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KANSAS AND THE ATOMIC AGE
Sunflower folks get first hand information: Facts, not fancy!
IN early July last year, no sign in the sky foretold the coming of the atomic age. The forces of the United Nations were busily preparing for the assault on the Japanese homeland. The bloody Okinawa campaign had been completed, and estimates of future casualties of the United Nations before final victory ranged from one million to two million men. That the war would continue through the fall and winter seemed a certainty. The l^ew Tor?( Times on its science pages was featuring statements on the aloof' ness of scientists from social activities, how powerless the scientists are in re gard to the uses to which their discov' eries are put, and how small a part they play in generating the desires of mankind or formulating its aims. A joint statement had been issued by Truman, Churchill, and Chiang Kaishek calhng upon the Japanese people to surrender. The document ended with the significant statement, "The alternative is prompt and utter destruction." It was on this world of preparation, condemnation of the lack of social responsibility of the scientist, and pleas to the enemy to surrender, that the atomic age dawned on
July 16, 1945, in the New Mexican desert.
The month ended without any sign to the common man that the atomic age had been inaugurated. Within the first ten days of August, however, it was realized throughout the world that atomic energy had become the most powerful destructive force known to mankind for waging war. On August 15, Japan surrendered as an immediate result of two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. The world stopped short in its preparation for war, turned to the problems of peace, and began a thoughtful consideration of future atom bomb wars.
During the period which extended from the date of the announcement of the dropping of the first bomb until the present, there has been a great deal of discussion regarding the national and international aspects of the atomic bomb. The world was even more unprepared to deal with the atomic bomb than it was with the surrender of the Axis partners.
As time progressed, the people of the United States learned mOre and more about the problem of atomic