Episode 113 - Rain of Ruin, Part 6

History of Japan

Isaac Meyer

Japan, History, Japanese

4.8 • 744 Ratings

🗓️ 8 August 2015

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the final episode of our series on the atomic bomb, we'll talk a bit about some other theories related to the bomb before closing with some general thoughts about the bomb and what it says about how we approach and write history.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This week's episode is brought to you by Audible.
0:03.5	Audible has over 1,800 titles to choose from, all compatible with iPhone, Android,
0:09.9	Kindle, or your MP3 player of choice.
0:13.4	For listeners of the show, Audible is offering a free 30-day trial membership,
0:18.2	complete with credit for a free audiobook of your choice. You can cancel any time
0:23.1	and keep the free book, or keep going with one of Audible's subscription offers. Go to
0:28.5	audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your offer. This week, I'm going to recommend Big Science,
0:35.9	Ernest Lawrence and the invention that launched the military
0:38.7	industrial complex by Michael Hiltzik.
0:42.6	Lawrence's discovery of the Cyclotron in the 1930s, revolutionized atomic physics, made the Manhattan
0:49.2	project viable, and laid the groundwork for the modern relationship between science, the government, and the arms manufacturing business.
0:58.4	Hiltzik's history of this development gives us a chance to look at the profound ramifications of Lawrence's scientific curiosity.
1:06.8	Go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your copy.
1:36.6	Thank you. Go to audibletrial.com slash Japan to claim your copy. Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 113, Rain of Ruin, Part 6.
1:43.2	This week, I want to spend some time discussing a few aspects of the atomic bomb that haven't really fit anywhere in the last few episodes
1:45.5	before concluding with some final remarks on the topic.
1:49.4	More than anything, I'd like to spend some time on the idea of a decision to drop the atomic bomb.
1:56.0	This is one of the most enduring tropes of the whole topic, the idea of a morally racked President Truman
2:01.9	sitting in the Oval Office, weighing the pros and cons, before finally deciding with a heavy
2:07.5	heart to use the most terrible weapon ever invented. The image has an enduring popularity in
2:14.5	American thinking about the bomb, partially because it was immortalized in Hollywood
2:19.5	by in, and I swear I am not making this up, the only officially approved movie depicting
	...

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