Author: Greg Mitchell

Seventy-five years ago this week, an article by novelist and war reporter John Hersey, titled simply “Hiroshima,” occupied the entire feature section of the August 31, 1946, issue of The New Yorker.  Soon it would be hailed by many as one of the most important magazine stories of the century.   Its impact, arriving at a time when few Americans had been exposed to the extent of the atomic bomb’s horrific and lingering effects on Japanese civilians, was immediate and profound.   Copies sold out within hours (Albert Einstein himself ordered a thousand); it was read in its entirely over nationwide radio; newspaper commentators instructed everyone to read it. 

For officials and military leaders who took part in the decision to deploy the new weapon over the center of two cities, killing over 200,000 (the vast majority of them civilians), however, the Hersey piece posed a threat to the narrative they had promoted on why this use was necessary.   But what did the man with ultimate responsibility for that, President Harry S. Truman, think about the article?  

Continue reading “75 Years Ago: Did Truman Read John Hersey’s Hiroshima?”

The story of the Nuclear Age has been one of secrecy and suppression going back to the Manhattan Project, the first atomic test in New Mexico, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This year’s 10th edition of the International Uranium Film Festival, held in Rio de Janiero from May 20 to 30 – but with films available to all streaming and free of charge – includes numerous documentaries that expose untold or little known cover-ups.

One of them is my own new film Atomic Cover-up, which the festival has touted as one of its three highlights. But other films – see full list and access for viewing – explore among other outrages, from Algeria to Australia to America: the legacy of bomb tests in the Pacific, nuclear plant disasters from before Chernobyl to Fukushima, radiation tests on humans, nuclear arsenals and accidents, and atomic refugees.

My own film, Atomic Cover-up, premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival earlier this spring and has just been selected for the Venezia Festival in Italy. It is the first documentary to explore the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 from the unique perspective, words and startling images of the brave cameramen and directors who risked their lives filming in the irradiated aftermath.

Continue reading “Atomic Cover-ups Exposed at Uranium Film Festival”

It went “virtually” very well, when the documentary that I wrote and directed, Atomic Cover-up, received its world premiere Saturday at Cinequest. Like nearly all major film festivals in the past year, this one has skipped the theaters and gone fully online, allowing viewers across the country to take part over the next week (tickets at festival site here). If you want to reach me directly and request a private “free and instant” link or interview, write to: gregmitch34@gmail.com. Here are a few “reviews” from those who have seen the film and then a summary, and many more responses.

“What a great film, and original concept. An absolutely crucial way to understanding all wars. Don’t be surprised if this documentary is a player at next year’s Oscars.” – Rod Lurie (director of The Outpost, The Contender, others)

“Very powerful. Incredible unseen footage restored and the tale of the filmmakers who photographed the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” – Alex Gibney, Academy Award-winning director of Enron, Taxi to the Dark Side, Going Clear and many others.

Continue reading “Atomic Cover-Up Premieres to Rave Reviews”

World premiere at Cinequest Film Festival March 20-30. It will be available to stream during those 10 days for $3.99 (when you get to the page, click on TKS to buy tickets)..

Atomic Cover-up is the first documentary to explore the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 from the unique perspective, words and startling images of the brave cameramen and directors who risked their lives filming in the irradiated aftermath. It reveals how this historic footage, created by a Japanese newsreel crew and then an elite U.S. Army team (who shot the only color reels), was seized, classified top secret, and then buried by American officials for decades to hide the full human costs of the bombings as a dangerous nuclear arms race raged. All the while, the producers of the footage made heroic efforts to find and expose their shocking film, to reveal truths of the atomic bombings that might halt nuclear proliferation. Atomic Cover-up represents, at least in part, the film they were not allowed to make, as well as a tribute to documentarians everywhere. Following the screening, watch a 30-minute discussion between the director and producer and the daughter of one of the U.S. military officers who led the American film team.

Atomic Cover-Up TRAILER from Suzanne Mitchell on Vimeo.

As this troubled summer rolls along, and the world begins to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the creation, and use, of the first atomic bombs, many special, or especially tragic, days will draw special attention. They will include July 16 (first test of the weapon in New Mexico), August 6 (bomb dropped over Hiroshima) and August 9 (over Nagasaki). Surely far fewer in the media and elsewhere will mark another key date: July 3.

On July 3, 1945, the great atomic scientist Leo Szilard finished a letter/petition that would become the strongest (virtually the only) real attempt at halting President Truman’s march to using the atomic bomb – still almost two weeks from its first test at Trinity – against Japanese cities.

We rarely hear that as the Truman White House made plans to use the first atomic bombs against Japan in the summer of 1945, a large group of atomic scientists, many of whom had worked on the bomb project, raised their voices, or at least their names, in protest. They were led by the great physicist Szilard who, among things, is the man who convinced Albert Einstein to write his famous yes-it-can-be-done letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, setting the bomb project in motion.

Continue reading “75 Years Ago: When Szilard Tried To Halt Dropping Atomic Bombs Over Japan”