The Cover up

Nagasaki at 60: The Bombers and the Bombed

Sixty years ago today, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. We hear from a survivor of the bombing and the men who flew the B-29 bomber that dropped the bomb. [includes rush transcript]

Hiroshima Cover-up: Stripping the War Department’s Timesman of His Pulitzer

This weekend marks the sixtieth anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. William Laurence, the New York Times reporter who covered the bombings, was also on the US government payroll. Journalists Amy Goodman and David Goodman call for the Pulitzer Board to strip Laurence and his paper, The New York Times, of the undeserved prize. [includes rush transcript]

The Atomic Bombers Speak

Colonel Paul Tibbets named his plane the Enola Gay after his mother. He bombed Hiroshima. Captain Kermit Beahan describes the bombing of Nagasaki. [includes rush transcript]

Long-Suppressed Nagasaki Article Discovered

Defying US occupation forces, George Weller was the first reporter into Nagasaki after the US dropped the atomic bomb. His 25,000-word report did not get past the US military censors. Now dead, we speak with Weller’s son who has just discovered the carbon copy of the long-suppressed article. [includes rush transcript]

Film Suppressed: The US Government Hides Hiroshima Nagasaki Footage For Decades

Footage of the devastation after the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that was commissioned by the US occupying forces was suppressed for decades. Erik Barnouw reads the words of the Japanese filmmaker Akira Iwasaki.

From Oak Ridge to Lawrence Livermore to Los Alamos: Hiroshima and Nagasaki Remembered

Activists around the nation are commemorating the 60th anniversary of the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Grass-roots organizers speak about the ongoing nuclear weapons activity and community resistance. [includes rush transcript]

Hiroshima Survivor: No More Hiroshimas, No More Nagasakis, No More War

Sunao Tsuboi survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Speaking at an anti-nuclear weapons rally in New York, he said, "Even if you luckily survive you...suffer from psychological and physical disruption...until your life ends." [includes rush transcript]

Hiroshima Mayor Calls on All Countries "Including U.S." to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

A large anti-nuclear rally in New York calls for global nuclear disarmament ahead of a United Nations meeting to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. We speak with the mayor of Hiroshima–where 60 years ago the U.S. dropped one of two atomic bombs. [includes rush transcript]

Democracy Now! Commemorates the 58th Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing: An Interview with Hiroshima Survivor Shigeko Sasamori

On August 6th, 1945 the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The total number killed by the bomb exceeded 200,000. Three days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. 140,000 people died as a result.

A Pacifica Radio Special: Ruby Dee & Others Read John Hersey’s Hiroshima

To mark the anniversary of the dropping of the first nuclear bomb, the Pacifica Radio Archives helped arrange a dramatic reading of Hersey’s classic work. Democracy Now! broadcasts an excerpt looking at the story of Dr. Sasaki, one of the few doctors to survive the attack. In addition DN! televises original video footage — once classified by the U.S. government — of the horrific aftermath.