We Interrupt This Broadcast: August 6 1945

We Interrupt This Broadcast: August 6 1945 by ric gustafson


The successful test of the world's first atomic bomb was on July 16 1945. It took two and a half years to construct at a cost of $2 billion dollars. The first idea of an atomic bomb came from Albert Einstein in August of 1939. He told President Roosevelt about the possibility of developing a fission bomb of a annihilative nature. To test Einstein's theory, Roosevelt assembled a group of scientists headed by Dr J Robert Oppenheimer. The project was called the Manhattan Project  and it was done at a secretive government facility in Los Alamos New Mexico.
The bomb now called Little Boy was sent to Tinian Island on July 24 1945. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets and his bomber group were assigned to deliver the bomb to it's target. On August 6 1945, The Enola Gay led by Tibbets left at 2:45 am. At 8:15 am, the bomb was dropped and exploded 1850 feet over Hiroshima. The bomb created a blinding flash and temperatures as hot as 7200 degrees. Buildings boiled and melted, rivers burned and people  vaporized into thin air. Water vapor became black rain and a shock wave obliterated buildings. 80 thousand Japanese and 23 American POW's  died within the first hour of the blast. President Truman interrupted programming to tell the nation what happened. On August 9, another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki.
At noon on August 15, Emperor Hirohito informed his nation that they were surrendering.


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Peace and God's blessings. Love Ric