The International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is an 8000 pound bronze bell symbolizing the peace and friendship shared by Japan and Oak Ridge. Designed by Oak Ridge artist Suzanna Harris and cast by a family foundry in Kyoto, Japan, the relief panels of the International Friendship Bell represent images of Tennessee and Japan. Additional panels list the dates of Pearl Harbor, V-J Day, and the dates of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, is a short, handwritten reply to Secretary of War, Henry Stimson. In effect, it was the authorization to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Sec War Reply to your 41011 suggestions approved Release when ready but not sooner than August 2 HST
On July 30, 1945, Stimson sent an urgent, top secret message (No. WAR 41011) to Truman requesting approval of a statement announcing the use of the atomic bomb for release. A draft of the statement had been prepared previously, but with the Potsdam Declaration and the results of the Trinity test, the final draft and approval was needed.
Conference table at the Potsdam Conference (Harry S. Truman Library, Accession #80-133)
When the Japanese response to the Potsdam Declaration, Mokusatsu, was interpreted by the Allied command as a rejection of unconditional surrender, the machinations to carry out the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki began.
No known written record exists in which Harry Truman explicitly ordered the use of atomic bombs against Japan. The final puzzle piece needed by Stimson for the Manhattan Project was the public announcement by Truman.
Truman wrote his reply on the back of Stimson’s message.
This handwritten order to Stimson, authorizing the release of a public statement, in effect is the closest document to such an order. Thus, “release when ready” for the public statement served as the final authorization.
Truman Library Institute: The Potsdam Conference, 75 Years Later (Webinar; 1 hour lecture)
The north face of the monument depicts the heavy cruiser with inscriptions of her service history.
At the north end of Canal Walk in Indianapolis, IN, you’ll find the national memorial for the USS Indianapolis, which was torpedoed and sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945. The memorial commemorates the 1,195 crewmen, of which only 316 survived the sinking, dehydration, exposure, and shark attacks.
The USS Indianapolis departed San Francisco’s Hunters Point Naval Shipyard on July 16, 1945, after repairs and an overhaul, on a top-secret mission to deliver enriched uranium and other parts for the Little Boy atomic bomb. After departing Pearl Harbor on July 19, Indianapolis made way, unaccompanied, to Tinian, arriving on July 26. Next, she sailed to Guam and began sailing toward Leyte to receive training before joining Task Force 95 near Okinawa. At 15 minutes past midnight on July 30, Indianapolis was struck by two torpedoes.
The south face of the monument bears the names of the ship’s company and passengers along with a description of the top-secret mission, attack, and rescue.
The memorial was formally dedicated in 1995, 50 years after the sinking. The memorial was designed by Joseph Fischer and is part of the Indiana War Memorial Commission. The holdings also comprise the Indiana War Memorial Plaza Historic District, Indiana War Memorial Museum, the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument, the Medal of Honor Memorial, and the 9/11 Memorial.
