On August 6, 1945, during World War II, an American B-29 dropped the atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion wiped out 90 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people. Tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure. Three days later, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan surrendered on August 15.
There were serious concerns over using the atomic bomb before it was first deployed at Hiroshima. After the war those concerns grew, and by the 1950s an antinuclear movement began to take hold in the U.S. and in many other countries.
In 1975, on the campus of Quaker-founded Wilmington Collegein Wilmington, OH, Quaker and anti-nuclear activist Barbara Reynolds founded the Peace Resource Center. The Center works for peace by bearing witness to the historical experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombing survivors and the legacies of nonviolent activists touched by the horrors of nuclear war.
Joining Cincinnati Edition to discuss efforts to prevent future use of nuclear weapons are Director of the Peace Resource Center at Wilmington College, Dr. Tanya Maus; and Wilmington College Adjunct Professor of Public History and Cincinnati Art Museum Digital Specialist Rachel Ellison.
The Center will host Never Again, a commemoration of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings on Thursday, August 9 at 7 p.m.
Tune in to Cincinnati Edition August 6 at 1 p.m. to hear this segment.