62 years ago this week, at the end of World War 2, the then President of the USA, Harry S. Truman, authorised use of atomic weapons against Japan after its refusal to surrender in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration.
Harry S. Truman was born May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. At the time of the bombings, 6 and 9 August 1945, according to my ephemeris, transiting Saturn at 18 Cancer sextiled his natal Sun, transiting Mars at 9 Gemini was conjunct natal Saturn and transiting Pluto at 9 Leo sextiled natal Saturn. Transiting Uranus at 16 Gemini sextiled natal Mars. All the planets traditionally thought of as "malefic" were closely involved with the President's natal chart on those fateful dates.
Harry S. Truman had been Vice President for less than three months when President Roosevelt died. Shortly after taking the oath of office, Truman said to reporters:
"Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
It seems to us, looking back 62 years later, that they had indeed fallen on him, carrying with them a heavy load of terrible and terrifying responsibility.
HIROSHIMA:
* At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped a 10,000-pound uranium 235 bomb on Hiroshima, instantly killing about 78,000 people. By the end of 1945, the number of dead had reached about 140,000 out of an estimated population of 350,000.
* The bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," exploded about 600 metres above the centre of the city, setting off a surge of heat reaching 4,000 degrees Celsius across a radius of about 4.5 km.
NAGASAKI:
* Three days later, at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. Continued...
* It exploded about 500 metres above the ground, instantly killing about 27,000 of the city's estimated population of around 200,000. By the end of 1945, the number of dead due to acute radiation exposure reached about 70,000.
These anniversaries come as a stark reminder to us, at a time when talk of further warfare in Iran is being bandied about with such ease that it could refer to picking strawberries. THIS is where war leads us. We must never forget it.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. (Albert Einstein)
Harry S. Truman was born May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. At the time of the bombings, 6 and 9 August 1945, according to my ephemeris, transiting Saturn at 18 Cancer sextiled his natal Sun, transiting Mars at 9 Gemini was conjunct natal Saturn and transiting Pluto at 9 Leo sextiled natal Saturn. Transiting Uranus at 16 Gemini sextiled natal Mars. All the planets traditionally thought of as "malefic" were closely involved with the President's natal chart on those fateful dates.
Harry S. Truman had been Vice President for less than three months when President Roosevelt died. Shortly after taking the oath of office, Truman said to reporters:
"Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. I don't know if you fellas ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me what happened yesterday, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
It seems to us, looking back 62 years later, that they had indeed fallen on him, carrying with them a heavy load of terrible and terrifying responsibility.
HIROSHIMA:
* At 8:15 am on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 Superfortress bomber Enola Gay dropped a 10,000-pound uranium 235 bomb on Hiroshima, instantly killing about 78,000 people. By the end of 1945, the number of dead had reached about 140,000 out of an estimated population of 350,000.
* The bomb, nicknamed "Little Boy," exploded about 600 metres above the centre of the city, setting off a surge of heat reaching 4,000 degrees Celsius across a radius of about 4.5 km.
NAGASAKI:
* Three days later, at 11:02 am on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. Continued...
* It exploded about 500 metres above the ground, instantly killing about 27,000 of the city's estimated population of around 200,000. By the end of 1945, the number of dead due to acute radiation exposure reached about 70,000.
These anniversaries come as a stark reminder to us, at a time when talk of further warfare in Iran is being bandied about with such ease that it could refer to picking strawberries. THIS is where war leads us. We must never forget it.
I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. (Albert Einstein)
