hiroshima

Views on nuclear weapons are often linked to strong emotions. On August 6, 2010, the text announcing my podcast on nuclear security issues to FAS members and on the FAS Website used a strong, emotionally charged word to describe the August 6, 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. That word was “unconscionable.”

An FAS member wrote to me expressing her disagreement with the use of that word because it is:

“an unequivocal judgment about the American decision to drop the two bombs.  This may be the opinion of whoever wrote the text, but it is NOT necessarily the opinion of all of the members and supporters of FAS.  I do not believe it was the opinion – before the end of the war – of all of the founders of the original organization that became FAS.  It is an arrogant claim that we would have all made a different decision under the circumstances of the war.”