All language subtitles for 03-The Bomb

Roosevelt:
I believe that we are
going to get along very well

With marshal stalin.

The american people
have always had guts

And always will have.

Crowd:
We want wallace!
We want wallace!

We want wallace!

Roosevelt:
I'll accept the results
of this conference

As the beginnings of a permanent
structure of peace.

Truman:
Our demand has been,

And it remains,

Unconditional surrender.

A short time ago,

An american airplane
dropped one bomb

On hiroshima

And destroyed its usefulness
to the enemy.

The japanese
began the war from the air

At pearl harbor.

They have been repaid
manyfold.

And the end is not yet.

We shall destroy their docks,

Their factories

And their communications.

Let there be no mistake--

We shall
completely destroy

Japan's power
to make war.

It is an atomic bomb.

It is a harnessing
of the basic power
of the universe.

Stone:
This was August 6, 1945.

The war in europe
had ended close to
three months before

On may the 8th.

Looming on November 1 was
operation downfall--

The invasion
of the japanese islands,

Overseen by
general douglas macarthur.

Many feared a bloodbath

As americans confronted
a fanatically hostile

Civilian population

As well as the remaining
japanese imperial armed forces.

The climate
for the war on japan

Was shaped
by the profound hatred

Americans felt
towards the japanese.

Pulitzer prize-winning
historian allan nevins

Wrote after the war,
"probably in all our history,

No foe has been
so detested

As were the japanese."

Admiral william "bull" halsey,

Commander of
the south pacific force,

Was notorious
in this regard,

Urging his men to kill
the "yellow monkeys"

And "get some more
monkey meat."

Halsey:
They were tough monkeys,
but they could be had.

Stone:
An article in
"time" magazine stated

"the ordinary
unreasoning jap is ignorant.

Perhaps he is human.

Nothing indicates it."

The british embassy
in washington

Reported back to london
that the americans viewed
the japanese

As a "nameless mass
of vermin."

When popular war correspondent
ernie pyle

Was transferred
from europe to the pacific

In February '45,
he observed...

Pyle:
In europe,
we felt that our enemies,

Horrible and deadly
as they were,

Were still people.

But out here
I soon gathered

That the japanese
were looked upon

The way some people feel
about cockroaches or mice.

Stone:
Some of this sentiment
can be attributed

Certainly to racism.

But american rancor
towards japan soared

With the sneak attack
at pearl harbor.

And in early 1944,

The government
released information

About the sadistic
treatment of u.S.

And filipino prisoners
during the baton death March

Two years earlier.

Reports of unspeakable
japanese cruelty--

Torture,
crucifixion,

Castration,
dismemberment,

Beheading,
burning and burying alive,

Vivisection,

Nailing prisoners to trees

And using them
for bayonet practice--

Flooded the media.

Even president truman's
bigotry

Long antedated reports
of japanese savagery.

As a young man courting
his future wife, he wrote...

Truman:
I think one man
is as good as another,

So long as he's
honest and decent

And not a nigger
or a chinaman.

Uncle will says
that the lord

Made a white man
of dust,

A nigger from mud,

Then threw up what was left
and it came down a chinaman.

Stone:
To be fair,
truman was a product

Of his time and place.

His biographer
merle miller reported...

Miller:
Privately, mr. Truman
always said 'nigger.'

At least he always did
when I talked to him.

Stone:
This racism prevailed
when president roosevelt

In February 1942
signed an executive order

Calling for the evacuation
of over 110,000

Japanese
and japanese-americans

From california,
oregon and washington

On the grounds that they

"represented a threat
to national security."

70% of them
were american citizens,

But still with few
defending these citizens'
constitutional rights,

They were eventually placed
in 10 different camps,

Often referred to at the time
as concentration camps.

Conditions here
were deplorable.

Lacking running water,
bathroom facilities,

Decent schools,

Insulated cabins
and proper roofs.

They worked under
scorching desert sun

For miniscule pay.

Evacuees were only allowed
to bring what they could carry

And some greedy westerners
used the opportunity

To seize their
neighbor's properties

At a fraction
of their real value.

The japanese lost
an estimated $400 million

In personal property.

Worth more than
$5 billion today.

Japanese resoluteness
in the face of defeat

Was legendary.

In February
and March of 1945,

After five weeks
of combat at iwo jima,

Almost 7,000 american
sailors and marines

Were killed and over
18,000 wounded.

- Stryker!
- Yes, sir?

The colonel has ordered
that we put up this flag

As soon as
the top is secured.

- Be sure that
it gets there.
- Aye, aye, sir.

Find something we can
use for a standard

And we'll put this up.

Even hollywood movie star
john wayne

Would fall victim.

Well, conway,
I see you made it.

Yeah, I guess that
little voice was wrong.

I feel better.

I feel a lot better too.

As a matter of fact,
I never felt so good
in my life.

- How about a cigarette?
- ( gunshot )

♪ first to fight
for right and freedom ♪

♪ then to keep
our honor clean, we are... ♪

All right!
Saddle up!

Let's get back
in the war!

♪ the United States marines.

Stone:
At okinawa, the bloodiest
battle of the pacific,

Over 12,000 americans
were killed or missing

And over 36,000 wounded.

100,000 japanese soldiers

And an equivalent number
of okinawan civilians

Were killed.

Many of them
committed suicide.

Americans were
especially shocked

By the 1,900
kamikaze attacks

Which sank 30 and damaged
some 360 naval vessels.

Japanese soldiers
fought for the emperor,

Who many worshipped
as a god.

They believed that surrender
would shame their families,

But that death
on the battlefield

Would bring
the highest honor.

All military planners agreed

That an invasion
would be costly.

But the debate over
just how costly

Has raged for decades.

Marshall told truman
on June 18th,

He expected no more than
31,000 casualties.

America's moral threshold
would be dramatically lowered

By world war ii.

Urban area bombing
had begun before

During the first world war

When the europeans had
bombed each others' cities.

And to its credit,
the u.S. Had strongly condemned

Japanese bombing
of chinese cities in 1937.

When the war began in '39,

Roosevelt implored combatants

To refrain
from the inhuman barbarism

Involved in bombing
defenseless cities.

But by the mid 1940s,

Great cities
such as barcelona, madrid,

Shanghai, beijing,
nanjing,

Warsaw, london,
rotterdam,

Moscow, leningrad,
budapest,

Vienna, cologne,
berlin,

And many others
had been severely bombed.

Germany had begun
with deadly raids
on british cities,

And the british responded
with thousand-plane formations

Over urban targets
in germany.

When u.S. Air force general
curtis lemay

Arrived in England in 1942,

Air force strategy
was targeting germany

With precision bombing
of key industries

And transportation networks
in vast daylight raids.

But the crews were
being shot to pieces.

Terrified for their lives,

Many pilots simply
aborted their missions

And returned to base.

Morale was
at the point of collapse.

Lemay issued
a severe order to his flyers.

Lemay:
Our abort rate
is far too high.

The cause of it is fear.

Therefore I will be
on the lead plane

In these missions.
And any crew that takes off

And doesn't get
to the target

Will be court-marshaled.

Attention!

I can tell you now
one reason I think

You've been having hard luck.

I saw it in
your faces last night.

I see it there now.

You've been looking
at a lot of air lately

And you think
you ought to have a rest.

In short,
you're sorry for yourselves.

Now I don't have
a lot of patience

With this what-are-
we-fighting-for stuff.

We're in a war,
a shooting war.

We've got to fight.

And some of us
have got to die.

I'm not trying to tell you
not to be afraid.

Fear is normal.

But stop worrying
about it

And about yourselves.

Stop making plans.

Forget about going home.

Consider yourselves
already dead.

Once you accept that idea,

It won't be so tough.

Now if any man here
can't buy that,

If he rates himself
as something special

With a special kind
of hide to be saved,

He'd better make up
his mind about it right now.

Because I don't want him
in this group.

I'll be in my office
in five minutes.

You can see me there.

Stone:
The abort rate
dropped off to nothing.

But even then, lemay looked
to overhaul strategy,

Frustrated with
the restrictions
of conventional bombing.

His inspiration came
from the british,

And especially the notorious
sir arthur "bomber" harris

Who made no distinction
between military

And civilian targets.

It was harris
in February '42

Who masterminded the shift
from precise but dangerous
daytime bombing

To notoriously imprecise
nighttime area bombing raids

That indiscriminately
kill civilians.

The u.S. Had in the past
balked at such slaughter,

But now round the clock
bombing ensued.

British at night,
the americans by day.

In July '43,
british bombers,
including harris,

Destroyed the german
city of hamburg,

Creating fires higher
than the empire state building.

Lemay felt he could
do even better.

And in November '43,
the u.S. Air force
destroyed munster.

It was the beginning
of a new war.

On the night
of February 13, 1945,

The beautiful baroque
city of dresden

On the elbe river,

Packed with refugees
fleeing the red army,

Disappeared from
the face of the earth.

25,000 were killed
by british bombers at night,

Followed by the u.S. Air force
the next morning.

The city had
little military value.

The cost of allied
area bombing in europe

Was vast in terms
of men and material,

Representing almost
a quarter of the entire
british war effort,

And much of the american.

But was it worth it?

The bombing slowed
the rate of increase

In german armaments production

And took its toll
on civilian morale,

Killing more than
an estimated half million

German, italian
and french civilians.

And it forced the luftwaffe
to divert forces

To defend the mainland,
making them unavailable

For the soviet front.

But defending itself
and repairing damage

May have cost the germans less
than the allies spent

To wreak such damage.

Over 79,000 u.S.

And an equal number
of british air crew members

Were killed in action.

Even churchill
wondered out loud in 1943,

"are we beasts?

Are we taking this too far?"

By mid-April,
there was simply nothing
worthwhile left

To destroy in germany.

Lemay argued...

Lemay:
You gotta kill people.
And when you kill enough,

They stop fighting.

Stone:
In late 1944, the man
the japanese came to know

As "demon lemay"

Was transferred
to the pacific

Where he bombed
japanese civilians

With a ferocity never
before witnessed

In the annals of war.

More explicit than
the british area bombing,

Lemay called it
"terror bombing."

In that year,
the u.S. Was capturing

More and more
japanese-occupied territories,

Bringing japan itself
within range of u.S. Bombers.

And on the night
of March 9th, 1945,

Lemay sent 330 planes
over tokyo,

The imperial capital...

Carrying incendiary bombs,

Consisting of napalm,
thermite,

White phosphorous,

And other inflammable
material.

Tokyo was a thousand-year-old
concentration of
bamboo and wood.

It was called
a paper city.

B-29s destroyed
16 square miles,

Killing up to
100,000 civilians

And leaving an estimated
one million homeless.

The scalding inferno
caused canals to boil,

Metal to melt,
and people to burst

Spontaneously into flames.

The stench of burning flesh
was so powerful

That crew members
vomited in their planes.

The tokyo raid was to be known
as lemay's masterpiece.

He said...

Lemay:
To confuse morality

With what
we were doing-- nuts.

Stone:
The american air force
actually firebombed

Up to an estimated
100 japanese cities,

Some of no
military significance,

Taking more than an
estimated half million lives.

Almost no one objected
to the slaughter bombing

Of japanese civilians.

It was, as one
brigadier general said,

"one of the most ruthless
and barbaric

Killings of non-combatants
in all history."

Destruction reached 99.5%
in the city of toyama.

Secretary of war
henry stimson told truman

He did not want to have
the u.S. Get the reputation

Of outdoing hitler
in atrocities.

Seeing through the prism
of the terrible destruction

Being wrought by
lemay's terror bombing,

The atomic bomb
can be viewed

As a chilling,
if logical, next step.

But as it crept closer,

Many scientists
began to squirm.

Leo szilard and others

Understood implicitly that
this bomb they were building

Was a primitive prototype
to what was to follow.

Szilard, nobel prize-winning
chemist harold urey,

And astronomer walter bartky

Attempted to see truman

To caution against
use of the bomb.

But they were rerouted
to south carolina

To speak with byrnes,

Whose response
appalled szilard.

Szilard:
Mr. Byrnes knew at that time,

As the rest
of the government knew,

That japan was
essentially defeated.

He was much concerned
about the spreading

Of russian influence
in europe

And that our possessing
and demonstrating the bomb

Would make russia
more manageable.

Stone:
Leslie groves also admitted

That in his mind,
russia had always
been the enemy.

Groves:
There was never,
from about two weeks

From the time
I took charge of this project,

Any illusion on my part

That russia
was our enemy,

And the project
was conducted on that basis.

Stone:
In June, scientists
at chicago's met lab

Drafted a report warning
that a nuclear attack on japan

Would not only destroy
america's moral position,

But would instigate
a nuclear arms race

With the soviet union.

The report also noted
that because there was
no secret to the bomb,

The soviet union
would soon catch up.

When security officers
banned its circulation,

Szilard drafted
a petition to truman

Signed by 155
project scientists.

But robert oppenheimer
barred its circulation

At los alamos
and alerted groves,

Who made sure the petition
did not reach truman.

Groves' security agents
had been conducting

Extensive surveillance
of szilard

Throughout the war.

And at one point,
groves had labeled szilard

An "enemy alien"
and requested

That he be interned
for the duration of the war.

In may '45,

General marshall supported
oppenheimer's suggestion

To share information
with soviet scientists.

If not, his proposal to invite
soviet observers to the test,

But byrnes in any case
vetoed the whole idea.

The bomb's use now seemed
inexorable, unstoppable.

And it came to
an apocalyptic head

In potsdam in July

Where the big three
were discussing the shape

Of the postwar world.

It was the perfect place
to reveal the existence
of the bomb.

The conference setting
was strange and otherworldly.

Soviet troops occupied
the wrecked capital of berlin.

Truman had said
his primary reason

For going to potsdam was
to insure the soviet entry

Into the pacific war,

An assurance that stalin
was ready to give again.

Truman wrote
in his diary...

Truman:
He'll be in the jap war
on August 15th.

Fini japs when
that comes about.

Stone:
Allied intelligence
concurred, reporting...

Yet, it was clear
to most that the japanese

Were already finished.

By the end of 1944,

The japanese navy
had been decimated,

The air force
badly weakened,

The railroad transit system
in tatters,

The food supply shrunk,

Public morale plummeting.

Upon germany's defeat,
the russian army
began gathering

In siberia in enormous numbers,
preparing to invade

Japanese occupied manchuria

In early August
of 1945.

In February of that year,
prince konoe,

The former prime minister
had written to the emperor...

( speaking japanese )

Stone:
In may, japan's
supreme war council decided

To feel out the soviets
for peace terms.

They wanted not only to keep
the u.S.S.R. Out of their war,

But also to see if the soviets
could help secure

Better surrender terms
from the americans.

This was
a delicate negotiation,

But american intelligence
had been intercepting

Japanese cables since
the start of the war.

And a July 18 cable
from tokyo

To the japanese
ambassador in moscow

Seeking surrender terms
said unequivocally,

"unconditional surrender
is the only obstacle to peace."

Truman, unambiguously
characterized this

As the "telegram from
the jap emperor

Asking for peace."

Forrestal noted evidence

Of a japanese desire
to get out of the war.

Stimson described japanese
maneuverings for peace.

Byrnes pointed to
japanese peace feelers.

They all knew
the japanese were finished.

The end was near.

And several
of truman's close advisors

Urged him to modify
the unconditional surrender

To signal that japan
could keep its emperor

And speed the end
of the war.

To the people, the emperor
was a sacred figure,

And the center
of their shinto religion.

To see him hanged
like mussolini in Italy

Or humiliated
in a war trial

Would be more
than they could bear.

Macarthur's command reported,

"the hanging of
the emperor to them

Would be comparable
to the crucifixion
of christ to us.

All would fight
to die like ants."

But jimmy byrnes
told truman that he would be

Crucified politically
if the imperial system
was retained.

Once again,
his advice prevailed.

Truman and byrnes believed
they had a way to speed

Japanese surrender
on american terms

Without soviet help,

Thereby denying the u.S.S.R.

The territorial
and economic concessions

Promised by roosevelt.

Truman had delayed
the start of potsdam

For two weeks,

Giving the scientists time
to ready the bomb test.

It worked.

Stimson gave him the news.

The conference began
the very next day.

He later read
the full report.

The test was terrifying,
almost beyond comprehension.

Truman's demeanor
changed completely.

Churchill was stunned
by the transformation.

Churchill:
I couldn't understand it.

He was a changed man.

He told the russians
just where they got on and off

And generally bossed
the whole meeting.

Stone:
On the 24th of July,
truman informed stalin

That the United States
was in possession

Of a new weapon
of unusual destructive force.

Mr. President, I remember
you told stalin at potsdam

That we had
the atomic bomb.

- Yes.
- Did he seem to
be impressed

- At that time?
- No. I don't think

He quite understood
what I was talking about.

I told him that we had
discovered a tremendously
powerful explosive

And that we proposed to use it
to end the war with japan.

And he smiled and said
that he was very happy
to hear it,

Then the conversation ended
and I went my way

And he went his.

Stone:
But truman was naive
in this matter.

Klaus fuchs, a man
of ideological conviction

Who was part of
the british scientific mission

At alamogordo,

Had delivered
technical information

Relating to the bomb
to his soviet handlers.

Stalin already knew when
the test had been scheduled

And now was being told
it had succeeded.

Anthony eden,
british foreign secretary,

Noted stalin's response
to truman

Was a nod
and a muttered "thank you."

Apparently,
once he stepped away
from the conference,

Stalin called his
secret police chief,

Beria, and scolded him
for not having told him

Of the success of the test
before truman.

Foreign minister
andrei gromyko reported

That when stalin
returned to his villa,

He remarked that the americans
would use their atomic monopoly

Now to dictate
terms in europe.

But that he wouldn't
give in to that blackmail.

He ordered soviet
military forces

To speed their entry
into the asian war

And he ordered
soviet scientists

To pick up the pace
of their research.

Truman's behavior
at potsdam

Reinforced stalin's belief
that the u.S.

Intended to end
the war quickly,

And renege on its
promised concessions
in the pacific.

On July the 25th,
truman approved

A directive signed
by stimson and marshall

Ordering the atomic bomb
to be used against japan

As soon after August 3rd

As the weather permitted.

He and byrnes fully expected
the japanese government

To reject
the potsdam declaration,

Which failed
to give any reassurances
about the emperor.

The u.S. Even vetoed

Stalin's wish to sign
the declaration.

Adding stalin's signature
would have signaled
the japanese

That the soviet union
was about to come
into the war.

It was incredibly
underhanded behavior

By the u.S.
Both towards the japanese

And the u.S.S.R.

While the hours
were ticking off

Until the atomic bomb
was ready to use,

The absence
of a soviet signature

Was encouraging the japanese

To continue their futile
diplomatic efforts

Since may of that year
to keep the soviets
out of the war,

Knowing that the entry
of their giant army

Would crush
the japanese empire.

Stimson, who had
serious misgivings

About using the bomb--
referring to it as
"the dreadful,

The terrible,
the diabolical"--

Repeatedly tried
to convince truman and byrnes

To assure the japanese
about the emperor,

But it was an exercise
in futility.

When stimson complained
to truman about being ignored,

Truman told his elderly,
frail secretary of war

That if he didn't like it,
he could pack his bags
and go home.

Though truman always
somewhat proudly

Accepted responsibility
for his decision,

Groves, who drafted the final
order to drop the bomb,

Contended that truman
really didn't decide.

Groves:
As far as I was concerned,

His decision was one
of non-interference.

Basically, a decision not to
upset the existing plans.

Truman did not
so much say "yes,"
as not say "no."

Stone:
He described truman scornfully
as a little boy on a toboggan.

Truman's attitude
in all this was puzzling.

Though at times treating
the bomb as a poker hand

To hold over
stalin's head,

He also understood
that it was really
a sword of damocles

Hanging over all humanity.

He wrote in
his potsdam diary...

Truman:
We have discovered
the most terrible bomb

In the history of the world.

It may be
the fire destruction

Prophesied in
the euphrates valley era,

After noah
and his fabulous ark.

Stone:
Six of america's seven
five-star officers

Who received their
final star in world war ii

Declared the bomb
morally reprehensible,

Militarily unnecessary

Or both.

Eisenhower said...

Eisenhower:
So then stimson told me

They were going to drop it
on the japanese.

I listened.
I didn't volunteer anything

Because after all,
my war was over in europe

And it wasn't up to me.

But I was against it
on two counts.

First, the japanese
were ready to surrender,

And it wasn't necessary
to hit them with
that awful thing.

Second, I hated
to see our country

Be the first to use
such a weapon.

Stone: General macarthur,
supreme commander of allied
forces in the pacific,

Considered the bomb
completely unnecessary

From a military point of view.

He later said that
the japanese would have
surrendered in may

If the u.S. Had told them
they could keep the emperor.

Opposition was
sufficiently known

That groves imposed
a requirement

That u.S. Commanders
in the field

Clear all statements
on the bombings

With the war department.

After three years
of the highest tension--

Groves:
We didn't want macarthur
and others saying

The war could have
been won without the bomb.

Stone:
Ironically, shortly
after the war was over,

General curtis
"demon" lemay said...

Lemay:
Even without
the atomic bomb

And the russian
entry into the war,

Japan would have surrendered
in two weeks.

The atomic bomb
had nothing to do

With the end of the war.

Stone:
The target committee had
selected a number of sites

On the japanese mainland.

Stimson removed kyoto,

The ancient cultural capital,
which was spared its fate

Over the strong
opposition of groves.

It was the city of hiroshima
that was decided upon.

It had been deliberately
left undamaged

By lemay's bombers.

Here the u.S. Could
showcase its new weapon.

On August 6th
at 2:45 a.M.,

Three b-29s took off
from the island of tinian

For japan.

The lead plane,
the enola gay,

Carried the uranium bomb
little boy.

Pilot paul tibbets
named the plane

After his mother.

Six and a half hours later,
the enola gay

Came into sight
of its target.

The doomed city lay quiet

In the flooding
early morning sunshine.

Hiroshima's
300,000 civilians,

43,000 soldiers,

And 45,000 korean
slave laborers

Were just beginning
their day.

The target was a bridge
near the center of the city.

At 8:15,
right on schedule,

The giant plane
went into its bombing run

At 31,000 feet,

Speed 330 miles per hour.

As the bomb was released,
the plane twisted violently

To get as far as possible
from the blast.

At the last minute,
a gust of wind blew the bomb

Carrying it toward
shima hospital

At one end
of the bridge.

The bomb fell almost
five miles to 2,000 feet

And then the two
masses of uranium

Came together
at lightning speed

And turned to energy.

The plane,
now nine miles away

Was battered
by the shockwave.

The fireball expanded outward

Enveloping the densely
populated center of the city.

Its intense heat and blast

Driving outward
to shatter buildings

And ignite all debris.

The bomb totally
destroyed an area

Extending approximately
1.2 miles in all directions.

An hour and a half later,

From almost 400 miles away,

The crew could look back
and still see the
mushroom cloud

Rearing up to
40,000 feet or more.

At the hypocenter
where temperatures reached
5,400° fahrenheit,

The fireball roasted
people to bundles of
smoking black char

In a fraction of a second
as their internal organs
boiled away.

Tens of thousands
were killed instantly.

An estimated 140,000
were dead by the end
of the year

And 200,000 by 1950.

The u.S. Officially reported
only 3,243

Japanese troops killed.

Among the casualties were
23 american prisoners of war.

Some of whom
survived the blast

Only to be beaten to death
by bomb survivors.

When the bomb had exploded
at hiroshima,

Truman, aboard the augusta,
had gone from one crew member
to another

Telling them the great news
like a town crier.

Truman:
This is the greatest
thing in history.

Stone:
Responding to this,

Catholic layworker and pacifist
dorothy day wrote...

Day:
We have killed
318,000 japanese.

Mr. Truman was jubilant.

President truman--
true man.

What a strange name,
come to think of it.

We refer to jesus christ
as true god

And true man.

Truman is a true man
of his time

In that he was jubilant.

Stone:
But the japanese
did not surrender.

Stalin, honoring
his pledge to roosevelt

And having now moved
one and a half million men

To the eastern front,
attacked japan on August 9th

On three fronts
in manchuria.

The fighting was bloody.

The kwantung army
was practically obliterated.

Estimates range up to
700,000 japanese killed,
wounded and captured.

Stalin also
attacked in korea

And in the kuril islands
and sakhalin island.

This enormous event has been
mostly forgotten to history,

Because later that morning
on August 9,

Before japan
had time to react

To the soviet invasion,

The United States dropped
its second bomb,

An implosive plutonium bomb
nicknamed "fat man,"

On the city of nagasaki.

Exploding ironically over
the largest catholic cathedral

In asia, with a force
of 22 kilotons,

40,000 died immediately.

Of them, 250 soldiers.

Henry wallace wrote
of truman and byrnes

In his diary on August 10th,

One day after nagasaki...

Wallace:
It is obvious that
the attitude of truman, byrnes,

And both the war
and navy departments

Will make
for war eventually.

Stone:
Yet neither
the announcement of nagasaki

Or army minister anami's
fallacious report

That the u.S. Had
100 more atomic bombs

Moved tokyo any closer to
surrendering unconditionally.

After all,
japanese cities

Were being wiped out
all through 1945.

200 planes
and thousands of bombs

Or one plane
and one bomb--

It didn't seem to make
a noticeable difference.

For japanese leaders,
the devastating news
on August 9

Was the soviet invasion.

Nagasaki was just one more
city that was destroyed.

But the red army easily
overwhelming japanese forces

In their richest colony,

The puppet state
of manchukuo,

Was cause for alarm.

General kawabe,
the army deputy chief of staff

Explained...

Kawabe:
It was only
in a gradual manner

That the horrible wreckage
which had been made

Of hiroshima became known.

In comparison,
the soviet entry

Into the war was
a great shock,

Because we had been
in constant fear of it

With a vivid imagination
that the vast

Red army forces in europe

Were now being turned
against us.

Stone:
Prime minister suzuki said...

Suzuki:
Japan must surrender
immediately

Or the soviet union will take
not only manchuria,

Korea, karafuto,
but also hokkaido.

This would destroy
the foundation of japan.

We must end the war

When we can deal
with the u.S.

Stone:
A top secret study
done in January 1946

By the intelligence staff
of the war department's

Operations division
concludes...

Not only would the soviets
destroy their empire,

But they would
have no qualms

About destroying
the emperor himself.

After all, they murdered
their own emperor in 1918.

On August 14th,
five days after

The second bomb was
dropped at nagasaki,

And with desperate fighting
still raging

Against the soviets,
emperor hirohito

Now exerted
his personal power.

For centuries,
the japanese emperors

Had lived without contact
with their people,

Revered as divine beings.

But now, hirohito,

Speaking to the japanese
people directly,

Ordered surrender
over the radio.

( hirohito speaking japanese )

Stone:
It was the first time

Most of them had heard
the voice of god.

Macarthur:
Let us pray that peace

Be now restored to the world

And that god
will preserve it

Always.

These proceedings
are closed.

Stone:
The horrors and bloodshed
of world war ii

Coarsened a lot of people
to the suffering of others.

Freeman dyson, the renowned
future physicist

Who was part of
the tiger force fleet

Of 300 british bombers
explained...

Dyson:
I found this
continuing slaughter

Of defenseless japanese

Even more sickening
than the slaughter of germans,

But still I did not quit.

By that time,
I had been at war so long

That I could hardly
remember peace.

No living poet had words

To describe that
emptiness of the soul

Which allowed me
to go on killing
without hatred

And without remorse.

But shakespeare
understood it.

And he gave macbeth
the words...

Stone:
In that spirit,
85% of the american public,

Convinced that the bombs
had ended the war,

Applauded their use.

Murrow:
When the bomb was dropped,

The war was near
to ending anyway.

Was this the result
of a miscalculation

Of the japanese potential?
Was our intelligence faulty
in this area?

It was done on the theory
that the--

Our troops were expecting
to invade japan

In a very short time,

And it was estimated
that it would take

About a million and a half men
to make that invasion,

And in all probability
there'd be a half a million
of them of casualties

And 250,000 of them killed.

And we had this powerful
new weapon.

I had no qualms
about using it,

Because a weapon of war

Is a destructive weapon.

That's the reason
none of us want war

And all of us
are against war.

But when you have the weapon
that will win the war,

You'd be foolish
if you didn't use it.

Stone:
Truman's estimates
of american casualties

Kept climbing
as the years went by.

Almost 50 years later,
in 1991,

President george bush
praised truman's

"tough calculating decision

Which spared millions
of american lives."

Controversy over
the atomic bombings

Continued to roil
american society.

Protests by
the american legion,

The air force association

And congressional
conservatives

Forced the smithsonian
air and space museum

To cancel a 1995 exhibit
on the bombings.

Young second lieutenant
paul fussell,

Who was in the pacific
at the time of the bombing,

Published "thank god
for the atom bomb" in 1988

In which he wrote...

Fussell:
For all the fake manliness
of our facades,

We cried
with relief and joy.

We were going to live.

We were going to grow up
to adulthood after all.

Stone:
Like millions of others
of his generation,

And millions since,

Fussell was convinced
that truman and the bomb

Saved them
from invading japan.

But attributing victory
to the bomb

In a sense
insults the memory

Of the many men and women
who gave their lives

To defeat the japanese
year by grinding year.

Robert oppenheimer
met with henry wallace

Shortly after the war,

Deeply worried at
the eventual slaughter

Of tens of millions.

Earlier that year,
he informed

Top military
and civilian leaders

That within three years,

The u.S. Would likely
have weapons

Up to 7,000 times
as powerful as the bomb

That would destroy hiroshima.

He proposed
international control

Of the atomic technology
to assuage soviet fears

Over u.S. Intentions.

Wallace wrote
in his diary...

Wallace:
The guilt consciousness
of atomic scientists

Is one of the most
astounding things
I have ever seen.

Stone:
He agreed with oppenheimer.

What was needed was
an olive branch.

And it came from
the most unexpected quarter.

Henry stimson,
"the colonel,"

Was a true old soldier,

But he was terrified
by the forces he'd
helped unleash,

And now wanted to put
the genie back in the bottle.

In early September,
stimson sent a memo

To truman saying
that the soviets

Should be treated
as allies.

Stimson:
If we have this weapon
rather ostentatiously

On our hip,
their suspicions

And their distrust
of our purposes and motives

Will increase.
The chief lesson

That I have learned
in a long life

Is that the only way
you can make a man trustworthy

Is to trust him.

And the surest way
to make him untrustworthy

Is to distrust him
and show your distrust.

Stone:
He proposed that the u.S.
Dismantle its atomic bombs

If the soviets agreed
that both countries would ban

Atomic weapons research.

And thus submit
to an international

System of control.

Truman devoted the historic
September 21, 1945,

Cabinet meeting--
stimson's last--

To discuss his proposal.

Wallace allied himself
with stimson,

Indicating the absurdity
of trying to keep

- An atomic monopoly.
- Wallace: I then went
at some length

Into the whole
scientific background,

Describing how
foreign jewish scientists

Had in the first place

Sold the president
in the fall of 1939.

I indicated the degree
to which the whole approach

Had originated in europe,

And that it was impossible
to bottle the thing up,

No matter
how much we tried.

Stone:
With byrnes away in london,
navy secretary james forrestal

Argued that the soviets
could not be trusted.

"the russians," he said,
"like the japanese,

Are essentially oriental
in their thinking."

The cabinet split sharply
over stimson's proposal

Which would have put
the United States

Squarely on the side
of wanting world peace.

But truman vacillated
and ultimately yielded

To the byrnes-forrestal
hardline faction.

The feared, and potentially
suicidal arms race,

Would continue.

When truman finally met
with robert oppenheimer

In October 1945,

He asked him to guess
when the russians

Would develop
their own atomic bomb.

Oppenheimer
did not know.

Truman responded that
he knew the answer: "never."

Clearly surprised
by the president's
truculent ignorance

And frustrated that
he did not understand

The seriousness
of the evolving crisis,

Oppenheimer blurted out,
"mr. President,

I feel I have
blood on my hands."

Truman responded with anger.

Truman:
I told him the blood
was on my hands

And to let me
worry about that.

Stone:
Afterwards,
truman told dean acheson...

Truman:
I don't want to see
that son of a bitch

In this office ever again.

Stone:
Oppenheimer was later attacked
by right-wing conservatives

As an agent
of the soviet union,

And subjected
to numerous investigations

By the f.B.I.

In 1954, his security
clearance was revoked.

His real crime in the eyes
of american authorities

Was opposing building
the new hydrogen bomb,

Which he considered
a weapon of genocide.

Contrary to the belief
of truman's inner circle,

The dropping
of the atomic bombs

On hiroshima
and nagasaki

Did not make
the soviet union

Any more pliable.

Soviet forces occupied
the northern half

Of the korean peninsula,

Left face to face with
u.S. Forces in the south.

Korea would later become
a major flash point

In the cold war
that would engulf the world

For another 50 years.

But on a far larger scale,

The bombing haunted
the soviet imagination.

Future foreign minister
andrei gromyko's son

Anatoly recalled his father
telling him that

Hiroshima set the heads of
the soviet military spinning.

The mood in the kremlin
was neurotic.

The mistrust towards
the allies grew quickly.

Opinions floated around
to preserve

A large land army
to establish control

Over extended territories

To lessen potential losses
from another atomic bombing.

And in what many consider
a cruel irony,

The japanese were allowed
after all to keep the emperor,

Whose retention most experts
believed essential

To postwar stability
in japan.

Truman suffered
no political repercussions

From this decision.

Murrow:
How did you manage it?
How did you keep

Your equilibrium?
How did you sleep at night?

No trouble
sleeping at night.

All my life,
whenever it comes time

To make a decision,
I make it.

And forget about it and go
to work on something else.

Murrow:
Do you have any reason
to think, in historical terms,

That this new and terrible
hydrogen weapon

Will not be used?

I hope it'll never
have to be used,

Because I hope we'll keep
the peace in the world

And it won't be necessary.

If the world ever gets
into turmoil, however,

It will be used.
You can be sure of that.

Stone:
As truman anticipated,

The process he unleashed
did indeed threaten

The future existence
of life on this planet.

Even pugnacious
winston churchill

Had moral qualms.

When he visited truman towards
the end of his presidency,

Margaret,
the president's daughter,

Described the scene.

Margaret:
Everyone was in
an ebullient mood,

Especially dad.

Without warning, mr. Churchill
turned to him and said...

Churchill:
Mr. President, I hope
you have your answer ready

For that hour when
you and I stand
before st. Peter

And he says,
"I understand you two

Are responsible for
putting off those atomic bombs.

What have you got
to say for yourselves?"

Stone:
Although harry truman
left office

With approval ratings
so low that only
george w. Bush

Has come close since,

He is now widely viewed
as a near-great president

And routinely showered
with praise

By republicans
and democrats alike.

Former national
security advisor

And secretary of state
condoleeza rice,

Who george bush
credited with

"telling me everything
I know about the soviet union,"

Named truman her
"man of the century"

To "time" magazine.

David mccullough's
1993 biography of truman

Won him a wide readership
and a pulitzer prize,

Followed by an emmy-awarded
best tv movie

On the cable network
h.B.O. In 1995,

Seen by millions.

The first bomb
will be ready

By the end of
the first week in August.

The japs know
they're licked.

Why won't they quit?

Their strategy
is to prolong the war,

No matter what the cost,

Until we agree
to let the emperor
stay on the throne.

They'll prolong it
by any means necessary.

They just will not
surrender.

Some of the scientists

Who developed the bomb

Believe that it
should never be used.

Is that so?

Well, what the hell do
they think we built it for?

We can't uninvent it, henry.

What about the idea
of setting one off
for the japs to see?

What happened
to that idea?

Mr. President,

I can only speak
to the military questions.

We must use
overwhelming force

To crush
the japanese army,

Destroy their will
to make war.

Stone:
In the myth
the film creates,

Henry stimson
and general george marshall

Are portrayed as
looking down on the underdog,

Little man truman,

Who is following
his moral conscience.

But their real positions
on the bomb and japan

Are misrepresented.

With regular weapons,
the firebombing of dresden

Killed 30,000
in one night.

Tokyo is utterly gone

With almost
everyone in it.

They figure
100,000 dead there.

Seems to me,
if there is

A moral point
of no return,

You've long
since passed it.

If I don't
drop the bomb,

So many more
of our young men

Will die
in the invasion of japan.

Their men too,
and women and children.

How could I face
the people

When it's
finally over

And say that
I had the power

To possibly
end the war long ago,

Spare the lives
of their loved ones

And I chose
not to use it?

Stone:
In the film,
the soviet point of view

Is entirely ignored

And the characters of
henry wallace and jimmy byrnes

Are not included.

But the real harry truman
is far darker

Than mccullough's
heroic underdog.

Despite his denials,
his flawed and tragic

Decision to use
the bomb against japan

Was meant instead
as a ruthless

And deeply unnecessary warning

That the United States
could be unrestrained

By humanitarian
considerations

In using these same bombs
against the soviet union

If they continued to
interfere in europe or asia.

However, on a larger
moral scale,

Truman knew he was
beginning a process

That could end life
on the planet,

As he said explicitly
on at least three occasions.

Yet he forged ahead
recklessly.

Unnecessarily killing people
is a war crime.

Threatening human extinction
goes far far beyond that.

This is what henry wallace
understood more deeply

Than any other
government official.

The man who did
his utmost to end

The u.S. Monopoly
of the atomic bomb

Has been
largely lost to history.

Newsreel voice:
Henry wallace,
u.S. Secretary of commerce,

Is called to the white house
by president truman.

He had advocated publically
a more conciliatory attitude

Towards russia.
Faced with public criticism

Of american official policy
on world affairs

By a member
of his own cabinet,

The president
asked for and accepted
wallace's resignation.

"dear harry,

As you requested,

Here is my resignation.

I shall continue
to fight for peace.

I am sure that you approve

And will join me

In that great endeavor."

Newsreel voice:
His walking papers
in the outgoing mail,

Last official act of the one
remaining cabinet member

Appointed in roosevelt's
first administration.

That's that.

And so mr. Wallace
takes a walk

After 13 years
in government posts.

From cabinet seat
to park bench,

He's going to renew
those attacks

On secretary byrnes'
policies at paris.

But right now,
the man who predicted

60 million jobs in america

Seems to be busy reading
the help-wanted ads.

Stone:
After leaving government
in 1946,

He ran for president
in 1948

As a candidate
for the newly formed

Progressive party.

Their message of peace
in a time of rising tensions

Was not heard.

Repeatedly attacked
by truman and the press

As a communist sympathizer,

Wallace garnered
less than 3% of the vote.

Following the election,
he retired from politics.

Increasingly accused
of sheltering communists

During his campaign,
he compromised himself

During the pressures
of the korean war

And the mccarthy period,

Loudly condemning
the soviets.

But he clung
to his progressive ideals

And decried later
u.S. Involvement in vietnam.

He lived quietly on his farm
in upstate new york

Where he died in 1965.

In an irony that only
an american capitalism
can embrace,

The hi-bred corn company,
which wallace founded in 1926,

Was sold in the late 1990s
to the dupont corporation

For more than $9 billion.

A bittersweet reminder
to those who repeatedly

Denigrated "mr. Smith
goes to washington"

As naive and communist.

He remains one
of the unsung heroes
of the second world war,

Showing the world
a kinder vision of america.

Though his vision was
opposed at every step,

It did not die.

Following in the footsteps
of others before him,

Henry wallace continued
to lay the foundations,

And others followed.

Franklin roosevelt said...

Roosevelt:
No man was more of the
american soil than wallace.

Stone:
But few now remember
how close wallace came

To getting
the vice presidential

Nomination on that
steamy chicago night

In July 1944.

It was here that roosevelt
committed the greatest blunder

Of his splendid career--

Acceding to the party bosses'
choice of harry truman.

He could have resisted and,
with the people's backing,

Had wallace
as his vice president.

But he was tired
of defending his vision

For world peace.

Very tired
and near death.

This sad moment
points most clearly

To the fallibility
of all human history--

"to fail is not tragic,

To be human is."

What might this country
have become

Had wallace succeeded
roosevelt in April '45

Instead of truman?

Would no atomic bombs have
been used in world war ii?

Could we have avoided
the nuclear arms race
and the cold war?

Would civil rights
and women's rights
have triumphed

In the immediate
postwar years?

Might colonialism
have ended decades earlier

And the fruits of science
and industry been spread

More equitably
around the globe?

We'll never know.

Some have spoken
of the american century.

I say that the century
on which we are entering,

A century which
will come out of this war,

Can be and must be

The century
of the common man.

If we really believe
we are fighting

For a people's peace,

All the rest
becomes easy.

( dramatic music playing )

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