1 00:00:16,349 --> 00:00:20,102 (narrator) North Field, on the island of Tinian, in the Marianas, 2 00:00:20,186 --> 00:00:22,438 1500 miles south of Japan. 3 00:00:26,401 --> 00:00:31,864 ln the summer of 1945 this was the biggest air base in the world. 4 00:00:33,283 --> 00:00:34,950 Here, on August 5, 5 00:00:35,035 --> 00:00:38,787 the world's first uranium bomb was loaded into a B-29 bomber - 6 00:00:38,872 --> 00:00:43,042 named Enola Gay after its pilot's mother. 7 00:00:44,919 --> 00:00:48,464 Next morning, before dawn, the Enola Gay took off. 8 00:00:48,548 --> 00:00:51,050 lts target - Hiroshima. 9 00:01:56,950 --> 00:02:00,494 On April 12, 1945, 10 00:02:00,578 --> 00:02:06,125 Franklin Roosevelt, President of the United States, died suddenly. 11 00:02:08,169 --> 00:02:11,547 The nation mourned its lost leader. 12 00:02:16,469 --> 00:02:21,890 He had brought them from the depths of economic depression 12 years before, 13 00:02:21,975 --> 00:02:26,478 now he had led them to the eve of victory in a world war. 14 00:02:28,690 --> 00:02:33,360 Two months before his death, Roosevelt had been at Yalta, in Russia, 15 00:02:33,486 --> 00:02:37,239 laying the political foundations of the post-war world. 16 00:02:37,323 --> 00:02:41,660 Roosevelt and Churchill wanted to restore democracy to Eastern Europe, 17 00:02:41,744 --> 00:02:43,912 particularly Poland. 18 00:02:43,997 --> 00:02:48,584 They also asked Stalin to confirm that Russia would join the war against Japan 19 00:02:48,710 --> 00:02:51,920 three months after the defeat of Germany. 20 00:02:52,005 --> 00:02:54,047 ln a cheerful atmosphere, 21 00:02:54,132 --> 00:02:58,552 the "big three" thought they had reached agreement. 22 00:02:59,095 --> 00:03:02,055 (man) Yalta was really the high point of the relationship 23 00:03:02,140 --> 00:03:03,724 between the three men. 24 00:03:03,808 --> 00:03:07,519 Victory was in the air, the Germans were in retreat, 25 00:03:07,604 --> 00:03:10,814 and so there was a good deal more talk, 26 00:03:10,899 --> 00:03:15,068 in addition to military matters, of the future. 27 00:03:15,195 --> 00:03:17,321 Poland again became 28 00:03:17,405 --> 00:03:21,074 the most troublesome point. 29 00:03:21,159 --> 00:03:23,118 And it's interesting that 30 00:03:23,203 --> 00:03:25,078 both Roosevelt and Churchill 31 00:03:25,163 --> 00:03:27,623 felt they had an agreement with Stalin. 32 00:03:28,750 --> 00:03:32,669 (narrator) The problem with Poland - as with all Eastern Europe - 33 00:03:32,754 --> 00:03:37,049 was that the Western leaders wanted a freely elected government there. 34 00:03:37,133 --> 00:03:41,553 The Soviets wanted a government friendly to Russia. 35 00:03:41,638 --> 00:03:45,849 They thought the West understood and accepted this. 36 00:03:46,684 --> 00:03:51,855 Poland, from their point of view, was not going to be an outpost of the West - 37 00:03:51,940 --> 00:03:55,192 nor any of the Balkan countries. 38 00:03:55,276 --> 00:03:58,237 They thought they'd had various agreements 39 00:03:58,321 --> 00:04:01,782 about spheres of influence with Mr Churchill - 40 00:04:01,866 --> 00:04:05,702 if they left Greece pretty much in British hands, 41 00:04:05,787 --> 00:04:08,580 they could have certain proportional influences 42 00:04:08,665 --> 00:04:13,085 in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, particularly Poland. 43 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:19,174 My impression at Yalta 44 00:04:19,300 --> 00:04:23,345 was that the Russians thought 45 00:04:23,429 --> 00:04:28,308 we had in substance accepted that demand. 46 00:04:29,352 --> 00:04:33,438 (narrator) After Yalta, Roosevelt lived for only two months. 47 00:04:34,399 --> 00:04:37,609 Even by then, he and Churchill had become disillusioned 48 00:04:37,735 --> 00:04:42,239 by the interpretations the Russians were putting on what was agreed there. 49 00:04:42,323 --> 00:04:46,201 The very, very tough exchange of telegrams on both sides 50 00:04:46,286 --> 00:04:48,120 between Stalin and Roosevelt 51 00:04:48,204 --> 00:04:51,248 makes it very plain that Roosevelt, before he died, 52 00:04:51,332 --> 00:04:53,750 knew that Stalin was breaking his agreements. 53 00:04:53,835 --> 00:04:57,129 l think it went sour because 54 00:04:57,213 --> 00:04:59,589 the military developments 55 00:04:59,674 --> 00:05:02,009 strengthened Russia's hands 56 00:05:02,135 --> 00:05:06,596 and that where the Russians had felt it necessary 57 00:05:06,681 --> 00:05:10,267 to be considerate of Western opinion at Yalta, 58 00:05:10,351 --> 00:05:13,520 a few months later they didn't feel any such necessity 59 00:05:13,604 --> 00:05:16,189 because the war was going so well for them, 60 00:05:16,316 --> 00:05:20,610 and therefore they swept aside some of the engagements they'd got into. 61 00:05:20,695 --> 00:05:24,323 That certainly applied particularly about Poland. 62 00:05:25,283 --> 00:05:28,910 (narrator) Roosevelt had been seen as a friend by the Russians. 63 00:05:28,995 --> 00:05:31,955 His successor, Harry Truman, was an unknown quantity - 64 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,541 both to them and to his own advisers. 65 00:05:35,168 --> 00:05:41,173 l left, as soon as Roosevelt died, to go back to see Mr Truman. 66 00:05:41,257 --> 00:05:43,550 l wanted to be sure that President Truman 67 00:05:43,634 --> 00:05:46,386 understood the position of our relationships, 68 00:05:46,471 --> 00:05:50,182 because there had been so much euphoria in the air 69 00:05:50,266 --> 00:05:56,480 about the warm relationships that existed with our gallant allies. 70 00:05:56,564 --> 00:06:02,819 And l got home within a week of the time Roosevelt had died. 71 00:06:02,904 --> 00:06:06,948 l found, my first experience with President Truman, 72 00:06:07,033 --> 00:06:09,284 l found he was an avid reader. 73 00:06:09,369 --> 00:06:12,371 l found he'd read all the telegrams 74 00:06:12,455 --> 00:06:17,501 and understood from those messages the difticulties we were going to have. 75 00:06:18,878 --> 00:06:22,172 (narrator) The arrival of their foreign minister, Molotov, 76 00:06:22,256 --> 00:06:26,802 in Washington on April 23 gave Truman a chance to prove, as he put it, 77 00:06:26,886 --> 00:06:29,262 that he would "stand up to the Russians". 78 00:06:29,347 --> 00:06:33,308 (newsreel) Even as his arrival raised hopes on the thorny Polish question, 79 00:06:33,393 --> 00:06:37,312 the world learned that Russia had signed a 20-year pact of friendship 80 00:06:37,397 --> 00:06:39,272 with Poland's Warsaw government. 81 00:06:39,357 --> 00:06:42,359 This Polish government had no pro-Western members. 82 00:06:42,443 --> 00:06:43,985 They were all pro-Soviet. 83 00:06:44,070 --> 00:06:47,823 The Western leaders were angry and upset. 84 00:06:47,907 --> 00:06:52,869 Molotov saw Truman and his secretary of state, Stettinius - Alger Hiss's boss. 85 00:06:52,954 --> 00:06:55,205 By that time... 86 00:06:56,707 --> 00:07:02,129 the Polish situation had, to use a gentle word, crystallised. 87 00:07:02,255 --> 00:07:05,048 The Russians were moving forward. 88 00:07:05,133 --> 00:07:11,138 They seemed to be paying no attention to the kind of provisional government 89 00:07:11,222 --> 00:07:15,976 that the British and Americans had hoped for. 90 00:07:18,271 --> 00:07:25,277 Therefore protests - angry protests - were going to the Russians about that. 91 00:07:25,361 --> 00:07:30,824 And Truman decided to have a showdown, at which he was gifted. 92 00:07:31,742 --> 00:07:37,747 On that occasion, as you know from what is now part of the history books, 93 00:07:39,750 --> 00:07:42,252 he accused Molotov, in eftect, 94 00:07:42,336 --> 00:07:44,212 of violation of the agreements, 95 00:07:44,297 --> 00:07:45,547 as early as that. 96 00:07:45,631 --> 00:07:50,093 This was a strange thing to do in the midst of a war, by no means yet won, 97 00:07:50,178 --> 00:07:53,472 with an important ally - but he did it. 98 00:07:54,599 --> 00:07:58,101 And it ended by Molotov saying: 99 00:07:58,186 --> 00:08:00,812 "l've never been talked to like this in my life", 100 00:08:00,897 --> 00:08:04,649 and Truman saying: "Well, keep your agreements and you won't be" - 101 00:08:04,734 --> 00:08:07,152 just like a schoolteacher. 102 00:08:07,236 --> 00:08:12,616 Stettinius, who'd been present, told me the next morning - he was still shaken - 103 00:08:12,700 --> 00:08:15,619 he said, "l thought the whole conference was oft." 104 00:08:15,703 --> 00:08:19,831 Well, that was an unfortunate conversation. 105 00:08:20,875 --> 00:08:25,462 lt was one of the first diplomatic conversations that Truman had, 106 00:08:25,546 --> 00:08:32,385 and l can only say that it was not a diplomatic statement on Truman's part. 107 00:08:32,470 --> 00:08:36,848 He used good, solid Missouri language, which was very definite, 108 00:08:36,974 --> 00:08:40,310 and Molotov had talked to other people that way, 109 00:08:40,394 --> 00:08:43,355 but had had no one talk to him that way. 110 00:08:43,439 --> 00:08:45,273 So he was very much upset, 111 00:08:45,358 --> 00:08:50,070 and l gained the impression that he thought this was a new voice, 112 00:08:50,154 --> 00:08:54,783 not Roosevelt any more, but a more aggressive president. 113 00:08:55,660 --> 00:08:57,702 (narrator) When he was sworn in, 114 00:08:57,787 --> 00:09:00,872 Truman had said he would continue Roosevelt's policies. 115 00:09:00,957 --> 00:09:02,999 But his sudden harshness with Molotov 116 00:09:03,084 --> 00:09:05,752 now worried the secretary of war, Henry Stimson. 117 00:09:05,836 --> 00:09:07,629 The day after the confrontation, 118 00:09:07,713 --> 00:09:11,174 Stimson told Truman about something he thought could transform 119 00:09:11,259 --> 00:09:13,093 America's dealings with Russia. 120 00:09:13,177 --> 00:09:16,388 Stimson's biographer, McGeorge Bundy. 121 00:09:16,472 --> 00:09:19,516 Stimson wrote to Truman, 122 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:22,936 "l think it is very important that l should have a talk with you 123 00:09:23,020 --> 00:09:26,982 as soon as possible on a highly secret matter." 124 00:09:27,066 --> 00:09:30,235 "l mentioned it to you shortly after you took oftice, 125 00:09:30,319 --> 00:09:34,990 but have not urged it since on account of the pressure you've been under." 126 00:09:35,074 --> 00:09:39,244 "lt, however, has such a bearing on our present foreign relations 127 00:09:39,328 --> 00:09:44,416 and has such an important eftect upon all my thinking in this field, 128 00:09:44,500 --> 00:09:49,838 that l think you ought to know about it without much further delay." 129 00:09:49,922 --> 00:09:56,052 The next day, April 25, Stimson explained to Truman 130 00:09:56,137 --> 00:09:59,347 that his view of foreign policy - Stimson's - 131 00:09:59,473 --> 00:10:04,686 was dominated by the imminent prospect of atomic power, 132 00:10:04,770 --> 00:10:07,856 and the terms which might be got from Russia 133 00:10:07,940 --> 00:10:10,900 in exchange for sharing atomic secrets. 134 00:10:11,736 --> 00:10:15,447 (narrator) lt was Truman's first detailed news of the atomic bomb 135 00:10:15,531 --> 00:10:18,116 and its diplomatic potential. 136 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:22,203 He asked Stimson to head a committee to decide its military use. 137 00:10:23,623 --> 00:10:28,293 By this time, in great secrecy, two kinds of atomic bomb had been developed, 138 00:10:28,377 --> 00:10:34,341 one based on uranium, the other on a man-made element, plutonium. 139 00:10:35,051 --> 00:10:39,179 The uranium bomb did not need testing - but there was only one. 140 00:10:39,263 --> 00:10:42,349 The plutonium bombs - easier to produce in quantity - 141 00:10:42,433 --> 00:10:44,517 would have to be tested before use. 142 00:10:44,602 --> 00:10:47,145 The first would be ready by July. 143 00:10:47,855 --> 00:10:50,023 A special unit of the American Air Force 144 00:10:50,107 --> 00:10:52,484 had begun practising the tactics involved 145 00:10:52,568 --> 00:10:56,112 in dropping one very large bomb, with great accuracy, 146 00:10:56,197 --> 00:10:58,323 then getting away as fast as possible. 147 00:10:58,407 --> 00:11:02,369 lts commander was Colonel Paul Tibbets. 148 00:11:02,453 --> 00:11:03,953 (Tibbets) Up to this point, 149 00:11:04,038 --> 00:11:08,792 anything in the way of an error in bombing up to 500 or 600 feet 150 00:11:08,876 --> 00:11:11,086 was considered good bombing. 151 00:11:11,170 --> 00:11:14,964 So l told them then: "lf you have a 100-foot error from 25,000 feet, 152 00:11:15,049 --> 00:11:16,883 you're just a borderline case." 153 00:11:16,967 --> 00:11:19,260 "l want it less than 100." 154 00:11:19,345 --> 00:11:22,347 l was told immediately, "You can't do this." 155 00:11:22,431 --> 00:11:26,518 So l said, "l don't know why not." They said, "Nobody's ever done it." 156 00:11:26,602 --> 00:11:29,104 l said, "That's no reason why it can't be done." 157 00:11:29,188 --> 00:11:31,773 "Practice, they tell me, makes perfect." 158 00:11:31,857 --> 00:11:34,859 "So we'll practise and you'll practise until you do it." 159 00:11:44,203 --> 00:11:47,580 (narrator) From their forward bases in the Mariana lslands, 160 00:11:47,665 --> 00:11:51,084 American B-29 bombers were already attacking Japan's cities 161 00:11:51,168 --> 00:11:53,294 with more conventional weapons. 162 00:11:53,379 --> 00:11:56,589 To begin with, the results were poor. 163 00:12:00,177 --> 00:12:05,473 General Curtis LeMay developed a new tactic: low-level incendiary raids. 164 00:12:06,434 --> 00:12:10,729 (LeMay) With aerial photography you could outline a general area, 165 00:12:10,813 --> 00:12:13,606 but not precisely. 166 00:12:14,358 --> 00:12:17,402 You just couldn't avoid doing collateral damage, 167 00:12:17,486 --> 00:12:21,281 and l'm sure we burned down a lot of Japanese buildings 168 00:12:21,365 --> 00:12:27,203 that had nothing to do with the war industry at all. 169 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:33,585 This, of course, is one of the sad things of war that can't be helped. 170 00:12:33,919 --> 00:12:39,799 (narrator) On March 9, 1945, 2,000 tons of incendiaries were dropped on Tokyo, 171 00:12:39,884 --> 00:12:42,844 destroying 16 square miles of the city. 172 00:12:44,096 --> 00:12:46,431 80,000 civilians died - 173 00:12:46,515 --> 00:12:50,935 more that night in Tokyo than in the whole of England in the Blitz. 174 00:12:51,020 --> 00:12:54,439 Most suftocated in the firestorm. 175 00:12:54,565 --> 00:12:56,483 LeMay now attacked city after city. 176 00:12:56,567 --> 00:13:00,153 lt looked as if the B-29s alone might defeat Japan. 177 00:13:00,237 --> 00:13:03,948 (LeMay) lt wasn't until General Arnold asked the direct question 178 00:13:04,033 --> 00:13:05,742 "How long will the war last?", 179 00:13:05,826 --> 00:13:08,953 and then we sat down and did some thinking about it, 180 00:13:09,038 --> 00:13:13,958 and it indicated that we would be 181 00:13:14,043 --> 00:13:17,587 pretty much out of targets around 1 September, 182 00:13:17,671 --> 00:13:19,672 and with the targets gone, 183 00:13:19,757 --> 00:13:24,594 we couldn't see much of any war going on at the time. 184 00:13:32,311 --> 00:13:34,687 (narrator) By the spring of 1945 185 00:13:34,772 --> 00:13:39,692 Japan was helpless in the face of American air and naval power. 186 00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:45,031 Most of the Japanese merchant fleet and navy had been sunk. 187 00:13:46,075 --> 00:13:51,329 An eftective blockade had cut oft Japan from her overseas army, 188 00:13:51,413 --> 00:13:54,207 grounded most of her air force for lack of fuel, 189 00:13:54,291 --> 00:13:57,627 and threatened her population with starVation. 190 00:13:57,711 --> 00:14:03,800 American fighter-bombers roamed at will, backing up the devastating fire raids. 191 00:14:05,594 --> 00:14:07,804 Many Japanese politicians realised 192 00:14:07,930 --> 00:14:11,766 that their country could not hold out much longer. 193 00:14:16,105 --> 00:14:19,774 April 1 : American troops land on Japanese soil - 194 00:14:19,859 --> 00:14:24,195 Okinawa, only 350 miles from the mainland. 195 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,865 They face fierce resistance. 196 00:14:28,409 --> 00:14:31,452 But as the battle starts, the growing peace party in Japan 197 00:14:31,537 --> 00:14:36,583 secure the appointment of a new cabinet, led by Admiral Suzuki. 198 00:14:36,667 --> 00:14:42,255 When the Suzuki cabinet came into existence, 199 00:14:42,339 --> 00:14:46,676 the military situation was deplorable, 200 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:54,350 and, moreover, the economic plight of our nation was quite apparent. 201 00:14:54,435 --> 00:14:56,769 The military command... 202 00:14:58,105 --> 00:15:05,695 tried to squeeze the last drop, so to speak, of the nation's blood, 203 00:15:05,779 --> 00:15:10,450 in order to prosecute harder the useless war, 204 00:15:10,534 --> 00:15:15,788 but it became evident to any sensible man 205 00:15:15,873 --> 00:15:19,584 that we were at the end of our tether. 206 00:15:20,210 --> 00:15:22,879 (speaks Japanese) 207 00:15:24,381 --> 00:15:28,343 (translator) The younger ofticers in the army, the extremists, 208 00:15:28,427 --> 00:15:31,512 thought that we should fight to the bitter end, 209 00:15:31,597 --> 00:15:33,765 until every man had been killed. 210 00:15:34,516 --> 00:15:39,103 But the war minister, General Anami, didn't agree. 211 00:15:39,188 --> 00:15:43,691 He thought that if we fought on until the Americans invaded the mainland 212 00:15:43,776 --> 00:15:47,320 and then hit their forces hard on the beaches once, 213 00:15:47,404 --> 00:15:52,825 we could then negotiate peace on terms more favourable to Japan. 214 00:15:56,413 --> 00:15:58,831 (narrator) But Truman would not negotiate. 215 00:15:58,958 --> 00:16:02,085 He told Congress so in May, after Germany's defeat. 216 00:16:02,169 --> 00:16:08,883 (newsreel) Our demand has been, and it remains, unconditional surrender. 217 00:16:11,762 --> 00:16:15,390 l want the entire world to know 218 00:16:15,474 --> 00:16:22,981 that this direction must and will remain unchanged and unhampered. 219 00:16:26,610 --> 00:16:29,529 (narrator) Truman now faced two major problems: 220 00:16:29,613 --> 00:16:31,990 how to deal with the Russians in Europe, 221 00:16:32,074 --> 00:16:36,661 and whether to ask them to fulfil their pledge to join the war against Japan. 222 00:16:36,745 --> 00:16:41,624 ln Germany, Russian and Western troops exchanged toasts, 223 00:16:41,709 --> 00:16:45,044 but already Churchill was sending urgent messages to Truman 224 00:16:45,129 --> 00:16:48,715 warning that an iron curtain was being drawn down in Europe by Russia. 225 00:16:48,841 --> 00:16:51,676 The "big three" must meet quickly before, as he put it, 226 00:16:51,802 --> 00:16:54,429 "the armies of democracy melted". 227 00:16:55,848 --> 00:16:59,434 And Truman had a new secretary of state, James Byrnes. 228 00:16:59,518 --> 00:17:02,145 Byrnes wanted to finish the war against Japan 229 00:17:02,229 --> 00:17:04,147 before the Russians could join in 230 00:17:04,231 --> 00:17:07,483 and cause problems for the West in Asia, too. 231 00:17:07,568 --> 00:17:11,195 lt was ever-present in my mind 232 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:16,075 that it was important 233 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:22,665 that we should have an end to the war before the Russians came in. 234 00:17:22,750 --> 00:17:24,834 (narrator) But Stimson wanted to avoid 235 00:17:24,918 --> 00:17:27,086 hasty decisions in Europe or the Far East 236 00:17:27,171 --> 00:17:30,298 before the bomb was ready. He wrote to Truman: 237 00:17:30,382 --> 00:17:33,634 "Over any such tangled weave of problems, 238 00:17:33,719 --> 00:17:37,638 the atomic secret would be dominant." 239 00:17:37,723 --> 00:17:43,102 "lt seems a terrible thing to gamble with such big stakes in diplomacy 240 00:17:43,187 --> 00:17:47,065 without having your master card in your hand." 241 00:17:48,192 --> 00:17:50,526 Truman reassured Stimson - 242 00:17:50,611 --> 00:17:55,615 the "big three" meeting was postponed until July 15 243 00:17:55,699 --> 00:17:58,201 on purpose "to give us more time". 244 00:17:58,285 --> 00:18:02,205 (narrator) Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt's close friend whom Stalin trusted, 245 00:18:02,289 --> 00:18:03,539 was sent to Moscow in May 246 00:18:03,624 --> 00:18:07,293 to take the heat temporarily out of the Polish issue. 247 00:18:07,377 --> 00:18:10,838 He reported back that he had smoothed things over. 248 00:18:10,923 --> 00:18:14,008 Stalin had also promised - unprompted - 249 00:18:14,093 --> 00:18:16,803 to join the war against Japan on August 8. 250 00:18:16,887 --> 00:18:19,138 While Hopkins was in Moscow, 251 00:18:19,223 --> 00:18:22,934 Stimson's committee reached its decision. 252 00:18:23,018 --> 00:18:25,645 The committee studying the atomic bomb 253 00:18:25,729 --> 00:18:32,026 unanimously recommended that it be used as soon as possible, without warning, 254 00:18:32,111 --> 00:18:36,030 against a major Japanese military establishment. 255 00:18:36,115 --> 00:18:38,908 Only this, Stimson thought, 256 00:18:38,992 --> 00:18:44,288 would provide the psychological blow which might induce Japan to surrender. 257 00:18:44,373 --> 00:18:47,458 Although he agreed with some of Truman's advisers 258 00:18:47,543 --> 00:18:50,044 that the Japanese should be given an ultimatum 259 00:18:50,129 --> 00:18:53,548 which made it clear they could keep the emperor, 260 00:18:53,632 --> 00:19:00,263 he opposed announcing this until after the bomb had at least been tested. 261 00:19:00,347 --> 00:19:02,223 But after the war he wrote, 262 00:19:02,307 --> 00:19:06,602 "lt is possible, in the light of the final surrender, 263 00:19:06,687 --> 00:19:10,231 that a clearer and earlier exposition 264 00:19:10,315 --> 00:19:13,943 of American willingness to retain the emperor 265 00:19:14,027 --> 00:19:17,572 could have produced an earlier ending of the war." 266 00:19:18,907 --> 00:19:21,784 (narrator) June 18: Washington. 267 00:19:21,869 --> 00:19:27,123 General Eisenhower is given a hero's welcome after his victory in Europe. 268 00:19:27,207 --> 00:19:29,292 ln the White House that day, 269 00:19:29,376 --> 00:19:32,753 Truman is asked to approve his joint chiefs of staft's plans 270 00:19:32,838 --> 00:19:34,964 to invade Japan in November. 271 00:19:35,632 --> 00:19:38,301 We gathered up our papers and started to go out, 272 00:19:38,385 --> 00:19:40,636 and Mr Truman spotted me and said: 273 00:19:40,721 --> 00:19:42,763 "Mr McCloy, nobody gets out of this room 274 00:19:42,848 --> 00:19:44,765 without expressing himself - 275 00:19:44,850 --> 00:19:46,142 everybody else has." 276 00:19:46,226 --> 00:19:48,019 "Do you think l have 277 00:19:48,103 --> 00:19:50,479 any other alternative?" 278 00:19:50,564 --> 00:19:55,193 l looked over at Colonel Stimson - he liked to be called Colonel - 279 00:19:55,277 --> 00:19:58,112 he'd been colonel of a regiment in World War l, 280 00:19:58,238 --> 00:20:00,114 rather than Secretary - 281 00:20:00,199 --> 00:20:04,076 l looked over at Stimson and he nodded, he said, "Go ahead." 282 00:20:04,161 --> 00:20:07,830 So l started in, and l said that l thought that 283 00:20:07,915 --> 00:20:09,916 we ought to have our heads examined 284 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:15,463 if we didn't begin to think in terms of a political culmination of the war 285 00:20:15,547 --> 00:20:17,215 rather than a military one. 286 00:20:17,591 --> 00:20:21,761 And l said l'd give them some terms - 287 00:20:21,845 --> 00:20:25,389 l'd send a message over to them, l'd spell out the terms. 288 00:20:25,474 --> 00:20:29,810 And Mr Truman said, "Well, what are your terms? What would you do?" 289 00:20:29,895 --> 00:20:32,730 l hadn't quite prepared for the actual dictation 290 00:20:32,814 --> 00:20:34,899 of the surrender terms at that point, 291 00:20:34,983 --> 00:20:37,068 but l started in and l said, 292 00:20:37,152 --> 00:20:39,987 "ln the first place, l'd say you can have the mikado, 293 00:20:40,072 --> 00:20:42,448 but he's got to be a constitutional monarch - 294 00:20:42,532 --> 00:20:45,660 you've got to have a representative form of government." 295 00:20:45,744 --> 00:20:51,040 "You can have access to, but not control over, foreign raw materials 296 00:20:51,124 --> 00:20:54,794 so you can have a viable economy..." l spelled it out as best l could. 297 00:20:54,878 --> 00:20:57,713 "And l'd say, 'Besides that, we've got a new force, 298 00:20:57,798 --> 00:21:03,594 and it's in the form of a new type of energy 299 00:21:03,679 --> 00:21:06,055 that will revolutionise warfare, 300 00:21:06,139 --> 00:21:10,726 destructive beyond any contemplation." l said l'd mention the bomb. 301 00:21:10,811 --> 00:21:15,815 Well, mentioning the bomb, even at that late date, in that select group, 302 00:21:15,899 --> 00:21:17,608 it was like they were all shocked 303 00:21:17,693 --> 00:21:20,820 because it was such a closely guarded secret. 304 00:21:20,904 --> 00:21:24,782 lt was comparable to mentioning Skull and Bones at Yale, 305 00:21:24,866 --> 00:21:27,368 which you're not supposed to do. 306 00:21:27,452 --> 00:21:31,914 But Mr Truman said, "This is the sort of thing l was trying to reach for - 307 00:21:31,999 --> 00:21:33,791 get that all spelled out." 308 00:21:33,875 --> 00:21:37,878 At that point Stimson did come in and joined in support of my position, 309 00:21:38,005 --> 00:21:41,340 but then later on Mr Byrnes, who was then secretary of state, 310 00:21:41,425 --> 00:21:43,384 who was not present, 311 00:21:43,468 --> 00:21:48,055 vetoed the idea of oftering them the mikado. 312 00:21:48,140 --> 00:21:53,144 One can only speculate as to what would have happened 313 00:21:53,228 --> 00:21:56,856 if we had put the message to the Japanese 314 00:21:56,940 --> 00:21:59,650 in the form that l indicated, including the mikado. 315 00:21:59,735 --> 00:22:04,488 l always had the feeling, in view of some of the information we've had since 316 00:22:04,573 --> 00:22:11,662 of the tendency on the part of some of the real military hotheads in Japan, 317 00:22:11,747 --> 00:22:14,498 to think that this was perhaps the best way out, 318 00:22:14,624 --> 00:22:19,128 that we might have been able to avoid the dropping of the bomb. 319 00:22:19,713 --> 00:22:24,050 (narrator) By this time, the battle for Okinawa is almost over. 320 00:22:24,134 --> 00:22:26,260 12,000 Americans had died, 321 00:22:26,345 --> 00:22:30,931 a bloody foretaste of what invasion of the mainland might cost. 322 00:22:31,850 --> 00:22:35,102 For the Japanese, the lesson was harsher still. 323 00:22:37,731 --> 00:22:39,940 100,000 died, 324 00:22:40,025 --> 00:22:45,946 and, for the first time in the war, their soldiers surrendered in thousands. 325 00:22:49,534 --> 00:22:52,745 As the last resistance ended, on June 22, 326 00:22:52,829 --> 00:22:57,583 the new Japanese cabinet made its first move towards peace. 327 00:22:58,168 --> 00:23:01,837 Ultimately, we had to conduct negotiations 328 00:23:01,922 --> 00:23:04,298 with our military opponents - 329 00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:07,259 that is to say, America and Britain - 330 00:23:07,344 --> 00:23:11,764 but the high command refused categorically 331 00:23:11,848 --> 00:23:15,851 to entertain any idea of 332 00:23:15,936 --> 00:23:20,189 starting conversations with the enemy powers. 333 00:23:20,273 --> 00:23:27,613 The only great power left out of the enemy camp was the Soviet Union, 334 00:23:27,697 --> 00:23:30,991 because of the fact that nominally 335 00:23:31,076 --> 00:23:35,913 there existed still the neutrality pact, 336 00:23:36,039 --> 00:23:43,879 and so this was the only window open for peace endeavours - 337 00:23:43,964 --> 00:23:47,675 and this window looked towards the north. 338 00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:52,888 And so we argued it out with the military command, 339 00:23:52,973 --> 00:23:58,310 and the military command finally, reluctantly, 340 00:23:58,395 --> 00:24:03,899 acceded to our request that we start negotiations with the Soviet Union 341 00:24:03,984 --> 00:24:09,780 in order to arrive at the final destination, 342 00:24:09,865 --> 00:24:12,741 which was Washington and London. 343 00:24:12,826 --> 00:24:16,662 (narrator) But it was the Chinese foreign minister, not the Japanese, 344 00:24:16,746 --> 00:24:19,582 that Stalin had been meeting. 345 00:24:19,666 --> 00:24:25,921 A huge Japanese army still occupied parts of China, including Manchuria. 346 00:24:26,047 --> 00:24:29,049 The Russians and Chinese were negotiating terms 347 00:24:29,134 --> 00:24:32,428 under which Stalin would attack that army. 348 00:24:32,512 --> 00:24:36,682 When Truman sailed to Europe on July 7 to meet Stalin and Churchill, 349 00:24:36,766 --> 00:24:41,645 he knew, through intercepted messages, that Japan wanted an end to the war, 350 00:24:41,730 --> 00:24:45,357 but not unconditional surrender. 351 00:24:45,442 --> 00:24:49,778 Truman and Byrnes now had several options open to them - 352 00:24:49,863 --> 00:24:52,490 they could modify the surrender terms, 353 00:24:52,574 --> 00:24:55,868 they could encourage the Russians to invade Manchuria, 354 00:24:55,952 --> 00:25:01,332 they could demonstrate the atomic bomb, they could invade Japan itself. 355 00:25:04,127 --> 00:25:08,714 But Truman decided that he would drop atomic bombs on Japan without warning. 356 00:25:08,798 --> 00:25:12,468 This alone, he hoped, would end the Pacific war quickly, 357 00:25:12,552 --> 00:25:14,595 before the Russians joined in. 358 00:25:14,679 --> 00:25:19,266 And it would immensely strengthen American bargaining power in Europe. 359 00:25:19,351 --> 00:25:21,352 The decision had already been taken 360 00:25:21,436 --> 00:25:25,272 when Truman arrived for the "big three" meeting on July 15. 361 00:25:28,276 --> 00:25:33,614 The next morning, just before dawn, at a remote desert site in New Mexico, 362 00:25:33,698 --> 00:25:36,909 Robert Oppenheimer and the team that had built the bomb 363 00:25:36,993 --> 00:25:40,955 witnessed the first atomic explosion. 364 00:25:41,039 --> 00:25:44,959 (Oppenheimer) l remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, 365 00:25:45,043 --> 00:25:46,585 the Bhagavad-Gita: 366 00:25:46,670 --> 00:25:52,841 Vishnu is trying to persuade the prince 367 00:25:52,926 --> 00:25:56,804 that he should do his duty, 368 00:25:56,888 --> 00:25:59,723 and to impress him 369 00:25:59,808 --> 00:26:03,310 takes on his multi-armed form 370 00:26:03,395 --> 00:26:07,147 and says, "Now l am become death, 371 00:26:07,232 --> 00:26:09,525 the destroyer of worlds." 372 00:26:11,736 --> 00:26:14,989 l suppose we all thought that, one way or another. 373 00:26:15,490 --> 00:26:21,954 (narrator) The plutonium bomb exploded with a force of 20,000 tons of TNT. 374 00:26:23,373 --> 00:26:27,876 The desert at the point of the explosion was turned into glass. 375 00:26:27,961 --> 00:26:32,339 By July 1945 Japan's economy was crumbling 376 00:26:32,424 --> 00:26:36,093 and her cities were defenceless against the B-29 raids. 377 00:26:36,177 --> 00:26:38,804 Although her army remained virtually intact, 378 00:26:38,888 --> 00:26:41,890 Japan's war industries were smashed. 379 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,230 One million civilians had died. 380 00:26:49,774 --> 00:26:52,526 Millions more were homeless. 381 00:26:52,611 --> 00:26:57,740 The US Air Force had no doubts that surrender was only weeks away. 382 00:26:58,533 --> 00:27:01,243 (LeMay) lt was a hopeless situation for 'em. 383 00:27:01,328 --> 00:27:07,708 The B-29s were flying over Japan at will and they couldn't do anything about it. 384 00:27:08,835 --> 00:27:14,048 We could destroy any target at will without much opposition. 385 00:27:14,132 --> 00:27:17,843 So with this hopeless situation they were facing, 386 00:27:17,927 --> 00:27:22,306 they just didn't have the will to continue. 387 00:27:22,390 --> 00:27:24,975 ln fact, they'd been trying to get out of the war 388 00:27:25,060 --> 00:27:29,396 for about three months before they actually did. 389 00:27:29,481 --> 00:27:33,275 They'd asked the Russians to be an intermediary, 390 00:27:33,401 --> 00:27:36,904 to try to negotiate them out of the war, 391 00:27:36,988 --> 00:27:43,160 and the Russians had been stalling till they'd got the European war finished 392 00:27:43,244 --> 00:27:49,833 so they could get into the Pacific war before it ended. 393 00:27:52,379 --> 00:27:56,090 (narrator) Stalin and Molotov refused to see the Japanese ambassador 394 00:27:56,174 --> 00:28:01,220 before they left Moscow for the last "big three" meeting for ten years. 395 00:28:02,138 --> 00:28:05,641 Also at Potsdam was Secretary of War Stimson. 396 00:28:05,725 --> 00:28:09,728 He passed on detailed news of the atomic test to Truman and Byrnes - 397 00:28:09,813 --> 00:28:13,190 who, he noted in his diary, were immensely pleased. 398 00:28:13,274 --> 00:28:16,402 "The president was tremendously pepped up by it 399 00:28:16,486 --> 00:28:20,030 and spoke to me of it again and again when l saw him." 400 00:28:20,156 --> 00:28:24,785 "He said it gave him an entirely new feeling of confidence." 401 00:28:24,869 --> 00:28:28,872 And when Stimson told Churchill about the successful test the next day, 402 00:28:28,957 --> 00:28:31,458 Churchill said he now understood 403 00:28:31,543 --> 00:28:35,003 how this pepping-up of Truman had taken place 404 00:28:35,088 --> 00:28:37,381 and that he felt the same way. 405 00:28:37,465 --> 00:28:39,925 (narrator) The British and Americans debated 406 00:28:40,009 --> 00:28:42,636 whether to tell the Russians about the bomb. 407 00:28:42,721 --> 00:28:45,848 Some argued that its full weight as a diplomatic lever 408 00:28:45,932 --> 00:28:50,519 would only become evident after it had been dropped on Japan. 409 00:28:50,603 --> 00:28:54,106 After one of our meetings, just as we adjourned, 410 00:28:54,190 --> 00:28:57,901 Truman went up with his interpreter to Stalin 411 00:28:57,986 --> 00:29:01,697 and told him briefly 412 00:29:01,781 --> 00:29:03,741 what we had discovered 413 00:29:03,825 --> 00:29:06,952 and what the eftect of the atomic bomb would be. 414 00:29:07,078 --> 00:29:11,957 And all Stalin did was to nod his head and say "Thank you" quite curtly, 415 00:29:12,083 --> 00:29:15,794 and his expression changed in no way and that was all there was to it. 416 00:29:18,506 --> 00:29:21,091 (McCloy) lt was a tremendous disappointment. 417 00:29:21,176 --> 00:29:25,971 We thought he would be flabbergasted at this thing but he just passed it oft. 418 00:29:26,055 --> 00:29:27,431 Whether he knew about it, 419 00:29:27,515 --> 00:29:33,562 whether he didn't want to show any great emotion in regard to it, 420 00:29:33,646 --> 00:29:35,314 l don't know. 421 00:29:35,398 --> 00:29:39,318 All l know is that he took it very much in his stride 422 00:29:39,402 --> 00:29:45,699 and, somewhat to our disappointment, went on to the next item in the agenda. 423 00:29:45,784 --> 00:29:51,455 And this rather dismayed Stimson 424 00:29:51,539 --> 00:29:53,040 because he thought that, 425 00:29:53,124 --> 00:29:54,875 once having disclosed this, 426 00:29:54,959 --> 00:29:59,421 there would be immediately a great rush on the part of the Soviets 427 00:29:59,506 --> 00:30:01,131 to sit down and talk to us 428 00:30:01,216 --> 00:30:04,593 about the future implications of this thing 429 00:30:04,677 --> 00:30:06,845 and what the future uses of it would be. 430 00:30:06,930 --> 00:30:09,223 But he got no encouragement at all. 431 00:30:10,517 --> 00:30:14,394 (narrator) Stimson's tactics had misfired - the "big three" had met 432 00:30:14,479 --> 00:30:17,898 before the full power of the atomic weapon was revealed. 433 00:30:17,982 --> 00:30:21,235 Stimson feared that from now on, Secretary of State Byrnes 434 00:30:21,319 --> 00:30:25,739 would use the bomb to try to lever direct concessions from the Russians. 435 00:30:26,449 --> 00:30:30,118 l rather think that Mr Byrnes had something of the thought 436 00:30:30,203 --> 00:30:34,248 that this would be a sort of 437 00:30:34,332 --> 00:30:38,293 point of leverage in diplomatic exchanges, 438 00:30:38,378 --> 00:30:42,130 whereas l think Mr Stimson - or Colonel Stimson - 439 00:30:42,215 --> 00:30:46,301 had a difterent idea of the use of the bomb. 440 00:30:46,386 --> 00:30:48,136 (Bundy) He wrote to the president 441 00:30:48,221 --> 00:30:51,682 to urge direct negotiation on the nuclear issue, 442 00:30:51,766 --> 00:30:59,398 and argued that relations with Russia "may perhaps be irretrievably embittered 443 00:30:59,482 --> 00:31:05,821 by the way in which we approach the solution of the bomb with Russia." 444 00:31:05,905 --> 00:31:09,116 "For if we fail to approach them now 445 00:31:09,242 --> 00:31:11,201 and merely negotiate with them 446 00:31:11,327 --> 00:31:15,622 having this weapon rather ostentatiously on our hip, 447 00:31:15,707 --> 00:31:23,463 their suspicions and their distrust of our purposes and motives will increase." 448 00:31:23,548 --> 00:31:27,050 (narrator) With the atomic weapons now almost ready for use, 449 00:31:27,135 --> 00:31:30,888 it was time for Truman to issue a final ultimatum to the Japanese - 450 00:31:30,972 --> 00:31:34,099 and again Stimson's advice was rejected. 451 00:31:34,183 --> 00:31:38,854 Truman and Byrnes decided not to modify the unconditional-surrender formula 452 00:31:38,938 --> 00:31:42,482 by oftering the Japanese the chance to keep their emperor. 453 00:31:42,942 --> 00:31:47,738 My hope is that the people of Japan will now realise 454 00:31:47,864 --> 00:31:51,825 that further resistance to the forces of the nations 455 00:31:51,910 --> 00:31:55,579 now united in the enforcement of law and justice 456 00:31:55,663 --> 00:31:57,956 will be absolutely futile. 457 00:31:58,082 --> 00:32:01,752 There is still time - but little time - 458 00:32:01,836 --> 00:32:04,546 for the Japanese to save themselves 459 00:32:04,631 --> 00:32:07,925 from the destruction which threatens them. 460 00:32:08,384 --> 00:32:15,557 The very purpose of it was to assure them that they would have the decision, 461 00:32:15,642 --> 00:32:18,602 and at the same time 462 00:32:18,686 --> 00:32:24,358 not to start a controversy among ourselves 463 00:32:24,442 --> 00:32:27,611 about the position of the emperor. 464 00:32:28,655 --> 00:32:32,324 When the Potsdam proclamation was issued, 465 00:32:33,701 --> 00:32:41,333 Foreign Minister Togo and l worked together many sleepless nights, 466 00:32:41,417 --> 00:32:46,713 and l took this proclamation to the attention of the foreign minister 467 00:32:46,798 --> 00:32:50,759 and explained the substance of it. 468 00:32:50,843 --> 00:32:55,472 Togo at once said this was acceptable, 469 00:32:55,556 --> 00:33:01,311 and he immediately went to the palace and asked for an audience. 470 00:33:01,396 --> 00:33:08,151 The emperor approved Togo's judgement that this should be accepted 471 00:33:08,236 --> 00:33:11,405 and the war be terminated at once. 472 00:33:11,489 --> 00:33:15,075 (Japanese man) Foreign Minister Togo said in the cabinet meeting 473 00:33:15,159 --> 00:33:19,663 that we can stop the war without the question of the emperor. 474 00:33:19,747 --> 00:33:22,416 We can keep the emperor all right. 475 00:33:22,500 --> 00:33:24,918 But at that time we - 476 00:33:25,003 --> 00:33:26,461 the Japanese government - 477 00:33:26,546 --> 00:33:31,550 asked some... intermediate... 478 00:33:31,634 --> 00:33:33,593 mediation... Mediation? 479 00:33:33,678 --> 00:33:36,596 ..mediation to the Russians, 480 00:33:36,681 --> 00:33:39,641 so many cabinet ministers said, 481 00:33:39,726 --> 00:33:43,478 "Well, let us see the situation for a while." 482 00:33:43,563 --> 00:33:46,231 (narrator) Prime Minister Suzuki announced 483 00:33:46,315 --> 00:33:49,234 that Japan would ignore the ultimatum. 484 00:33:49,318 --> 00:33:52,446 Perhaps Russia would save Japan's honour. 485 00:33:52,530 --> 00:33:56,658 After all, the Potsdam Declaration had not been signed by Stalin - 486 00:33:56,743 --> 00:33:58,618 he might still mediate. 487 00:33:58,703 --> 00:34:02,372 Stalin told Truman about the Japanese approaches. 488 00:34:02,457 --> 00:34:07,002 Truman knew all about them - the Japanese codes had been broken. 489 00:34:07,086 --> 00:34:10,547 Both leaders agreed to ignore the peace feelers 490 00:34:10,631 --> 00:34:14,217 and Truman sailed home on August 3. 491 00:34:14,302 --> 00:34:17,637 With no response from the Japanese, he authorised the Air Force 492 00:34:17,722 --> 00:34:21,975 to drop the atom bomb as soon as they were ready. 493 00:34:22,060 --> 00:34:24,144 The Japanese foreign minister, Togo, 494 00:34:24,228 --> 00:34:27,481 in desperation cabled his ambassador in Moscow: 495 00:34:27,565 --> 00:34:31,276 "Since the loss of one day relative to this present matter 496 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,362 may result in a thousand years of regret, 497 00:34:34,447 --> 00:34:38,200 it is requested you immediately have a talk with Molotov." 498 00:34:38,910 --> 00:34:42,370 But Molotov would still not meet the ambassador. 499 00:34:42,955 --> 00:34:44,372 On August 6, 500 00:34:44,457 --> 00:34:48,085 two days before the Russians had said they would attack the Japanese, 501 00:34:48,169 --> 00:34:53,048 the Enola Gay set off on its 1500-mile journey. 502 00:34:53,132 --> 00:34:58,470 l noticed as l taxied out that there were several hundred people 503 00:34:58,554 --> 00:35:01,848 that were in the area the aircraft were parked in, 504 00:35:01,933 --> 00:35:05,268 there were some in front of the control tower... 505 00:35:05,353 --> 00:35:08,897 People were out there to see what was going on 506 00:35:08,981 --> 00:35:11,691 without really knowing what they were looking at, 507 00:35:11,776 --> 00:35:13,527 but it was something difterent, 508 00:35:13,611 --> 00:35:17,489 so they wanted to be part of it, wanted to see what was taking place. 509 00:35:17,573 --> 00:35:20,909 There's one bomb and one aeroplane was going to carry that bomb, 510 00:35:20,993 --> 00:35:25,705 and that's the group commander, Colonel Tibbets, with his full crew. 511 00:35:25,832 --> 00:35:27,916 My crew was assigned 512 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:30,168 to fly in formation on his right wing 513 00:35:30,253 --> 00:35:31,419 during the bombing, 514 00:35:31,504 --> 00:35:32,838 for a couple of reasons - 515 00:35:32,964 --> 00:35:34,381 somebody had to fly there 516 00:35:34,465 --> 00:35:38,135 and l was scheduled by him to fly the second mission, 517 00:35:38,219 --> 00:35:41,638 if there were to be a second mission. 518 00:35:41,722 --> 00:35:44,933 We were to have a third aircraft flying on the left wing 519 00:35:45,017 --> 00:35:47,477 who would drop back just before the bombing - 520 00:35:47,562 --> 00:35:49,271 he was equipped with cameras. 521 00:35:49,355 --> 00:35:54,151 We were to fly unseen by each other for the first three hours 522 00:35:54,235 --> 00:36:01,116 and to make rendezvous at 8,000 feet over lwo Jima at 6am. 523 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:03,493 This was the plan. 524 00:36:03,578 --> 00:36:07,956 We made the rendezvous successfully, then we had about an hour and a half 525 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:13,044 to go along in a lazy formation on a beautiful night out over the Pacific, 526 00:36:13,129 --> 00:36:16,464 with moons and cloud pufts that looked like powder pufts - 527 00:36:16,549 --> 00:36:20,093 it was a quiet, peaceful evening, believe me. 528 00:36:20,178 --> 00:36:24,306 Nothing much went on - a little bit of talk in the aeroplane, 529 00:36:24,390 --> 00:36:27,225 but that's always normal on a mission - 530 00:36:27,310 --> 00:36:29,644 but then you'd get a quiet period, 531 00:36:29,729 --> 00:36:34,566 and l guess everybody was dreaming or something, because it was quiet. 532 00:36:36,611 --> 00:36:40,155 (narrator) At 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 533 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:46,745 the Enola Gay, flying at 32,000 feet, released its bomb over Hiroshima. 534 00:36:46,829 --> 00:36:49,998 (Tibbets) As soon as the weight had left the aeroplane 535 00:36:50,082 --> 00:36:52,334 l immediately went into this steep turn, 536 00:36:52,460 --> 00:36:55,212 as did Sweeney and Marquart behind me, 537 00:36:55,296 --> 00:36:58,298 and we tried then to place distance 538 00:36:58,424 --> 00:37:00,884 between ourselves and the point of impact. 539 00:37:01,510 --> 00:37:04,638 ln this particular case, that bomb had 53 seconds 540 00:37:04,722 --> 00:37:07,766 from the time it left the aeroplane until it exploded. 541 00:37:07,850 --> 00:37:12,395 That's how long it took to fall from the bombing altitude - 53 seconds. 542 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:16,566 And this gave us adequate time, of course, to make the turn. 543 00:37:16,651 --> 00:37:21,821 Now, we had just made the turn and rolled out in level flight 544 00:37:21,948 --> 00:37:26,159 when it seemed like somebody had grabbed hold of my aeroplane 545 00:37:26,244 --> 00:37:28,036 and gave it a real hard shaking, 546 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,998 because this was the shock wave that had come up. 547 00:37:38,589 --> 00:37:42,050 This was something that l was glad to feel 548 00:37:42,134 --> 00:37:44,761 because it gave me a moment of relief - 549 00:37:44,845 --> 00:37:49,266 after all, having worked on that bomb for well over a year, 550 00:37:49,350 --> 00:37:52,227 that 53 seconds while l'm turning the aeroplane 551 00:37:52,311 --> 00:37:55,480 l'm wondering "ls it or is it not going to work?" 552 00:37:55,564 --> 00:38:01,111 And, of course, the shock wave hitting us was indication it had worked. 553 00:38:01,195 --> 00:38:04,990 Therefore l felt that success had been achieved. 554 00:38:05,074 --> 00:38:09,035 When the bomb came l saw a yellowish flash 555 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,997 and l was buried in the darkness. 556 00:38:12,081 --> 00:38:17,711 The two-storeyed wooden building that was my house, with eight rooms in it, 557 00:38:17,795 --> 00:38:21,464 was blown down to pieces and covered me up. 558 00:38:21,549 --> 00:38:24,342 (speaks Japanese) 559 00:38:24,427 --> 00:38:26,845 (translator) When l regained consciousness 560 00:38:26,929 --> 00:38:30,056 everything was pitch dark all around me. 561 00:38:30,182 --> 00:38:33,643 l tried to stand up, but my leg was broken. 562 00:38:33,728 --> 00:38:39,107 l tried to speak and l found that six of my teeth had been broken. 563 00:38:39,233 --> 00:38:43,069 Then l realised that my face was burnt and my back was burnt. 564 00:38:43,154 --> 00:38:48,491 There was a slash right across from one shoulder down to the waist. 565 00:38:48,576 --> 00:38:52,412 l crawled to the river bank and when l got there 566 00:38:52,496 --> 00:38:56,916 l saw hundreds of bodies come floating down the river. 567 00:38:57,001 --> 00:39:03,882 And it was then that l realised with a shock that all Hiroshima had been hit. 568 00:39:08,054 --> 00:39:09,554 The day was clear 569 00:39:09,638 --> 00:39:11,181 when we dropped that bomb - 570 00:39:11,265 --> 00:39:14,601 it was a clear sunshiny day and visibility was unrestricted - 571 00:39:14,685 --> 00:39:16,936 so as we came back around, 572 00:39:17,021 --> 00:39:20,815 again facing the direction of Hiroshima, 573 00:39:20,900 --> 00:39:24,235 we saw this cloud coming up. 574 00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:28,907 The cloud by this time - now two minutes - the cloud was up at our altitude. 575 00:39:28,991 --> 00:39:30,909 We were at 33,000 feet at this time, 576 00:39:30,993 --> 00:39:32,410 and the cloud was up there 577 00:39:32,495 --> 00:39:36,539 and continuing to go right on up in a boiling fashion - 578 00:39:36,624 --> 00:39:39,084 it was rolling and boiling. 579 00:39:39,168 --> 00:39:46,174 The surface was nothing but... a black, boiling... 580 00:39:46,258 --> 00:39:48,760 the only thing l can say, like a barrel of tar - 581 00:39:48,844 --> 00:39:51,054 probably the best description l can give. 582 00:39:51,138 --> 00:39:53,139 This was the way it looked down there. 583 00:39:53,224 --> 00:39:55,100 Where before there had been a city - 584 00:39:55,184 --> 00:39:57,268 distinctive houses, buildings 585 00:39:57,353 --> 00:40:00,188 and everything that you could see from our altitude - 586 00:40:00,272 --> 00:40:05,652 now you couldn't see anything except this black, boiling debris down below. 587 00:40:05,778 --> 00:40:09,447 We took pictures as rapidly as we could. 588 00:40:09,532 --> 00:40:13,701 My immediate concern after that was "lt's time to get out of here." 589 00:40:13,786 --> 00:40:20,667 l encountered long, ceaseless lines of escapees. 590 00:40:20,751 --> 00:40:26,756 All of them had no clothes whatsoever on their bodies. 591 00:40:28,342 --> 00:40:31,636 And the skin 592 00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:37,600 from their faces, arms and breast 593 00:40:37,685 --> 00:40:40,061 peeling oft and hanging loose - 594 00:40:40,146 --> 00:40:45,191 and yet without any expression. 595 00:40:45,276 --> 00:40:49,028 ln deep silence they are escaping. 596 00:40:49,113 --> 00:40:54,117 l thought it was a procession of ghosts. 597 00:40:55,119 --> 00:40:56,453 The words went back 598 00:40:56,537 --> 00:41:01,249 basically to the eftect that the bombing conditions were clear, 599 00:41:01,333 --> 00:41:05,753 the target had been hit, the results were better than had been anticipated, 600 00:41:05,838 --> 00:41:08,089 and that message was sent on back. 601 00:41:08,174 --> 00:41:10,258 From there on it was just a proposition 602 00:41:10,342 --> 00:41:12,635 of letting everybody talk for a few minutes 603 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:14,679 and get it out of their system. 604 00:41:14,763 --> 00:41:16,723 The excitement was over - 605 00:41:16,807 --> 00:41:20,643 pretty soon it became a rather routine flight back home. 606 00:41:20,728 --> 00:41:22,896 As a matter of fact, it was routine enough 607 00:41:22,980 --> 00:41:26,691 that l let Bob Lewis and the autopilot fly that aeroplane 608 00:41:26,775 --> 00:41:30,570 and went back and got some sleep for about the first time in 30 hours - 609 00:41:30,654 --> 00:41:32,530 and l was ready for it. 610 00:41:32,615 --> 00:41:34,240 A long drawn-out war, 611 00:41:34,325 --> 00:41:41,247 you begin to get casualties from the side-eftects of exhaustion, privation... 612 00:41:42,708 --> 00:41:45,001 disease and things of that sort. 613 00:41:45,085 --> 00:41:48,421 So getting it over with as quick as possible 614 00:41:48,506 --> 00:41:54,177 is a moral responsibility of everyone concerned. 615 00:41:54,261 --> 00:41:58,056 Now, it's true that we knew the war was over 616 00:41:58,140 --> 00:42:01,184 and if we just waited a little while it would be over, 617 00:42:01,268 --> 00:42:04,020 because the Japanese were negotiating, 618 00:42:04,104 --> 00:42:07,106 and we knew this because we'd broken their code 619 00:42:07,191 --> 00:42:09,859 and we were listening to their communications. 620 00:42:09,944 --> 00:42:16,783 But l believe that President Truman made the proper decision to use it... 621 00:42:17,952 --> 00:42:21,246 because it probably hastened the negotiations 622 00:42:21,330 --> 00:42:24,624 and even if we just saved one day, 623 00:42:24,708 --> 00:42:27,377 to me it would be worthwhile, you have to do it. 624 00:42:28,420 --> 00:42:31,798 l thought it was absolutely unnecessary, 625 00:42:31,882 --> 00:42:36,427 because by the time the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 626 00:42:36,512 --> 00:42:42,433 we were conducting negotiations with the Soviet government, 627 00:42:42,518 --> 00:42:45,895 looking towards an early end of hostilities. 628 00:42:45,980 --> 00:42:50,650 And we were completely exhausted. 629 00:42:50,734 --> 00:42:54,779 And the navy and army, too, 630 00:42:54,863 --> 00:42:57,949 were slowly becoming... 631 00:43:00,828 --> 00:43:06,874 more amenable to the idea of peace. 632 00:43:06,959 --> 00:43:10,628 lt's an appalling subject to talk about, 633 00:43:10,713 --> 00:43:15,216 and the United States has, consciously and unconsciously, 634 00:43:15,301 --> 00:43:18,636 a great deal of guilt complex about its use. 635 00:43:18,721 --> 00:43:24,976 But Truman made the decision on the basis of the military necessities. 636 00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:29,147 And l think an impartial analysis, 637 00:43:29,231 --> 00:43:32,150 particularly from the Japanese themselves - 638 00:43:32,234 --> 00:43:36,112 more evidence is coming out that they would've fought on fanatically. 639 00:43:36,196 --> 00:43:38,323 You know, they did fight on fanatically 640 00:43:38,407 --> 00:43:39,949 in some of the islands, 641 00:43:40,034 --> 00:43:42,118 in spite of the surrender. 642 00:43:42,202 --> 00:43:46,623 And the emperor wouldn't have had the courage 643 00:43:46,707 --> 00:43:50,209 to have called it oft, or the support to call it oft. 644 00:43:50,753 --> 00:43:56,007 When l heard about the atomic bomb l was so astonished, 645 00:43:56,925 --> 00:44:01,929 and l frankly said, "The American people are brutal." 646 00:44:04,767 --> 00:44:10,021 l wondered if the American people were really civilised. 647 00:44:10,147 --> 00:44:11,814 But at the same time 648 00:44:11,899 --> 00:44:16,611 l thought this may become a key 649 00:44:16,695 --> 00:44:21,282 for Japan to end the war. 650 00:44:24,662 --> 00:44:28,247 (narrator) lt was two days before the Japanese government realised 651 00:44:28,332 --> 00:44:32,627 what the atomic bomb was and what it had done. 652 00:44:32,711 --> 00:44:36,214 70,000 had died in Hiroshima. 653 00:44:36,298 --> 00:44:39,133 Another 70,000 were injured. 654 00:44:39,218 --> 00:44:44,555 97% of the city's buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. 655 00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,975 President Truman, on hearing the news, 656 00:44:48,060 --> 00:44:51,729 called it "the greatest thing in history". 657 00:44:51,814 --> 00:44:54,107 The peace group in the Japanese cabinet 658 00:44:54,191 --> 00:44:59,028 hoped that the bomb might persuade the war faction to accept surrender. 659 00:44:59,113 --> 00:45:02,198 As the cabinet met on the morning of August 9, 660 00:45:02,282 --> 00:45:05,368 it received further shattering news. 661 00:45:06,328 --> 00:45:08,454 The previous evening, in Moscow, 662 00:45:08,539 --> 00:45:11,666 Molotov had finally received the Japanese ambassador 663 00:45:11,750 --> 00:45:16,045 and bluntly told him that Russia was about to declare war on Japan. 664 00:45:16,672 --> 00:45:20,717 Eight hours later - exactly three months after the defeat of Germany, 665 00:45:20,801 --> 00:45:22,802 just as Stalin had promised - 666 00:45:22,886 --> 00:45:26,556 Russia attacked the Japanese army in Manchuria. 667 00:45:27,391 --> 00:45:31,519 Japanese hopes of Russian mediation were at an end. 668 00:45:31,603 --> 00:45:35,440 American hopes of finishing the war before Russia became involved 669 00:45:35,524 --> 00:45:37,984 were thwarted. 670 00:45:43,532 --> 00:45:45,616 Later that same morning, 671 00:45:45,701 --> 00:45:49,704 the Americans dropped a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. 672 00:45:49,788 --> 00:45:52,290 lt killed 60,000 people. 673 00:45:52,374 --> 00:45:54,917 But even now the Japanese militants 674 00:45:55,002 --> 00:45:58,546 held out for a surrender without an occupation. 675 00:45:59,715 --> 00:46:04,135 The peace party wanted only to preserVe the emperor's position. 676 00:46:04,720 --> 00:46:06,929 For the first time, to break the deadlock, 677 00:46:07,014 --> 00:46:11,100 the emperor, Hirohito, was called in to decide. 678 00:46:12,227 --> 00:46:14,979 He chose peace. 679 00:46:15,063 --> 00:46:20,860 (Hisatsune Sakomizu) l shall never forget the emotion of that time. 680 00:46:20,944 --> 00:46:27,492 Everybody started to cry, so l looked at the emperor's face. 681 00:46:27,576 --> 00:46:30,912 He just kept silent, 682 00:46:31,663 --> 00:46:38,795 but he wore white gloves on his hands... 683 00:46:39,922 --> 00:46:47,136 He wiped his own face several times, 684 00:46:48,263 --> 00:46:54,352 so we could know the emperor himself, 685 00:46:54,436 --> 00:46:57,814 His Majesty the emperor himself, was crying. 686 00:46:58,690 --> 00:47:04,779 l shall never forget the emotion 687 00:47:04,863 --> 00:47:07,073 in this room at that time. 688 00:47:09,409 --> 00:47:12,829 On August 10, the Japanese made it known they would surrender 689 00:47:12,913 --> 00:47:16,249 if the emperor were allowed to stay. 690 00:47:16,333 --> 00:47:21,420 On August 12, the Allies sent a noncommittal reply. 691 00:47:21,547 --> 00:47:24,882 By this time, Japan's army was near revolt. 692 00:47:25,342 --> 00:47:27,844 (speaks Japanese) 693 00:47:27,928 --> 00:47:31,764 (translator) Even if a thousand atom bombs had been dropped, 694 00:47:31,849 --> 00:47:36,143 and even if Japan had been completely devastated, 695 00:47:36,228 --> 00:47:40,231 you must remember that Japan's honour was at stake, 696 00:47:40,315 --> 00:47:42,942 the pride of the Japanese at that time 697 00:47:43,026 --> 00:47:48,447 who felt that the only honourable way out of the war was not to surrender, 698 00:47:48,532 --> 00:47:50,867 but to die to the last man. 699 00:47:51,702 --> 00:47:54,078 (narrator) The Americans dropped leaflets 700 00:47:54,162 --> 00:47:56,205 urging the Japanese to surrender. 701 00:47:56,331 --> 00:48:01,586 These almost upset the delicate manoeuvrings of the peace party. 702 00:48:01,670 --> 00:48:04,797 (speaks Japanese) 703 00:48:04,882 --> 00:48:08,009 (translator) That could have caused a lot of trouble. 704 00:48:08,093 --> 00:48:10,887 Civilians and soldiers all over the country 705 00:48:10,971 --> 00:48:14,932 were completely unaware of what was going on. 706 00:48:15,017 --> 00:48:18,603 lf they had found out that the government was negotiating peace 707 00:48:18,729 --> 00:48:20,813 with the United States, 708 00:48:20,898 --> 00:48:24,108 the situation would have become impossible. 709 00:48:24,192 --> 00:48:27,653 lt might even have led to a revolution. 710 00:48:27,738 --> 00:48:33,868 So l felt we had to reach a final decision as fast as possible. 711 00:48:39,082 --> 00:48:41,584 (narrator) Once again, on August 14, 712 00:48:41,668 --> 00:48:44,712 the emperor met a divided Supreme War Council 713 00:48:44,796 --> 00:48:48,966 and told them they must accept the Allied ultimatum. 714 00:48:49,051 --> 00:48:53,429 He himself would broadcast the next day. 715 00:48:53,513 --> 00:48:56,641 That night, a group of junior ofticers invaded the palace 716 00:48:56,725 --> 00:49:00,019 and tried to seize the recording of the emperor's message. 717 00:49:00,103 --> 00:49:03,856 They couldn't find it. The coup failed. 718 00:49:03,941 --> 00:49:05,358 At noon on August 15, 719 00:49:05,442 --> 00:49:12,365 the Japanese people heard their emperor's voice for the first time. 720 00:49:12,449 --> 00:49:15,284 (Japanese over radio) 721 00:49:17,371 --> 00:49:24,919 "The war", he told them, "has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage." 722 00:49:25,003 --> 00:49:31,133 "Moreover, the enemy has begun to use a new and most cruel bomb." 723 00:49:31,218 --> 00:49:33,552 "Should we continue to fight, 724 00:49:33,637 --> 00:49:36,847 it will not only result in an ultimate collapse 725 00:49:36,932 --> 00:49:40,101 and obliteration of the Japanese nation, 726 00:49:40,185 --> 00:49:45,648 but also the total destruction of human civilisation." 727 00:49:45,732 --> 00:49:50,569 "We must, therefore, endure the unendurable." 728 00:49:52,739 --> 00:49:59,328 When the emperor addressed the nation through his broadcast, 729 00:49:59,413 --> 00:50:06,043 l know that 99 men out of 100 730 00:50:06,128 --> 00:50:08,170 were taken aback. 731 00:50:08,255 --> 00:50:12,842 They expected the emperor to urge them to fight on. 732 00:50:13,969 --> 00:50:19,473 So the shock was tremendous. 733 00:50:20,350 --> 00:50:25,604 And all the army ofticers, particularly the younger ones, 734 00:50:25,689 --> 00:50:31,902 who said that they had to fight to the bitter end, 735 00:50:31,987 --> 00:50:35,072 were naturally disillusioned. 736 00:50:35,157 --> 00:50:41,704 Some even tried to remonstrate 737 00:50:41,788 --> 00:50:46,834 with the decision taken by the cabinet for surrender. 738 00:50:46,918 --> 00:50:49,587 (speaks Japanese) 739 00:50:52,215 --> 00:50:55,551 (translator) ln a way it could be said that the atomic bombings 740 00:50:55,635 --> 00:50:58,095 and Russia's sudden attack on Japan 741 00:50:58,180 --> 00:51:00,890 helped to bring about the end of the war. 742 00:51:00,974 --> 00:51:03,350 lf those events had not happened, 743 00:51:03,435 --> 00:51:08,272 Japan, at that stage, probably could not have stopped fighting. 744 00:51:16,865 --> 00:51:20,326 (narrator) The war had ended, but not the dying. 745 00:51:21,161 --> 00:51:25,998 And radiation sickness - which the Americans had not foreseen - 746 00:51:26,083 --> 00:51:28,667 would kill thousands more in the years to come. 747 00:51:37,719 --> 00:51:40,346 The morning of September 2, 1945: 748 00:51:40,430 --> 00:51:45,392 the United States battleship Missouri is anchored in Tokyo Bay. 749 00:51:46,311 --> 00:51:49,105 The new Japanese foreign minister, Shigemitsu, 750 00:51:49,189 --> 00:51:53,651 limps on board to sign the surrender document. 751 00:52:06,248 --> 00:52:09,875 The Allied commander, General MacArthur. 752 00:52:09,960 --> 00:52:17,508 l now invite the representatives of the emperor of Japan 753 00:52:17,592 --> 00:52:20,553 and the Japanese government 754 00:52:20,637 --> 00:52:23,973 and the Japanese lmperial General Headquarters 755 00:52:24,099 --> 00:52:29,728 to sign the instrument of surrender at the places indicated. 756 00:52:29,813 --> 00:52:35,067 (narrator) The foreign minister's aide, Kase, watched the ceremony. 757 00:52:35,152 --> 00:52:42,533 (Kase) l saw many thousands of sailors everywhere on this huge vessel, 758 00:52:42,617 --> 00:52:48,706 and just in front of us were delegates of the victorious powers, 759 00:52:48,790 --> 00:52:52,960 in military uniforms glittering with gold. 760 00:52:53,670 --> 00:52:55,421 And looking at them, 761 00:52:55,505 --> 00:53:02,136 l wondered how Japan ever thought she could defeat all those nations. 762 00:53:04,389 --> 00:53:10,269 (newsreel) Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world, 763 00:53:11,563 --> 00:53:16,442 and that God will preserVe it always. 764 00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:21,322 These proceedings are closed.