Statement by the President of the United States: "Sixteen hours ago an
American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and destroyed its
usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of
T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British
Grand Slam, which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of
warfare".

These fateful words of the President on August 6th, 1945, marked the first
public announcement of the greatest scientific achievement in history. The
atomic bomb, first tested in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, had just been
used against a military target.

On August 6th, 1945, at 8:15 A.M., Japanese time, a B-29 heavy bomber
flying at high altitude dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. More
than 4 square miles of the city were instantly and completely devastated.
66,000 people were killed, and 69,000 injured.

On August 9th, three days later, at 11:02 A.M., another B-29 dropped the
second bomb on the industrial section of the city of Nagasaki, totally
destroying 1 1/2 square miles of the city, killing 39,000 persons, and
injuring 25,000 more.

On August 10, the day after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, the Japanese
government requested that it be permitted to surrender under the terms of
the Potsdam declaration of July 26th which it had previously ignored.