NHK Documentaries

Executive Non-Decision: A-Bomb History Rewritten (2016x52)

Ausstrahlung: Nov 27, 2016

In August 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on humans for the first time in history. That year alone, more than 210,000 people lost their lives in the A-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. US President Harry Truman later explained that he had made the decision to drop the bombs in order to save thousands of American lives. But declassified military and government documents have now revealed that the decision may not have been made by Truman. How were the bombings ordered, and by whom? Seventy-one years after the bombings, this documentary examines the evidence, including audio recordings of the director of A-bomb development, in pursuit of the truth.