Political Aspects of a Visit to the Nat'l Atomic Museum in Albuquerque

[RichM]

I'm on vacation in NM, & today went to the National Atomic Museum in this town, about 130 miles north of Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb was exploded July 16, 1945.

Visitors to the museum are shown a 51 minute film about the making of the atomic bomb. It has lots of interesting footage about the great physicists of the Manhattan Project, & a dazzling sequence of the Trinity Shot, plus the Hiroshima bomb explosion. What they DON'T include in the film (made by the noted producer David L Wolper) is the slightest mention whatever of all the Japanese civilians who were vaporized by the bomb. They just didn't seem to feel that this topic merited mention. They explained the whole process by which Truman & his advisors arrived at their decision to use the bomb -- but NOT A WORD about the effects, the horrors, the deaths, the defenselessness of the civilians on the receiving end of this little gem of modern technology.

Then my wife & I strolled around the rest of the museum. The displays included prominent political personalities of the post-war period, such a Ike, Truman, & Sen McCarthy. The poster about McCarthy just said he was noted for his sharp attacks on Communists &/or sympathizers working in the government. It didn't say a G*ddamn word about what McCarthyism was. Someone reading the poster would have thought that the Senator was just very patriotic, maybe a little aggressive, but no one would have dreamed what the reality behind McCarthyism was, based on the info given.

Well, they're closing down the Univ NM computers now, so I can't tell you more about this. Hope yer all well -- RichM