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War and Peace in the Nuclear Age (1986-03-03)
About this film
Norman Cousins was a political journalist and nuclear disarmament and world peace advocate. In the interview he discusses his reactions to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He describes picking up the New York Times on August 6, 1945 and being shocked by the headline. He was especially surprised by the lack of a demonstration of the power of the atomic bomb, to give the Japanese an ultimatum, before it was used on human beings. He thinks that people are now trying to "rewrite history" to make it appear that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary to bring the war with the Japanese to a close. He presents evidence from the papers of many leaders, proving that the war was drawing to a close without the bombings, and that the U.S. used the bombs in order to finish the war before the Soviet Union entered it, which they had agreed to do on August 15th.
Directors & creators
WGBH
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, Norman Cousins, Atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Atomic bombing of Nagasaki, World War II, Nuclear disarmament, Cold War, Soviet-Japanese War, Manhattan Project, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Nuclear weapons, Nuclear strategy, Pacific War
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