Decision to Drop the Bomb (review)

Decision to Drop the Bomb (N.B.C. , 1965 ) b&w 81 mins. The film "Decision to Drop the Bomb," an N.B.C. "White Paper," gives a detailed account of the political and technological controversies and decisions leading up to the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Japan. Interviews with the major participants in the decisionmaking process, interspersed with chronological data by Chet Huntley, bring the viewer, almost day-by-day through the period during which the bombs were prepared and dropped. In this chronological fashion, most of the major political, strategic, and moral questions surrounding this event are raised. The fact that the two chief consultants for the film are the chief exponents of the "orthodox" and "revisionist" interpretations of the purposes and effects of the bombing of Hiroshima (Herbert Feis and Gar Alperovitz ) , makes it almost inevitable that the film does not reach an explicit conclusion. But the statements of, and interviews with many of the principals involved, including Marquis Kito, Japanese officials, members of the President's "Interim Committee," General Groves, Secretary Byrnes, and Dr. Oppenheimer, and the use of sections of Secretary Stimson's diaries read by his biographer McGeorge Bundy, give students of the Cold War an almost unique opportunity to view the men and motives that inaugurated this "Atomic Age" at close quarters and form an excellent basis for discussion, especially when used in conjunction with readings from Feis and Alperovitz. One can only regret that President Truman's views are limited, by his continuing unwillingness to comment on his decision, to a near-contemporary speech on the subject, and that the Department of Defense was still, at the time of this film's production, keeping the now-available Japanese newsreel footage of the human results of the holocaust from the public. These could only have added to its impact. Finally, those whose coverage of the origins of the Cold War and atomic age is, so-to-speak, "in passing," may find this 81 minute version overly verbose and may therefore prefer to sample it in a 30 minute "edited version". I have not found this a satisfactory substitute, but for those with a more general interest or more limited time, it might provide a useful introduction to the subject. (Course, "Contemporary European History, 1921-Present") Gerald Herman, Northeastern University Historians Film Committee c/o History Faculty Newark College of Engineering Newark, New Jersey 07102 ...