The Atomic+Bomb+Seminar.

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__**Timeline **__
**July 16,1945** - First nuclear test in history conducted by the United States (Alamogordo, New Mexico). USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco for Tinian Island in the Marianas (via Hawaii). Cargo: Portions of uranium 235 and atomic bomb to be dropped on Hiroshima. Scheduled to arrive on July 26. (Other portions of uranium 235 and bomb parts were transported in separate shipments.)

**July 17-August 2,1945** - President Truman attended conference at Potsdam, to discuss post-war treatment of Germany with Premier Joseph Stalin of Russia and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain.

**July 24, 1945** - At the Potsdam Conference, President Truman told Stalin only that the U.S. "had a new weapon of unusual destructive force." This is often considered the start of "atomic diplomacy."

**July 26,1945** - Potsdam Declaration announced in United States, United Kingdom and China, asking for unconditional surrender of Japanese.

**July 28,1945** - Japan announces it will ignore the Potsdam Declaration.

**August 6,1945** - A Uranium bomb is dropped and explodes on Hiroshima.

**August 9,1945** - A Plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

**August 10,1945** - Japan protests new type of weapon as violation of international law.

**August 15,1945** - Japan accepts the Potsdam Declaration (Surrenders unconditionally to the Allied Forces).



There are a number of perspectives on the use of atomic weapons in Japan
// There were those who considered that the atomic bomb should never have been used at all. I cannot associate myself with such ideas… I am surprised that very worthy people—but people who in most cases had no intention of proceeding to the Japanese front themselves—should adopt a position that rather than throw this bomb we should have sacrificed a million American and a quarter of a million British lives… -Winston Churchill //

Mechanized civilization has just reached the ultimate stage of barbarism. In a near future, we will have to choose between mass suicide and intelligent use of scientific conquests[...] This can no longer be simply a prayer; it must become an order which goes upward from the peoples to the governments, an order to make a definitive choice between hell and reason." -[|Albert Camus]

=__ Your task __ **is to prepare for an inner/outer circle seminar on the question(s) below:** =

**Key Questions:**


 * 1) ** Why did the US drop Atomic Bombs on Japan? **
 * 2) **Should the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan be considered more controversial than conventional bombing (i.e. the previous firebombing of Tokyo killed between 80,000-130,000 people)?**
 * 3) **Was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki evil?**


 * Other Questions: **
 * What evidence is there that dropping the atomic bomb prevented the necessity of an American invasion of Japan?


 * Was a choice between dropping the atomic bomb or a launching a land invasion of Japan the only realistic choice?


 * Is there evidence that dropping the bomb shortened the war and saved lives in the long run?


 * Why did Truman use the atomic bomb on Japan when he wrote in his diary that Japan would surrender as soon as the Soviet Union entered the war?


 * Why didn't he wait for the Soviets to enter the war?


 * What were the opinions of military leaders such as Eisenhower, Leahy, and Bard?


 * Many Americans born of US soldiers would not have been born if the war continued for any length of time. Does this justify dropping the atomic bomb?


 * Did the demonstration of the Atomic bomb keep the Soviets demands in check?

**Task protocols:** **Inner Circle**
 * Inner-Group 1 discusses topic/question for 15 minutes
 * Outer-Group 2 gets to enter discussion by posing questions and assertions to inner participants based upon their outer circle tasks notes. This involves both circles and lasts 5 minutes.
 * Inner-Group 2 assumes the inner circle seats and discusses same or new topic/question for 15 minutes.
 * Outer-Group 1 gets to enter discussion for the following 5 minutes based on outer circle task sheet notes.
 * You have 15 minutes
 * The inner circle group is posed a question by the moderator to respond to (the moderator may pose more than one)
 * Open notes/resources are allowed
 * You may make an argument/oppose an argument/ask questions/clarifications, etc
 * Let/encourage others to speak (this can improve your grade)
 * When you are not speaking, take notes for delayed responses to other speakers

**Outer Circle**
 * You observe and take copious notes for 15 minutes for delayed responses to inner circle
 * Focus on at least 3 Inner Circle students whose comments or assertions interest you
 * You may make an argument/oppose an argument/ask questions/clarifications, etc when you are
 * After 15 minutes you get to enter discussion by posing questions and assertions to inner participants based upon your outer circle tasks notes.

**Use these** **Core Five Speaking Skills:** elaborating & clarifying, supporting ideas with reasons, building on or challenging another’s ideas, paraphrasing, and synthesizing conversation points.

=Grading Criteria= tba

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[|A-Bomb WWW Museum] includes a description of the first atomic bomb, photos from the Peace Memorial Museum in Hiroshima, and interviews with A­bomb survivors as well as descriptions of conventional bombing campaigns. =====

[|Pro Article]
[|Firebombing of Tokyo]

[|Firebombing of Tokyo-The Road to Manhattan] [|Hiroshima Directory]

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The [|Voice of Hibakusha] Eyewitness accounts, by survivors, of the bombing of Hiroshima. =====

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Nuclear Files]Documents on Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki =====

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Debate Over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (wikipedia article)] =====

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Hiroshima: A Controversy That Refuses to Die] =====

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|HIROSHIMA; Justified Bombings? A Survivor's Reply] =====

=__Extension Resource: (not required but interesting)__=

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica;">Documentary on Hiroshima (find many more on youtube)

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=To see an illustration of how weaponized our world has become since the first test of an atomic weapon check out the work below= ===Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto has created a beautiful, undeniably scary time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions which have taken place between 1945 and 1998, beginning with the Manhattan Project's "Trinity" test near Los Alamos and concluding with Pakistan's nuclear tests in May of 1998. This leaves out North Korea's two alleged nuclear tests in this past decade (the legitimacy of both of which is not 100% clear).=== media type="youtube" key="Pw552g5hYVg" height="315" width="420" ===Each nation gets a blip and a flashing dot on the map whenever they detonate a nuclear weapon, with a running tally kept on the top and bottom bars of the screen. Hashimoto, who began the project in 2003, says that he created it with the goal of showing"the fear and folly of nuclear weapons." It starts really slow — if you want to see real action, skip ahead to 1962 or so — but the buildup becomes overwhelming.=== text source:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw552g5hYVg&feature=related