{"id":44868,"date":"2023-11-29T09:32:07","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=44868"},"modified":"2023-11-29T09:32:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T17:32:49","slug":"when-shady-groves-mocked-radiation-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/29\/when-shady-groves-mocked-radiation-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"When Shady Groves Mocked Radiation Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from Greg Mitchell\u2019s newsletter Oppenheimer: From Hiroshima to Hollywood<\/a>.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I have noted previously here<\/a> that Manhattan Project director Gen. Leslie R. Groves \u2013 depicted by Matt Damon in \u201cOppenheimer\u201d<\/em> as a tough cookie but smart, and basically a good guy \u2013 not only was the prime mover behind the use of the atomic bomb against Japan but in private conversation mocked early evidence of survivors afflicted with deadly radiation disease. Even as more of that evidence emerged in the weeks after the bombings, Groves gave little ground, influencing (due to his stature) the rather casual way the U.S, military and nuclear industrial sites would handle protection for soldiers and workers.<\/p>\n

Seventy-eight years ago this week, Groves testified before a special U.S. Senate committee on Atomic Energy. The National Security Archive, which holds the transcript of the hearings<\/a>, calls Groves\u2019 testimony \u201cbizarre and misleading.\u201d Their summary on one portion:<\/p>\n

On radioactivity and the bombings generally, Groves said that he saw no choice between inflicting radioactivity on a \u201cfew Japanese\u201d and saving \u201c10 times as many American lives.\u201d He claimed that no one suffered radiation injury \u201cexcepting at the time that the bomb actually went off, and that is an instantaneous damage.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Groves continued to go out on a limb by declaring that it \u201creally would take an accident for \u2026 the average person, within the range of the bomb to be killed by radioactive effects.\u201d Going further out on a limb, Groves stated that the victims of radiation whose exposure was not enough to kill them instantly would die \u201cwithout undue suffering. In fact, they say it is a very pleasant way to die.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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While the Washington Post<\/em> and the New York Times<\/em> published accounts of the hearings, neither discussed Groves\u2019 testimony on radiation effects. More from his testimony:<\/p>\n