d0
- https://www-jstor-org.kulibrary.vdiscovery.org/stable/pdf/489733.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:7218c877f1b76aae4a695aab9db011d0
- http://www.betterphotography.in/features/did-you-know-features/the-story-behind-the-nuclear-cloud-over-nagasaki/45017/
- http://www.betterphotography.in/features/did-you-know-features/the-story-behind-the-nuclear-cloud-over-nagasaki/45017/
- https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-photograph-nuclear-destruction
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