The bomb that changed the world
The Story
The Times
4 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 August 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eighty years ago this week, the first atomic bomb to be used in war was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the city of Nagasaki was hit by a second. Hundreds of thousands of people died and Japan eventually surrendered. But why did America decide to use the bombs, given that Japan was already expected to lose the war? And how did Times readers debate the ethics of this decision in the pages of the newspaper?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guests:
- Jack Blackburn, History Correspondent, The Times.
- Tom Whipple, Science Editor, The Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Olivia Case.
Clips: YouTube / Harry S Truman Library, YouTube / The Atlantic / Castle Films, YouTube / Huntley Film Archives, YouTube / US National Archives.
Photo: Getty Images.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, it's Adam Grant from Worklife, a podcast from TED. |
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| 0:46.7 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. I'm Luke Jones. |
| 1:00.8 | At 16 minutes past eight, on the morning of the 6th of August, 1945, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation in Tokyo noticed something odd. |
| 1:07.6 | A regional station has just gone down, which is not unusual that happens from time to time. |
| 1:14.6 | What is strange is that the backup line has also failed. |
| 1:18.3 | Given that this is really quite odd, they report this to the headquarters of the Japanese general staff, the army. |
| 1:26.0 | And they've also had a report from the Railroad Telegraph, |
| 1:28.8 | who's said that they've lost contact with that area as well. |
| 1:32.7 | There are also reports that there's been an explosion. |
| 1:36.1 | The army are very confused by this, |
| 1:38.3 | because they have got access to radar |
| 1:41.5 | and they haven't picked up large numbers of enemy aircraft, |
| 1:43.9 | so there |
... |
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