Countdown to Hiroshima: X Minus 4 Days

Last year at this time at The Nation I wrote daily pieces re-creating what was happening on that date in 1945 as the atomic bombing of Japan approached.  This is a subject I have written about for, oh, three decades, including in two books (see the right rail on this blog).  Today we reach August 2, 1945, for final preparations, even as Japan sends out feelers for surrender through the Russians (who are planning to enter the war in five days).   Meanwhile, our targeting means the first bomb will be set off directly over the center of the city of Hiroshima, leading to tens of thousands of civilian casualties, mainly women and children.  That's Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer (chiefs of the Manhattan Project) at left.