Who’s Who Important Leaders During Hiroshima

Hideki Tojo:       

Initially a soldier in the Japanese army, he worked his way up to the rank of general, was appointed vice minister of war, minister of war, and eventually prime minister.  He was the leader of Japan in title, and in practice, had more power to command than did the Emperor Hirohito.  He was a supporter of Nazi Germany and like Hitler, feared the power of the communist USSR.  He began to negotiate with the United States but when he was convinced that the negotiations were going nowhere, ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Emperor Hirohito:                           

He was the man who was Japanese emperor-god during WWII.  He was a man fascinated by Western culture and took a six-month tour of Europe in his youth.  He was a peace-loving man, more interested in marine biology and haiku poetry.  While he was in power, he was little more than a figurehead for Japan, the true power of military and state in the hands of the prime minister figure, Hideki Tojo.  He called for peace, and attempted to negotiate peace via his son through Russia.  On August 15, 1945, the people of Japan heard their emperor for the first time; he expressed to his people the need for their surrender, in which they must “endure the unendurable.

Harry Truman:                                 

He was president of the United States who made the final decision to use the newly contrived atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.  The 33^rd president of the United States, he had been vice president to the renowned Franklin Delano Roosevelt up until FDR’s death.  His humble beginnings as a farmer in Kansas gave him a very grounded view of life and decision-making.  He saw the atomic bomb simply as a way of ending the war swiftly in order to save the lives of American troops.

General Douglas MacArthur:

A military man from the cradle to the grave, MacArthur has been called “one of the protagonists of the 20^th century*.”  He attended West Point and from there, continued on a career of military service until he received the honor of Chief of Staff.  He was in control of an air base in the Philippines, which was destroyed as the same time as Hiroshima.  He fought the Japanese forces until on September 2, 1945 he oversaw the Japanese surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri.

(Left: Einstein, Right: Szilard)

Who’s Who

Atomic bomb / Manhattan Project

Leo Szilard:

A Hungarian-born physicist, he contemplated on and believed that it would be possible to formulate an atomic bomb while walking down the streets of London.  Working with his friend and colleague Enrico Fermi, the two developed the first primitive fission reactor.  He urged the United States government to begin formulation of an atomic weapon, contrary to Albert Einstein’s pleas to hold use fission only for an added energy source.

Neils Bohr:

A brilliant scientist from Denmark who studied physics, Bohr moved to the United States in 1943 after refusing to work for Nazi Germany in their race to achieve the atomic bomb.  He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922 and formulated the Bohr-Wheeler theory, which attempted to explain fission and the uranium required to create the reaction (and would be instrumental during the Manhattan Project). He pleaded with the United States’ government to rid the world of nuclear weapons and to use fission for the betterment of humanity.

Enrico Fermi:

This nuclear physicist was born in Rome, Italy and forced into his role in life after the death of his brother.  He taught nuclear physics and high-level mathematics in the University of Rome for years until he split the atom, for the first time in Rome in 1934.  In 1942 he created the first fission chain reaction, required for the bomb.  Then in 1944, he was recruited onto the Manhattan Project where he oversaw and advised on the progress of the A-bomb.

General Leslie Groves:

A native-born American military man, Groves was born in Albany, New York in 1896.  His educational career landed him in West Point Military Academy.  He would eventually be posted as the director of the Manhattan Project and appointed the nation’s best scientists and European physicists fleeing Nazism and fascism.  He advised President Truman to drop his “special bomb” and delivered “Little Boy” to Gen. Carl Spaatz who was in charge of the Air Force in the Pacific.  He continued to work for the country’s nuclear research program until his retirement in 1948.