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sound: American newsreel story (264K)-10 sec.
"I am not a god."
photo-30K

Image: Her Axis partners, Italy and Germany had surrendered in the Spring of 1945. Mussolini and Hitler had both suffered violent deaths, yet Japan held out against the Allied forces. Here, marking the final turning point of WII, the atomic bomb explodes over Nagasaki, August 8, 1945. Another had been dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. A few days later, Japan surrendered. Hirohito spoke briefly to the Japanese people over the radio to announce the surrender. This was the first time his astonished subjects had heard the voice of their Emperor. (credit: National Archives, USA)

Sound:
This United News Reel story of 1945 reports the bombing of Hiroshima from a characteristically American perspective. (credit: National Archives, USA)
--Load time: ~10 sec.
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(c) 1999 John Borneman & Linda Fisher, All Rights Reserved