The Secretary of War Who Feared the Bomb
HISTORY This Week
The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios
4.5 • 4.2K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
May 30, 1945. In Washington, Secretary of War Henry Stimson calls General Leslie Groves to his office and demands answers: which Japanese cities are about to become targets for the atomic bomb? What follows will pull Stimson—a deeply religious statesman who believed in restraint, but also in overwhelming force—into a profound crisis over morality, destruction, and what modern war is becoming.
How did Henry Stimson grapple with the bomb? And after helping usher in the atomic age, how did he reckon with what he’d done?
Special thanks to Evan Thomas, journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Road to Surrender: Three Men and the Countdown to the End of World War II.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, it's Sally here. The episode that you're about to hear is a deep dive into America's Secretary of War during World War II and how he struggled to balance his own conscience and his military decisions. |
| 0:13.7 | This story is one of many explored in World War II with Tom Hanks, a new History Channel series that examines this devastating conflict |
| 0:22.5 | for a new century. Across 20 hours, the series traces the war's full arc, from the rise |
| 0:29.5 | of fascism to Hiroshima, uncovering the decisions, hidden networks, and lasting consequences |
| 0:35.8 | that continue to shape our world. |
| 0:38.5 | Premaring Memorial Day, check out new episodes on the History Channel every Monday, or listen to the show as a podcast. |
| 0:45.3 | Just search for World War II with Tom Hanks wherever you listen. |
| 0:49.0 | New podcast episodes drop every Tuesday. |
| 0:51.7 | Now, back to History This Week. |
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| 1:34.2 | U.K. slash podcast to learn more. The History Channel, original podcast. |
| 1:41.1 | History this week. May 30th, 1945. |
| 1:45.0 | I'm Sally Helm. |
| 1:48.0 | 9.20 a.m. |
| 1:52.0 | An unusually crisp morning in Washington, D.C. |
| 1:56.0 | General Leslie Groves gets a message. |
| 2:00.0 | The Secretary of War wants to see him right away. |
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