USA's Atomic Attack on Hiroshima, Japan

On August 6, 1945, President of USA Harry S. Truman from 1945–1953 took the decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan after the end of World War II.

The first few sentences of the statement on bombing of Hiroshima, a city of 350,000 with atomic bomb given to Press as part of the official narrative reads:

"Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. ...The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. ...It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe."

U.S. newspapers relied on 14 separate press releases distributed by the Pentagon several hours after the president's announcement and published headlines such as "Atom Bombs Made in 3 Hidden Cities". At least 60% of the Hiroshima city was wiped off the map.

W.L. Laurence, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times, "embedded" with the Manhattan Project authored some of these press releases. Newspaper editorials endorsed the use of the bomb against Japan.

The United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were created during Truman's tenure. He succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Franklin D. Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his fourth term.