The age of nuclear weapons dawned on Monday, Aug. 6, 1945, in World War II.
A U.S. B-29 Superfortress dropped the first nuclear bomb, named “Little Boy,” on Hiroshima, killing (an obviously impossible-to-estimate-accurately) 90,000 to 166,000 Japanese.
The world was awed — but Japan did not surrender.
So on Aug. 9, another B-29 dropped the second wartime nuclear weapon, “Fat Man,” on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 Japanese.
Japan surrendered on Aug. 14.
Both Japan and Nazi Germany had been working to make nuclear weapons. Fortunately, the United States achieved them first — or the result would have been quite different! We will never know how many American — and Japanese — lives were saved by those U.S. nukes, which made a U.S. invasion of Japan to end World War II unnecessary.
Nine nations are known to have developed nukes: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Communist China, India, Pakistan, Communist North Korea and South Africa (which is said to have disassembled its nukes).
The United States reportedly has built more than 9,000 nukes, disassembling some old ones. Now, the Obama administration has announced the United States currently has 5,113 nukes.
Why would such a “secret” be revealed? It is reported to be part of a U.S. effort to get other nuclear-possessing nations to agree to reduce their nuclear arsenals.
“We think it is in our national security interest to be as transparent as we can be about the nuclear program of the United States,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the U.N.
Do you think our troubling enemies are impressed?
We hope no nuke will ever be exploded again in war. But our enemies cannot be trusted. It is foolish for us to disclose any details about our deterrent power.