American History: The Dawn of the Atomic Age
30 May 2012
Ruins left by the explosion of an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945
STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.
This week, we continue our series of "time capsule" programs, each one exploring another facet, decade or period of America in the twentieth century. This week, science brings an end to World War Two and lays the groundwork for a new attention to research, development, and scientific education in the years to come.
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World War Two ended with an action that was never taken before in the history of warfare, and has never been taken since. It required the efforts of a team of scientists. Working in secrecy, they designed and built the first atomic bombs. President Harry S. Truman made the decision to use these weapons against Japan in August of nineteen forty-five.
PRESIDENT TRUMAN: "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. We shall continue to use it until we destroy Japan’s power to make war." A cloud of dark smoke rises more than 20,000 feet into the air, after the atomic bomb explodes over the Japanese port and town of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945
STEVE EMBER: America's use of atomic weapons brought years of conflict in Europe and the Pacific to an end. But it also marked the beginning of the nuclear age. And it represented, in a dramatic way, the growing importance of science and technology in modern times.
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