CHAPTER 9 - FINAL DETAILS
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On July 30, the Secretary of War sent an urgent message ("War 41011") to the President. Progress on "Grove's Project" [the atom bomb] was moving ahead "so rapidly that it is now essential that statement for release by you be available not later than Wednesday, 1 August." The President penned his response on the backside of the urgent memo:
This handwritten note is the best available document giving the President's direct approval to drop the bomb on a Japanese city. The press release was ready. It would advise the American people - after the fact - that a new weapon had been used against Japan. But one blank space in the proposed statement still had to be filled. Where would the bomb be dropped? Military leaders had selected several cities. One of those cities was Hiroshima. |
