Manhattan Project scientist visits Hiroshima for 1st time

Thursday 07th August, 07:00 AM JST

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Zurg at 09:50 PM JST - 7th August

I am sure that she, like allot of people who had participated in this war, has many ghosts that haunt them. Many faces of resentment appear to them.

Bombs kill.

This one killed millions. Grandfathers, Grandmothers, Mothers, children, homes small villages and townships. The peacful gardens that one had planted to sit and meditate.

However, this is nothing compared to the hundreds of millions that the Japanese had slaughtered inside their 55 year reign of terror throughout Asia and even part of Russia. Let's see, that would be Korea, China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Singapore, Vietnam, Guam, Laos, Thailand, Fiji, Philippines, Indonesia, Midway Islands, India. I'm sure I missed a few. There is allotting of blood crying from the sands of those beaches. Japanese blood as well.

Where is the monument for them? Ehhh? Un-told atrocities. They would make you blood sizzle.

Nevertheless, it is sad to hear about the peaceful city of Hiroshima was obliterated. Especially since now, the Japanese life, it is known for its tranquility through Shinto.

Lest us not forget the atrocities for it is in the history books.

It is now time to move on. The Japanes people are suffering for this. The young ones are killing themselves. WHY? This kind of healing will take a few generations. Only when the Japanese People inter-marry will they be able to be rid of this internal resentment.

The Germans were an enemy to many but for now they are not. Resentment still lies deep in Europe for their atrocities.

We now have Chavez to worry about and the other snakes ready to 'rule the world'. It seams that when we clear the brush of these they appear somewhere else. I wonder why?
Betzee at 09:54 PM JST - 7th August

It shows nobody is safe is a paranoid society.

The mother of William and Joan Hinton, incidentally, founded the progressive Putney School in Vermont. They were both amongst the first graduates.
sailwind at 10:04 PM JST - 7th August

I'm unfamiliar with this woman

Get familiar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Hinton

Then post.
dontpanic at 10:08 PM JST - 7th August

"How likely is it , that this woman gave China help in building their own nukes?"

I think its highly unlikely, if she had it would prbably be known and she would be making a fool of herself visiting Hiroshima now.

Joan Hinton seems to be a woman of principal, fully capable of speaking her own mind. The situation in the US created by McCarthyism (soz for the earlier misspelling) would not have allowed her to do so.

The anti communist bile spouted on this discussion group seems to be as much a result of the witch-hunt era propaganda as it is of any actual knowledge of the countries concerned and their political systems. Now thats brainwashing!
Betzee at 10:17 PM JST - 7th August

Get familiar. Then post.

Been there done that. I think it's highly unlikely Joan Hinton could have found work in the USA after her stint at Los Alamos given that her brother was blacklisted.
sailwind at 10:25 PM JST - 7th August

Agreed, she can't even find work in China now.

There, at least, the outside world feels far away. Once considered radical leftists by their native countrymen, Hinton and Engst are now too radical for most of China's countrymen.

http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/9610/01/china.us.reds/
sailwind at 10:25 PM JST - 7th August

Carry on Betzee
Betzee at 10:31 PM JST - 7th August

Yes, Sailwind, I'm aware neither William nor Joan felt China's turn toward capitalism was a good thing (since I read William's final book). And I watched Carma Hinton's movie on the student demonstrations when it was released in the mid-1990s. I've dug a little deeper than wiki and CNN.

But in our treatment of the Hintons, whose leftist views were deemed threatening to our national security, how different were we from the Chinese who treated those deemed to be rightists in a very similar fashion?
Betzee at 10:35 PM JST - 7th August

Carma Hinton, in fact understands this very well:

If you want a democratic society, you cannot use the same methods as the Communist Party to advance China's society. So that although a lot of people see the problem, many actually carry the kind of political habit that they fought as well. So on that level, I think Chinese democracy will have to mature, and that will take a lot of time to develop and for them to be more distinguished in their methods, their ways of thinking and their tolerance about different opinions. Until that problem is solved, we won't see a whole lot of difference, even if one set of people take over the power in China rather than another set.
sailwind at 10:57 PM JST - 7th August

But in our treatment of the Hintons, whose leftist views were deemed threatening to our national security, how different were we from the Chinese who treated those deemed to be rightists in a very similar fashion?

Ummm...Deflection again as always on your part ever hear of rights? I don't think the Hinton's were ever denied there rights under our constitution. Even now.
Betzee at 11:06 PM JST - 7th August

William Hinton, (did you check our his wiki entry?), was blacklisted from professional employment owing to his views. He was fired from his job as a truck driver no doubt because his employer felt having him on the payroll was not a good idea. And read about what happened to Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project on which Joan worked, during the 1950s "Red Scare."

Bill Clinton watched Carma's documentary The Heavenly of Heavenly Peace before his trip to China in 1998. What a pity he didn't leave it in the WH, it would have proved instructive to those involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
usaexpat at 12:05 AM JST - 8th August

Hinton feels much as many on the project did after the bombs were used. I'm not sure why she believed the bombs wouldn't be used against humans except maybe at the time these people viewed the Manhattan Project simply as a scientific race something like the x-prize only government funded.
undecidedbout08 at 12:15 AM JST - 8th August

Good for Ms Hinton. Her conscience moved her to move to China. It must have come as a bit of a shock though, especially in the early years there, to meet Chinese who thanked her for her part in developing what I believe many of her adopted countrymen referred to as the 'glorious bomb', since it did put an end to Japanese imperialism, which was killing a minimum of 100 000 of Japan's fellow Asians and Buddhists, for each month that the war lingered on.

The article above is a little too coy for me. She moved to China to 'engage in agriculture'?

I'm guessing she also moved to China for certain ideological reasons.

Sure enough, a little search turns up a clearer picture. NPR (who probably couldn't resist her story) has this -

"She [Ms. Hinton] says China has gone down hill since Mao's death in 1976 and is angry that the Communist Party has betrayed its roots by starting economic reform and becoming "completely capitalist."

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/chineselives/
seansezso at 12:17 AM JST - 8th August

I'm not sure why she believed the bombs wouldn't be used against humans

Maybe that is what they were told? Or maybe they thought only a fascist would do such a thing? Maybe they were right! Sometimes men are only fascists on the inside and dont wear armbands, and a humble physicist might be excused for not understanding politics.
KitsuneYoukai at 12:50 AM JST - 8th August

I doubt intelligent people as though physicists were would ever truely believe that while working for a govt agency that their work would be used especially in such war as WW2. However, I think when they realized it it was too late. Anyhow, the bomb was not even going to be used if Japan surrendered but there were perceptions problems that stood from miscommunication of cultures that ultimately led to this end. Whether it was for the better or not who can tell but I think most asians would rather not live under Japanese rule or Germany under Hitler for that matter. There are people all over the spectrum on the issue of war and bombs. Many past wars have stemmed from idealistic differences like it has been in Japan's warring times and the US in the civil war. But when it comes to world wars when it is clear what dictator like oponents will affect your nation in a negative way you will do what ever it takes to stop it, at least that is what governments are supposed to do protect their people.

I think any normal person would feel as Hinton does knowing that so many people died awful deaths. But to her credit, it was true that they were in an arms race with Germany. It would have been even worse had Germany made it there first. We know what Hitler's intent was and who would want that.