Here is a roundup of some of the most interesting articles published on Manhattan Project, World War II, and nuclear history this month.
– Streetcars that survived A-bomb are still running in Hiroshima: Shiro Onishi of Japan Forward, reports on streetcars damaged in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, that are still operating today.
– Baseball and the Atom Bomb: Physicist and author Paul Halpern has an article for Forbes Starts With A Bang on Moe Berg, the former Major League Baseball catcher and spy who was part of the Manhattan Project’sAlsos Mission.
– How the Presidency Took Control of America’s Nuclear Arsenal: The Smithsonian Magazine provides an overview of presidential control of America’s nuclear weapons, and where the idea of a nuclear “button” comes from.
– North Korea Designed A Nuke. So Did This Truck Driver: NPR profiled John Coster-Mullen, the photographer, truck driver, and nuclear archaeologist who has played a crucial role in establishing a public, permanent record of the creation of the atomic bomb.
– Object of Intrigue: Banknotes for a Japanese-Occupied Hawaii: Atlas Obscura shares the story of how the US rushed to print special banknotes for Hawaii in 1942. If Japan invaded Hawaii, the US could devalue the state’s currency so it would be worthless for Japan. The government also collected $200 million of pre-war cash from Hawaiians, and burned it all.
– Preserving the Hibakusha Legacy: Project in Hiroshima Aims to Keep Testimonies of Atomic Bomb Survivors Alive: Nippon.com describes an effort in Hiroshima to preserve the stories of atomic bomb survivors. In the A-bomb Legacy Successor program, younger participants called A-bomb successors spend several years learning the stories of survivors, then share those stories with the public.