On this day in 1952, the United States detonated the world’s first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll
in the Pacific. The test gave the U.S. a short-lived advantage
in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.
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CAMILLE BOHANNON
In a surprisingly low-key and carefully worded statement, President
Harry S. Truman (above) informed the American people that the
Soviets exploded a nuclear bomb. The Soviet accomplishment,
years ahead of what was thought possible by most U.S. officials,
caused a panic in the American government.
The United States developed the atomic bomb during the latter
stages of World War II and dropped two bombs on Japan in August
1945.
The United States became the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it dropped an atomic bomb on
the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people
were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000
were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end
of the year from the effects of the fallout.
