To end World War II, was it necessary to drop atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, killing roughly 200,000 people?
Instead, couldn’t the U.S. have vividly shown the power of its new weapon by blowing up a deserted Japanese island—or maybe the top of Mount Fuji—to shock Japan into surrendering?
In the movie “ Oppenheimer ,” the suggestion of staging a demonstration comes up only briefly, almost in passing.
The full story is more complicated and surprising, and it has meaningful implications for the alarming spread of nuclear weapons today.
Persons:
“ Oppenheimer
Organizations:
Mount Fuji
Locations:
Japan