[Peace-discuss] [Fwd: [ronpaul-305] Re: persistence of data]

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The USG has engaged in some peculiar propaganda campaigns.  --CGE]


U.S. used Hiroshima to bolster support for nuclear power
BY RYUICHI KANARI STAFF WRITER

2011/07/26PrintShare Article
The private notes of the head of a U.S. cultural center in Hiroshima revealed 
that Washington targeted the city's residents with pro-nuclear propaganda in the 
mid-1950s after deciding a swing in their opinions was vital to promoting the 
use of civil nuclear power in Japan and across the world.

The organizers of a U.S.-backed exhibition that toured 11 major Japanese cities 
from November 1955 to September 1957 initially considered opening the first 
exhibition in Hiroshima.

According to the private papers of Abol Fazl Fotouhi, former president of the 
American Cultural Center in Hiroshima, the idea of choosing the city was 
proposed at a meeting of officials of the U.S. Information Service in December 1954.

The proposal was dropped because officials were worried that it would link 
nuclear energy too closely with nuclear bombs. Tokyo was chosen to open the tour 
and three other cities were visited before the exhibition opened at the 
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which commemorates the 1945 bombing, on May 27, 
1956.

However, the city remained at the heart of Washington's drive to directly 
intervene in the Japanese debate on nuclear energy at a critical time in the 
relationship between the two nations and the Cold War.

Anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan had been aggravated by the contamination of the 
crew of the Japanese fishing boat Daigo Fukuryu Maru by fallout from the Bikini 
Atoll nuclear test early in 1954.

The previous year, successful hydrogen bomb tests by the Soviet Union had 
prompted the United States to shift its policy from keeping close control of 
nuclear technology to bolstering relations with friendly countries by sharing 
its expertise. The campaign in Japan was just one part of an international 
effort to promote nuclear energy's peaceful use.

Yuka Tsuchiya, a professor of Ehime University and an expert on U.S. public 
diplomacy, said the U.S. government decided acceptance by Hiroshima residents of 
peaceful nuclear use would have a major impact on Japanese and world public opinion.

A note, sent by a U.S. Embassy official to Washington in June 1955, said 
Hiroshima was "the most challenging area of Japan for promoting peaceful use of 
nuclear energy."

Fotouhi, who was in charge of organizing the Hiroshima event, launched an 
intensive campaign to win over locals.

His daughter, who came to Japan with him in 1952 and went to a local elementary 
school in Hiroshima, said her father invited nearly 100 people to his house to 
explain its aims. He gathered the support of the city government, the 
prefectural government, Hiroshima University and local newspapers and managed to 
stop protests by convincing activists of the event's importance to the peaceful 
use of nuclear power.

The exhibition attracted long lines. A remotely operated machine for handling 
hazardous materials, called Magic Hand, was among the most popular attractions. 
One 74-year-old woman who had been a victim of the 1945 bombing asked one of the 
exhibition staff if the machine posed any harm to human health. The staff member 
said nuclear power could be of great value to human life if used for the public 
good, according to the woman.

On June 18, 1956, the day after the Hiroshima event closed, the U.S. Embassy in 
Japan reported to Washington that 120,000 visitors had attended over its 
three-week run.

A senior official of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission said in another report 
that the event had swayed the Japanese public's views of nuclear energy. No 
other country was as supportive of U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower's promotion 
of the peaceful use of nuclear power as Japan, the official said.

In total, 2.7 million people visited the exhibitions in the 11 major cities. A 
scaled-down version of the exhibition later toured rural areas of Japan.

Japan's first nuclear reactor, imported from the United States, began operating 
in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, in August 1957, the month before the end of the 
exhibition tour.



On 7/26/11 5:24 PM, E. Wayne Johnson wrote:
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject:     [ronpaul-305] Re: [Peace-discuss] persistence of data
> Date:     Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:06:20 -0400
> From:     E. Wayne Johnson <ewj at pigs.ag>
> Reply-To:     ronpaul-305 at meetup.com
> To:     ronpaul-305 at meetup.com
>
>
>
> Exxon and BP and the Koch Brothers probably don't have my address which explains
> why I haven't been getting my cut of those Dollars for Deniers.
>
>