Meet the Chief Propadandist for the Atomic Bomb: A Famous 'NYT' Reporter

On this day in 1945, the NYT led the way in the U.S. with its numerous bombshell articles on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the history of the entire Manhattan Project--which was top secret until that day.   Most of the key articles, which explained, but also glorified, what had transpired were written by one man, a famed science writer and Pulitzer winner, named William L. Laurence, aka "Atomic Bill."   He had been embedded in the bomb project for this purpose.   He got to witness the Trinity test in mid-July (his account appeared on August 7) and then went along on the Nagasaki mission (and wrote vividly, if heartlessly, about that).  For all of this he won another Pulitzer.

There are many pages about Laurence (photo above with J. Robert Oppenheimer) in my Hiroshima in America book, co-authored by Robert Jay Lifton, and in my recent book Atomic Cover-up, but here is an article that I wrote not long ago, and a good overview by Amy and David Goodman.