Documents from the Truman Library, Einstein’s letter to F.D.R., the scientists’ petition against use of the bomb, and the official bombing order will surely stimulate class discussion. Five Broadsheets and a timeline illuminate events surrounding our entry into the Atomic Age. Historian: Michael J. O’Neill. The contents of this Jackdaw feature:

• War in the Pacific
• The Manhattan Project
• The Diplomatic Scene in 1945
• Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Postwar Debate

• Letter: Albert Einstein to President Franklin Roosevelt, 1939.
• U.S. anti-Japanese poster.
• Ralph Bard memo on using atomic bomb, June 1945.
• Petition from scientists urging President Truman not to use the bomb, July 1945.
• Truman diary entry on the bomb and his resolve to use it.
• Bombing order to Army Air Force, July 1945.
• Truman letter to wife on negotiations at Potsdam, July 1945.
• Statement by President, August 6, 1945, about bombing.
• Poster, newspaper articles on Hiroshima blast, Japan’s surrender, and the end of the war, August 7 & 15, 1945.
• Cable, Senator Russell to Truman, urging Japan be dealt with harshly, Truman’s response, August 1945.
• Cable, Samuel Calvert to Truman expressing concern over atomic bombs, and Truman’s response, August 1945.
• Resolution of Hiroshima, 1958.
• Truman’s handwritten notes on use of nuclear weapons.