I am become death

Seventy years ago today the Enola Gay, a B-29 Super Fortress, dropped the first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima Japan.   The explosion was the culmination of the secret Manhattan Project initiated at the urging of Albert Einstein due to concerns that Nazi Germany was working on a weapon of their own.  The world was ushered violently into the age of nuclear weapons.

Only a few weeks before the Hiroshima attack, the first bomb was tested successfully at Los Alamos.  Robert Oppenheimer was so stunned by the power of the explosion, Hindu scripture came to his mind, "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds".

Remarkably, Japan made no move to surrender and tragically another bomb on Nagasaki was necessary before surrender discussions began within the Japanese government.  Not only was there the prospect of yet another bomb, the full weight of the American armed forces were on their way to the Pacific. 

With the defeat of Nazi Germany the US was gathering enormous naval and air forces to crush Japan.  And, the Soviet Union was preparing to enter the war against Japan.  Before long, with Emperor Hirohito's approval, Japan surrendered formally on the deck of the USS Missouri. 

Now, at least 8 countries have nuclear weapons but no one has dropped the bomb on human beings since Hiroshima.  We need to keep it that way.