The United States had offered a surrender, the “Potsdam Declaration,” promising the Japanese an immediate and devastating attack if surrender was refused. Summary: Seventy-five years ago, on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. presidents have the sole authority to launch a nuclear attack? You may wish to stop the video at 2m:22s, for the sake of time.

Credit Kyodo/via REUTERS.ĭirections: Watch the NewsHour video above with your students and read the article below (click here for transcript). Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wearing a protective face mask, offers a wreath to the cenotaph for the victims of the 1945 atomic bombing, at Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan, August 6, 2020, on the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city.