Hiroshima anniversary: How The Scotsman reported the atomic bomb dropping in Japan 80 years ago
First reports of the bomb that changed the world were triumphant in tone - and short of detail of destruction caused given the “impenetrable cloud” which covered Hiroshima.
It was a bomb that “harnessed the basic power of the universe” - and changed the world of warfare forever.
On August 7, 1945, The Scotsman delivered news of the detonation of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima the day before in an article which projected the absolute triumph of President Truman over the US strike on the army base on the island of Honshu.
The bomb, one of the devastating final manoeuvres of the Second World War, was hailed as both a conquest of Allied scientists and a “story of great discovery”.
READ MORE: Why was Hiroshima chosed for atomic strike?
“Stating that even more powerful bombs are in development, the President revealed that British and US scientists have been working on it for years in America, out of range of German long-range weapons,” The Scotsman article said.
The article added: “’Hitler’s V1 and V2’ were the forerunners of the atomic bomb, but Germany lost the war before her scientists attained this goal.”
President Truman described the bomb as “harnessing of the basic power of the Universe”. He said: “The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosened against those who brought war to the Far East.
“We have spent $2,000,000,000 [about £500,000,000 on the greatest scientific gamble in history, and we have won.”
The night before publication, Prime Minister Clement Atlee issued a statement that had been prepared by Winston Churchill before the Conservatives were crushed by Labour in the General Election of July 1945.
The statement revealed the part played by British scientists in this “revolutionary discovery” of atomic warfare.
Truman’s statement, meanwhile, was issued to White House correspondents who had been told to “expect a good story”.
The Scotsman reported the statement “built up to an announcement of the most amazing advance in warfare since the discovery of gunpowder”, with Truman adding the bomb had more power than 20,000 tonnes of TNT.
READ MORE: The Scotsman’s editorial from VE Day 1945
President Truman said two great plants and many lesser factories in the United States were devoted to the production of atomic power, with scientists working on the project for more than two-and-a-half years. More than 125,000 people helped to design and build the bomb, he said.
He also said Mr Churchill and the late President Roosevelt “agreed on the wisdom” of producing atomic power in the United States out of reach of enemy bombing.
President Truman went on to say the Potsdam Declaration, the ultimatum issued by the US, Great Britain and China on July 26, 1945 calling for the ultimate surrender of Japan, was designed to save Japan from “ultimate destruction”. Its terms had been quickly rejected.
Mr Truman added: “If they don’t now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the likes of which has never been seen on this earth.”
On the first day of coverage, little information was given about the impact of the bomb and the scale of death that it caused. The War Office, the night before publication, said that an “impenetrable cloud” had covered the target area, making “accurate reports of the damage impossible in the present”.
The article explained that Hiroshima was a fortified port and chief supply depot of the Japanese army on West Honshu, with a population of 244,000.
By Thursday, August 9, 1945, the front page of The Scotsman reported “tremendous havoc” caused by the atomic bomb.
Reporting on a radio broadcast by religious leaders in Tokyo, the article said all things, human and animal, were “literally scared to death” by the bomb.
“Those outdoors died as a result of being burned and those indoors were killed by the indescribable pressure and heat,” the article said. “The dead are simply unaccountable.”
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