Good morning, Whitewater
There are no public municipal meetings scheduled for the city today.
On this date in 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The New York TImes website recalls the use of the weapon:
Washington, Aug. 6 — The White House and War Department announced today that an atomic bomb, possessing more power than 20,000 tons of TNT, a destructive force equal to the load of 2,000 B-29’s and more than 2,000 times the blast power of what previously was the world’s most devastating bomb, had been dropped on Japan.
The announcement, first given to the world in utmost solemnity by President Truman, made it plain that one of the scientific landmarks of the century had been passed, and that the “age of atomic energy,” which can be a tremendous force for the advancement of civilization as well as for destruction, was at hand.
At 10:45 o’clock this morning, a statement by the President was issued at the White House that sixteen hours earlier- about the time that citizens on the Eastern seaboard were sitting down to their Sunday suppers- an American plane had dropped the single atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, an important army center.
The New York Times observes that, before August 6th, Japan had been warned of the consequences of continued belligerence:
But in a statement vividly describing the results of the first test of the atomic bomb in New Mexico, the War Department told how an immense steel tower had been “vaporized” by the tremendous explosion, how a 40,000-foot cloud rushed into the sky, and two observers were knocked down at a point 10,000 yards away. And President Truman solemnly warned:
“It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26, was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”
Here’s today’s almanac:
| Almanac | ||
|---|---|---|
| Thusday, August 6, 2009 | Sunrise | Sunset |
| Official Time | 05:51 AM | 08:09 PM |
| Civil Twilight | 05:19 AM | 08:41 PM |
| Tomorrow | 05:52AM | 08:08 PM |
| Tomorrow will be: | 2 minutes shorter | |
| Amount of sunlight: | 14h 18m | |
| Amount of daylight: | 15h 22m | |
| Moon phase: | Full moon | |