Everything pales today compared to the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. I just watched Oppenheimer yesterday afternoon and saw the buildup to it all. It was an incredible achievement with disastrous results. Oh, we all were taught in school about how it had to happen, that it saved American military lives because of not having to invade Japan, and how it ended WWII. But do we stop to consider how many human lives were lost in Hiroshima and three days later in Nagasaki? Not just on the days but later from burns and radiation poisoning? 70,000 just in Hiroshima actual deaths on that day. It was a different world and there are many divergent views of what should have been done – as well as reconsidering of the options that were not considered. But in terms of just flesh and blood human cost, do we ever really think about and take time to absorb it?
There were a few other things that did happen on this date in history. In 1825 the Bolivian Declaration of Independence was declared. In 1926 Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. In 1965 Pres LBJ signed into law the Voting Rights Act. And in 2012 the Curiosity rover landed on Mars.
Those born on this date include British poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809), Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Arthur Fleming (1881) who gave us the first antibiotic -penicillin, comedian and TV series actress Lucille Ball (1911), and pop artist Andy Warhol (1928) as well as sci-fi writer Piers Anthony (1934).
We also said goodbye the journalist and 60-minutes co-creator Harry Reasoner (1991), coming-of-age teen filmmaker John Hughes (2009),, and pianist, composer, and conductor Marvin Hamlisch (2012)
Today there will be numerous Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremonies happening all around the world, to mirror the first one that occurred in Japan in 1947.
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