The Press, The State & The Bomb

Abstract

For most reporters the atomic age began with a press release. "It's a statement from the president, "Assistant White House Press Secretary Eben Ayers told those gathered at the Monday-morning briefing on August 6, 1945, and he began to read: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. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare....It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its powers has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.