Greg Murphy
Professor Griffin
Dean’s Book
October 9, 2008
Annotated Bibliography Assignment
Research Question: How have the feelings of Americans towards the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki changed since the attacks of September 11, 2001?
Source #1
Complete citation for item found
“The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima.” The Manhattan Project. U.S. Department of Energy: Office of History & Heritage Resources. 25 Sept. 2008 <http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/1945.htm>.
Information source used – Google
Search strategy employed – keyword – Hiroshima
Evaluation of Material – The information is laid out extremely well with many external links and sources that they have used to compile their data, as well as provide the reader with additional information. Facts are concise, unbiased, and provides great detail about the event itself without embellishing on personal stories. The data seems to have been gathered over a long period of time, so the evidence is thorough. This site will be valuable in the future if further research is required.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• Hiroshima is in southwest Japan with a civilian population of around 300,000 and a military population of approximately 43,000.
• At approximately 8:15 AM, the “little boy” 9,700-pound uranium bomb was dropped from 31,000 feet and exploded 1,900 feet above the ground.
• The plane that dropped the bomb was shaken by the two shock waves from 31,000 feet in the air.
• “The city was hidden by that awful cloud . . . boiling up, mushrooming, terrible and incredibly tall,” – Colonel Paul Tibbets, pilot
• Air raids were on alert in the morning, called off when a weather plane flew overhead, so city was bustling by 8:00 AM.
• “Those closest to the explosion died instantly,Victim of atomic attack with the pattern of her clothing burned into her back. their bodies turned to black char. Nearby birds burst into flames in mid-air, and dry, combustible materials such as paper instantly ignited as far away as 6,400 feet from ground zero. The white light acted as a giant flashbulb, burning the dark patterns of clothing onto skin and the shadows of bodies onto walls. Survivors outdoors close to the blast generally describe a literally blinding light combined with a sudden and overwhelming wave of heat.”
• People outdoors received flash burns, people indoors were injured with shattered, flying glass, and the strongest buildings collapsed.
• Only 10% of buildings were left untouched; everything within one mile destroyed, within three, damaged.
• Several minutes after the drop, a firestorm engulfed 4.4 square miles of the city, swallowing anyone who did not or could not get out (due to leg injuries).
• Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of initial blast, heat, and radiation effects; by the end of the year, nearly 100,000 because of radioactive fallout and other lingering effects; by the end of five years, 200,000 due to radiation and cancer.
Date accessed – 09/26/08
Source #2
Complete citation for item found
Dinkins, David. “Why did president Truman drop the atomic bomb?” Essortment. 2002. 25 Sept. 2008 <http://www.essortment.com/all/presidenttruman_rywp.htm>.
Information source used – Google
Search strategy employed – why did the U.S. bomb Hiroshima?
Evaluation of material – While I don’t necessarily agree with the author’s opinion, the article is well-written, filled with facts and details about the reasoning behind the bombings, and gives good insight to the American psyche during and immediately after WWII.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• At the time the bombs were dropped, people understood that it would end the war quickly and save lives in the long run.
• People were not that concerned with the death count in Japan because they had just attacked us at Pearl Harbor.
• An inevitable invasion of the Japanese islands would have, at the very minimum, left 250,000 American soldiers dead.
• Those who didn’t feel that the bombings were justified were seen as “anti-American.”
Date accessed – 09/26/08
Source #3
Complete citation for item found
Kean, Thomas H. The 9/11 Commission Report. United States of America. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. Government Printing Office.
Information source used – USA.gov
Search strategy employed – keyword – 9/11 Commission
Evaluation of material – A complete and comprehensive official government document outlining an area of my study. All of the known details plus some government inside understanding provided, giving a well-rounded source of information with respect to the events of 9/11, plus a unique detail about their thoughts of the Japanese bombings.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• Government officials were worried about Al-Qaeda committing a “Hiroshima” (380).
• Early in the morning, nineteen Islamic terrorists bordered and hijacked four commercial airlines (300).
• At 8:46, American Airlines flight 11 struck the North tower of the World Trade Centers (302).
• At 9:03, United Airlines flight 175 hit the South Tower (304).
• At 9:58, the South tower collapsed, killing everyone inside as well as many in the immediately surrounding areas (305).
• At 10:28, the North tower collapsed, killing everyone above the floors where the plane crashed and many personnel trying to help them below (311).
• The death total, 2,973, is the largest total ever lost in an attack on American soil (311).
• The other hijacked planes crashed into the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, PA, killing everyone on board (313).
• The goal was to destroy the liberty of American society (315).
Date accessed – 09/26/08
Source #4
Complete citation for item found
Ganzel, Barbara, B. J. Casey, Gary Glover, Henning Voss, and Elise Temple. “The Aftermath of 9/11: Effect of Intensity and Recency of Trauma on Outcome.” American Psychological Association (2007).
Information source used – American Psychological Association
Search strategy employed – keyword – 9/11
Evaluation of material – The study is extremely thorough and has a scientific basis proving that people were emotionally scarred by the tragic events, even if it is only in their subconscious. The information is clearly psychologically based, showing unbiased reactions to September 11th.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• “Does trauma exposure have a long-term impact on the brain and behavior of healthy individuals? The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess the impact of proximity to the disaster of September 11, 2001, on amygdala function in 22 healthy adults. More than three years after the terrorist attacks, bilateral amygdala activity in response to viewing fearful faces compared to calm ones was higher in people who were within 1.5 miles of the World Trade Center on 9/11, relative to those who were living more than 200 miles away (all were living in the New York metropolitan area at time of scan). This activity mediated the relationship between group status and current symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. In turn, the effect of group status on both amygdala activation (fearful vs. calm faces) and current symptoms was statistically explained by time since worst trauma in lifetime and intensity of worst trauma, as indicated by reported symptoms at time of the trauma. These data are consistent with a model of heightened amygdala reactivity following high-intensity trauma exposure, with relatively slow recovery” (227).
Date accessed – 09/27/08
Source #5
Complete citation for item found
Ott, Thomas. “Race for the Superbomb.” PBS. 1999.
Information source used – PBS.org
Search strategy employed – keyword – Hiroshima > reaction to Hiroshima
Evaluation of material – PBS is known for its educational films and documentaries, so the source is trusted, and everything from the film has been transcribed onto the website, so it is easily accessible. The exact information I was looking for was contained in the interview of one man.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• Primary emotion immediately after the bombings was joy because the war had come to an end.
• Most people were not concerned with the death toll in Japan, per say, they were increasingly becoming more afraid of the American government and what they were capable of doing.
• Many thought doomsday was near.
Date accessed – 09/27/08
Source #6
Complete citation for item found
“America’s Day of Horror.” BBC News. BBC. 27 Sept. 2008 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/americas/2001/day_of_terror/>.
Information source used – BBC News
Search strategy employed – 9/11
Evaluation of material – The events of 9/11 are thoroughly laid out on the site. The information is more concrete than information obtained from American newspapers because it is overseas. Plus everything is broken down into categories so it is easy to find everything I need. The personal accounts are sad, but helpful in putting the pieces together.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• At 9:50 AM, all airports were closed and all fights in air were grounded at the nearest airport.
• “I was knocked over and then someone else ran right over me. I was so scared to look back because I thought the building was going to fall on me.” Richard Wajda
• “At floor 25 we encountered the first firefighters walking up the stairs. The four men had beads of sweat on their faces and were carrying oxygen tanks, masks, and hatchets.” Brenden MacWade
• “As we got to around floor 50, a message came over the tannoy, telling us we did not need to evacuate tower 2. Thank god we continued down.” Mike Shillaker
• “I turned left at the nearest intersection and started running uptown. I’ve never experienced such fear in my life.” David Hsia
• “I remember thinking there is no way I walked down 77 flights to die 3 floors from safety. We climbed back up to 4 where a firefighter punched a hole in the wall to get us out.” Sue Frederick
• “Minutes later Tower 1 crumbled in front of us like some movie. It was so bizarre that you expected a producer to turn up and yell ‘cut’.” Richard Stearns
• “People yell at us to run. We look back and the ash and smoke cloud is rolling over the building. That low rumbling is in the air and we know that the second tower has collapsed.” William Frankenstein
• “The floor began to lower under my feet and all I could think about was that it would crack open.” Eric Levine
Date accessed – 09/27/08
Source #7
Complete citation for item found
Walker, Stephen. Shockwave – Countdown To Hiroshima. New York: HarperCollins, 2005.
Information source used – Library
Search strategy employed – keyword – Hiroshima
Evaluation of material – The events of the first Japanese bombings are laid out explicitly in this book with every little detail discovered revealed. The more detail the book presents, the more horrifying the bombing becomes. Everything is well researched and easily accessible throughout the text.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• The instant effects of the explosion were devastating, overwhelming and horrifying. At the point of detonation, the temperature reached 104,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit, ten times hotter than the Sun (255).
• “…individuals were so completely incinerated that nothing remained but their shadows” (256).
• “One man was sitting on the steps outside a bank 260 meters from the hypocenter when the fireball struck. All that was ever left of him was the imprint of his pose, scorched into the stone like a photograph” (Walker 256).
• The fires from the bomb and air had become so extremely hot that firestorms began erupting throughout the city; these firestorms were like tornadoes of fire (275).
• People fled the city trying to escape what seemed like the end of the world. Taeko Nakamae, an eight-year-old girl was knocked unconscious during the explosion, and later awoke to find her classmates dead. She ran through the black and fiery city, ignoring the pain of her eye. As Taeko ran, she saw an old woman holding her intestines from falling out, and another man’s lung contracting out of his chest. She saw thousands of people lying on the ground. Dead. As Taeko ran through the city, she did not know why her left eye would not open; she later would learn it was because it was no longer there (277).
• A few hours after the explosion, the city was still littered with smoke, and a storm began to move in. Black, sticky rain fell from the sky; some thought it was American planes dropping oil on the city to fuel the flames; others did not care, they just drank. None at the time knew that the black rain was actually that of the incinerated people and buildings that had risen up into the mushroom cloud, and then were precipitating down (277).
Date accessed – 09/28/08
Source #8
Complete citation for item found
Beck, Roger B., Linda Black, Larry S. Krieger, Phillip C. Naylor, and Dahia Ibo Shabaka. Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston: McDougal, 1999.
Information sourced used – Library
Search strategy employed – keyword – Hiroshima
Evaluation of material – While stating facts that can be used in research, much of the text reveals thoughts and reactions to the attack by people on the ground in Japan. The personal accounts are shocking, yet help to confound the atrocity of the bombing.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• Once “Little Boy” exploded, it murdered 70,000 people. Instantly. The ground temperatures of a staggering 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit rushed through the city with the wind at 980 miles per hour (460).
• “Within a few seconds the thousands of people were in the streets and the gardens in the center of town were scorched by a wave of scaring heat. Many were killed instantly, others lay writhing on the ground, screaming in agony from the intolerable pain of their burns. Everything standing upright in the way of the blast, walls, houses, factories and other buildings, was annihilated” (461).
• The United States had remained neutral in World War II, to ascertain whether they were a target, they deciphered Japan’s secret military code. The United States then knew of Japan’s plans of conquest over Southeast Asia. The United States also knew that Japanese control over these European colonies in the Pacific could threaten U.S. colonies of the Philippine Islands and Guam. To counteract Japan’s plans, the United States sent strengthening aid to China, an enemy of Japan. Almost a year later, in July of 1941, the Japanese overran French Indochina, so the United States suppressed its oil shipments to Japan; Japan consequently suffered an oil shortage (447).
• Japan then knew the United States was no longer an ally of theirs. Isoroku Yamaoto, a Japanese admiral, stated that the U.S.’s naval fleet in Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Ocean was then “a dagger pointed at [their] throat” (447).
• On December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed the United States’ naval base at Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack. Within two hours, 2,400 soldiers were killed, 1,000 were injured, and eighteen ships were either sunken or damaged. A day later, December 8th, 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress declared war on Japan (Beck 447).
Date accessed – 09/28/08
Source #9
Complete citation for item found
Silver, Elaine S. “Hiroshima, New York haunt reporter’s psyche.” Design-Build Dec. 2001.
(permalink): http://silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=6518644&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Information source used – Academic Search Premier
Search strategy employed – keywords – Hiroshima, September 11
Evaluation of material – The article is written as a personal account, which is normally not sought after, but in order to find psychological effects of 9/11, it is important. The author’s father was saved by the Hiroshima bombing, but she still feels that it was wrong, especially when she went and saw it. She portrays similarities of Hiroshima and 9/11, and how each has changed people’s perspective on the world, which ties directly back to my thesis. The article is written to everyone, hoping that acts like this will never happen again.
Paraphrased ideas or direct quotations
• “The intense heat and brilliant flash burned their shadows into the pavement–shadows still visible today. Other displays show how melted steel beams were twisted into surreal sculpture and eyewitness accounts detail the unprecedented horror.”
• “The centerpiece of the memorial is a single burnt out exhibition hall, the Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome, designated in 1996 as a world landmark by the United Nations. The building was directly under the bomb and its unique explosion destroyed the interior while leaving the outside structure standing. It is Hiroshima’s symbolic equivalent of the the World Trade Center’s stark facade that survived Sept. 11.”
• People have direct links to the Twin Towers in the United States, through business, personal affairs, or fond memories of the past.
• The United States was changed forever due to these attacks.
• “I do hope, though, that those visitors of the future will come unprepared to confront New York’s devastation, just as my husband and I were at Hiroshima. No one should ever be prepared for that.”
Date accessed – 10/02/2008
Source #10
Complete citation for item found
Davis, Walter A. “Death’s dream kingdom: The American psyche after 9-11.” Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society 8 (200): 127-32.
(permalink) http://silk.library.umass.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2003-02465-017&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Information sourced used – PsychINFO
Search strategy employed – keywords – Hiroshima, 9/11
Evaluation of material – The source seems more like an editorial or an essay about the situation rather than a factual study, but some of the text in the article is thought provoking and extremely interesting. All of the information is written from the point of view of personal mourning and reflection, which is something I have not seen much of yet. The author agrees with my thesis, which helps immensely. Only a small portion of the text is useful for my theses, but if I expand, definitely refer back to this source.
• 9/11 stirred up unfinished business about Hiroshima that the American people have not completely dealt with yet (128).
• Guilt is not something to be avoided; it should be used for self-transformation (128).
• It is difficult to see what we have done to others until it has been done to us (128).
Date accessed – 10/02/08