amy: from new york, this is democracy now!. bells rang out through here oshima, japan, at 8:15 -- through hiroshima, japan, at 8:15 is morning, to mark the moment 75 years ago today when the u.s. dropped to the world's first atomic bomb, ultimately killing an estimated 140,000 people.

on august 6, 1945, a single atomic bomb destroyed hiroshima. hiroshima recovered, becoming a symbol of peace.. many people from all over the world visiting the citity. the three days after hiroshima bombing, the u.s. dropped a second nuclear bomb on the japanese city of nagasaki. we will speak to a survivor of the hiroshima bombing, ititeco tomomorrow snydeder -- - deko ta theer, whose motother died inn attack. >> we e ally wish h h beautifull land of yours will keep p its le and the lififand the beauty withouttver sufuffering nucucler wiwinter or the hohorrible torte of the bomb explodiding like itt did ons 75 years ago. i survived here oshima.

speak to greglso mitchell, the former editor of the nuclear times,s, author of e ne book, "the beginning or the end: how hollywood -- and america -- learned to stop worrying and love the bomb." all that and more comiming up. welcome toto demococracynow, democracynow.org, the quaranantine report, i'm amy goodman. in lebanon, the d death toll frm tuesday's massive exposure at the port of beirut has risen t o 137, with dozens still missing, over 5000 injured, , and some 300,00000 people left h homeles. the explosision completely l led lebanonon's s up a largest grarn silo, leaving the country with less than a month's reserve of grain. beirut's mayor says 300,000 people lost their homes in the exexosion, comompounding a humanitarian crisis that followed economic collapse and a

surge of coronavirus cases across lebanon. officials say the blast was triggered by over 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate, stored in a warehousee at beirirut's port. the highly explosive industrial fertilizer wasas reportedly seid from a russianan-least cargogo p bobound for mozambique i in 201, but never properly secured. the lebanese government said it has placed several port officials under house arrest. meanwhile, public outrage at government officials is exploding across lebanon with the #hang up the nooses trending on social media. theu.s. death toll from coronavirus outbreak has surpassed 158,000. over 1200 new d deaths were reported wedednesday in the unid states,, including 225 in florida, where the number of cases has surpassed half a millllion. californiaia recordedd anoththe0

five deaths asas the state''s ah toto approaches 10,000. on wednesday, los angeles mayor ereric garcetti i threatened t o start shutting off water and electricity to proroperties hohosting largee parties in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. meanwhile, new york city mayor bill de blasio has announced new york is setting up checkpoints targeting visitors from covid-19 hotspots. will have checkpoints at key entry points to the city. travelers coming in from those states will be given information about the quarantine. they willl be reminded that it s required, not t optional. 904 d deathscorded over the p past 24 hoururs, the bibiggest single day totatal sie the pandemic began there. eight coronavirus patients died in a hospital fire in the state of gerard. covid-1-19 death toll i in india has no past 40,000, thehe

fifth highest total in the world.d. facebook has removed a a v video posted to donald trump's personal account, saying it violates a p policy agagainst harmful covid-d-19 misinformati. twitter has also banned the video, which featured clips from a fox news segment wedednesday n which prpresident trump urges schools to reopen, falselyly claiming children are "almomost immune frorom this d disease." nearly a quarter million u.s. children have tested positive for the coronavirus, with hundreds suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome. at six -- at least six u.s. children have died from covid-19. in mississippi, 116 students have been sent home took quarantine after six students and one staff member tested positive in a newly reopened school in the city of corinth. researchers warn that many children may have lasting consequences from the novel coronavirus, including lung damage and neurological side

effects. this comes as a large contract -- contact tracing study in south korea found children and teams from age 10 to 19 are more likely to spreadad the coronavis than young children or adultlt dr. anthony fauci, the nation's leading expepert on n fectious diseases, has revealeded he now needs security due e to threaeas againsnst him and his family. t threats for meh and my f family, h harassing myy daughters to the point whehere i have t to get s security -- it s amazazing. i would not have imagagined it n mymy wildest dreams, that people whwho object to t things ththate pure public-hehealth principles, are s set againinst it and do't , namelyt you and d i say in thehe word of science, that they actually threaten you. thatat to me is just strange. has notsident trump invited dr. fauci or any other scientists to address h his pres

briefifing, which he bebegan agn daily a few w weeks ago. the watchdog group public citizen has accused pharmaceutical giant elliott of -- gilead of putting profit ahead of public health as it works to develop a treatment for coronavirus. public citizen says gilead has focused on promoting remdesivir as a possible treatment instead of a related drug that may be more effective and easier to manufacture be because of gilead's patent on remdesivir is five years longer. dr. michael abrams of the book citizen said, "it is sadly protectable that pharma response to a global pandemic by trying to bring to market only those drugs that maximize profits." meanwhile, johnson & johnson has reached a $1 billion deal with the u.s. government to m make 10 million doses of an experimental covid-19 vaccine still b being tested. the security's and exexchange commission is investigating

kodak after a a surge in the company's stock days befofore te trumump administration gavave te loanny a $765 mimillionn under the defense production act. the nenews led t to kodak's stok value soaring by 100000%. a $1.75ceoeo was issueued million stock options a day before the announcement. the loan was given to help kodak start making prescription drugs, something it has never done before. times is reporting deutsche bank has handed over detailed financial statements from donald trump and his company after being subpoenaed by the manhattan district attorney's office as part of a criminal investigation. last week prosecutors filed court documents suggesting they were investigating the trump organization for bank and insurance fraud. the times reports deutsche bank has lent trump and his company more than $2 billion over the last two decades.

meanwhile, new york attorney general leticia james has announced she will make a majorr national announcement this morning. it is unclear what the announcement w will be about. at the state, acting inspector general stephen akard resigned abruptly on wednesday, less than three months after his predecessor was fired by president trump. secretary of state mike pompeo gagave no -- give this brief explanation for his sudden departure. >> i donon't have anything more chad to that. trumpn may, president fired the state department inspector general steve linick, who was probing whether secretary pompeo used a political appointee to perform personal tasks for himself and his wife, including walking his dog and taking care of his dry cleaning. pompeo was also under security for using an emergency declaration to bypass congress in fast tracking over $8 billion woworth of weapons sales to saui arabia and the united arab emirates.

candidate joeiden is seto o acce thehe docratiti his homeomitition from ststate delelawe on august 20 after the demoatatic nionanal convention on weesday announced plans tmove proceedidingsntirely line to combat the spread of coronavirus. president trump said wednesday he may hold his acceptance speech for the republican party's nomination on the south lawn of the white house. asked by reporters about the plan, senate republican whip john thune replied, "is that even legal?" senator thune cited the federal hatch act, which bars partisan political activity by federal employees in places where they discharge their official duties. trump later told reporters the hatch act does not apply to the president. in more campaign news, congresswoman rashida tlaib has defeated detroit city council president renda jones in michigan's democratic i mary held tuesday.

in 2018, tlaib became the first paleststinian-amamerican womanan elelected to congrgress. iowa republican governor kim reynolds on wednesday restored the voting rights of tensns of thousands of formerly incarcerated people with felony convictions, with exceptptions r people cononvicted of murder and other violencrimimes. iowa is the last u.s. state to overturn felony disenfranchisement laws. florida voters approved a ballot measure in 20 restoring voting rights parade in estimated 1.4 million excavated ex prisoners convicted of felonies. but a build signed -- but a bill signed by republican governor desantis last year requires them to pay court fines and fees before they can registeter to vote. the requiremement has drawn comparisons toto the poll taxesf the jim crcrow sououth. u up in couounty districtct attorney mike f freen on wednesday declined to press charges against minneapolis police officers who shot and

killed an autistic man in a mental health crisis inside the home of his grandparents as they looked on. on august 31 of last year, the grandfather of 21-year-old kobe dimock-heisler called 911 to report his grandson threatened him with a small knife. when police arrived at the home, family members told the officers they were no longer needed because the situation had calmed down. four officers entered the home anyway, and after an altercation, two of the officers fired three rounds each at kobe dimock-heisler, killing him. on wednesday, amity dimock-heisler condemned the da's decision not to bring charges against the officers who killed her son. "they made the dececision to do whatever they do, to re-escalate the situation. getting my son down like an animal. there is more i want to say, but

i can't. amy: as nenegotiators in washington, d.d.c., continue to debate renewining expandeded unemploymement benefits dudurine pandemic, florida isis facing crcriticism for mamaking it tood for residents to apply foror ununemployment. wednesday, f florida republican governor ron desantis admitted the system was designed like that on purpose. wasaving studied how it internally constructed, , i thik the goal was, for whoever designed it, let's put as many pointless s roadblocks along the way so people e say the hell wih it, i'm not going to do that. amy: the daughter of congresess member louiegress gohmert is speaking out about her father's battle with covid-19. the texas republican tested positive for coronavirus last week after he consistently refused to wear a mask in the u.s. capitol, forcing several congressional colleagues to self origin, including 72-year-old grijalva,mocrat raul

who later tested positive. caroline gomer tweeted a statement reading, "my father ignored medical expertise and now he has covid. this has been a heartbreaking battle because i love my dad and don't want him to die. please listen to medical experts. it's not worth following a president who has no remorse for leaving his followers to in early grave." the 15-year-old daughter of senior white house advisor kellyanne conway has reemerged on social media. in july, 15-year-old claudia conway posted a tiktok video with the caption "last video because my parents are making me delete all social media." she later reemerged on social media, making videos in support of black lives matter and lgbtq rights and mockingng president trump. japapan, temple bells told at 8:15 5 this mornig to commemorate the 75th

anniversary of the road's first knew there attack, by the united states. u.s. intelligence officicials sd wednesday saududi arabia has partnered with china to build a secret nuclear facility to extract uranium from your radio or debt from uranium or. -- from uranium ore. after headlines, we will devote the show to the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombmbing of hiroshima. in turkey, thousands of wowomen rallied in cities nationwide, demanding the government cancel thes to withdraw from landmark treaty, preventing violence against women, according to the organization, we will stop genocide's platform. at least 174 women were murdered across turkey last year, most of them by family members or intimate partners. activistawyer and

speaking at a protest in istanbul. lives of women are already under threat in this country. that is why we are here today. although the government says it will delay discussions for invoking the accord, we e are asasking them toto take this toc off the table completetely. amy: the associated press is reporting or than 2000 unaccompanied children have been expelled from the united states since march under emergency declaration issued as part of the trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemicic. daisy colemanan, a high school has diedssault survivor at the age of 23. by suicide. she was raped at 14 by a 17-year-old high school football player with political connections, while another student took videos. charges were initially brought

and dropped against the boys, accused of assaulting daisy and videotaping it. when her mother, melinda, began to raise questions, she lost her job. the family's house in maryville, missouri, the seriously burned to the ground. daisy coleman says she was suspended from the cheerleading squad and incessantly bullied. she was hounded on social media, called a skanky and a liar, and urged to kill herself, wish she tried to do multiple times. daisy coleman would go on to become an advocate for sexual assault victims. in 2016, i interviewed her and her mother at the sundance film festival. >> i almost believe that this wholole s situation did strip mf being h human, and what i used o be, but i believe as it stripped me of everything i used to be, i was able to start from a new buililding block and build onto someone else, and that is what shaped who i am today, and i

feel like, you know, i think i am a force to be reckoned with with maryville now. i don't think they will be getting away with everything that they do now. motherdnesday, daisy's melinda wrote, "she never recovered from what those boys did to her, and it's just not fair. my baby girl is gone,e,her mom said. the see it -- to see our full interview with daisy andnd her mother, gogo to democracy.org. those are some of the headlines. headlines,ome of the democracynow, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we come back, we mark the 75t firstiversary of the of hiroshima., [music plays ♪

amy: thehe c composition, the sf the nobel prize winning author, who has since become e a composr of classical music.. this is dedemocracy,y, dedemocracynow.org, the quaranae

report. i'm amgogoodman, witith nermeen shaikh. at 8:15yeyears ago today in the morning, the u.s. dropppd the world''s fifirst atomic bomn the japapanese city of hirirosh. destructction from the bomb b ws massssive. shockwaves, radiation, andnd het rays took the lives of some 140,000 people, ultimately. three days later, the u.s. dropped a second atomic c mb on nagasaki, killing another 74,000 people. president harry truman announced the attackck on hiroshihima in a nationonally televiseded address augustst 16, 1945. a short t time ago, a an amerin airplalane dropped onene bomb on

hihiroshima anand desestroyed is usefulness t to the enemy.y. that bomb hahas more powerer tn 20,000 tons ofof tnt. amy: today 75 years later, at 8:15 this morning, a temple bell told in hiroshima to commemorate the woworld's first nucleaear attack. bell rings] thousands normally gathered to commemorate the bombing anniversary, but this year's ceremony at hiroshima's peace memorial park was keptt small due to the coronavirus pandemic. hiroshima mary because uma matsui addressed survivors -- hiroshima mayor katsumi matsui addressed a group of survivors and public officials. >> had at that nothing would

grow here for 75 years, and yet hihiroshima a recovered, becomia symbol of peace. joined byore, we arare a survivor of the atomic bombing of hiroshima. hideko tamura snider. she was 10 years old when the .omb was dropped first her memoirir is titled "one susy of: a c child's memories hiroshima." she is a retired psychiatric social worker and founder of one sunny day initiatives. he joins us from medford, oregon stop we welcome you to democracy ,ow w it is a not a to have you hideko tamura snider. can you go back 75 years ago, 8:15 i in the morning, in your city of hiroshima. tell us where you were and what happened next. amy, fofornk you, inviting me.

yes, i remember. almost 75 years, it is almost lilike yesterday. child, justipiest haven from thery soht before, seeking fortunate to be home. the morning was very sunny, birds were chirping. butterflies over flowers. over in my ownng housee, with my back to the garden, reading a book. first at 7:30 was a warning siren, but the r radio i turnedn came, plane, three planes

turned around, andnd went away. it is safe now. .o back to work it was safe now, go back to work. could resume our daily affairs. flashddddenly there was a in my peripheral vision. i jumped to my feet and turned around, and simultaneously practically with the flash came a humongous, deafening sound. so huge, i had never, ever heard .

on resounding with the sound, and luckikily my y mothed do if me what to something akin to a bomb hitting our house or garden directly, to try to find very sturdy fufurniture and placece myself between, which i did. she said likely even if the house collapsed d on top of us, there will be a small room left. and i trtried to hang on, but i could not even squat. , inshaking was so huge whichever way. explosionnd from the was soso violent, evererything s hitting me, even if i was betweeeen two s sturdy furnitur.

was under the wreckagage. i think. it was pitch dark. i could not see anything. and i think t the sound of it -i did not pass out. i wish that i did. so i remember the sensation, the color, and the smell, like yesterday. i think it went o on in t the ph minutes,lmost 10 or 15 , i when this sound subsided .ound myself under the debris the house was well-built, with

large pillars, so the roof did me.come down flat on top of out, was not able to get and there was an effort to try to move toward where there was a crawlcoming, and somehow .o get from under the debris sure that it was one yard.hat hit our , it was ae came out household. a family of an industry, my grandfather, who had passed away at that time.

was the chair of a multinational corporation, andd the indudustry name, i noticed the allied forces, american military men had the industry for allmarked incendiary attacks and so forth. they would mark factories to aim, so we were one of them, and our house was fairly close to it. up o outside, i found , huge shards of glass were stutuck in my foot. child,w, i i was an only

not givenn to efficient self-care.e. the smallest scar, i would run to m my mother, you know, "help me, mother." a little bruise. so i had no idea what to do. i was terribly frightened. you could not walk around. household was filled with family extended relations. aunts, auntie, please help me. there is this horrible thing in my foooot. she was not able to help me. bruised,was scarreded, and my father's older brother, uncle, who took over the , had barely made it was to the house and

sitting and screaming to us, "it is the end. ."d has come to he had morore glass shards than everybody in the factory. when, you know, it was destroyed. stuck all over his body. he was bleeding from it. bleeding all over. it was realllly a very scary si, i --s when i mustered my courage.

nobody is going to help me, i am andonly one who can do, wasashedeling h hands, around it, after i very slowly picked the huge glass oututf my foot, realizing it isis the firt something thiso awful and this scary, and knew looking back on it, it was the last day of my childhood.. really long story, ,eaving the scene by myselelf because the heat of radiation was so strong, you know,w,

heatplied by it from the that will memelt steel so much more. and turned the woods on fire and turned buildings on fire. and across the street, went with a huge sound. ththe block full of flames, andi realized we are going to be surroundnded and burned to death if we don'n't escape. mother's instruction wawas, "get away fromom under the debris, go to the river, and save youourself. stay by the river and escscape along g the river." and hiroshima had several rivers, several from a major

river coming in. so that is where i headed. in front of the gate were e womn on the ground, reaching outut to and these first ladies i sasaw not e evennd bleeding , not even s sitting. crawling. they were speaking in k korean. that i could understand from the gesture. i was only a child. i have never been h hurt the wai was, or seen anything like this, or the house come down. -- your, a child has parents are always going to be there,e, and your r room is goio

be there. and, y you know, all your books, and your world. you do not picture it to c chan. even though we had been evacuated, and my mother had b-29,e, and i know the hundreds wouldld go over our sk, and we were in the war. know, cannothild, you imagine anythihing changing that drastic, and people dying and bleeding andnd raising hands and begging, please helel there was nothing i could do. . wawas needing help m myself wououldknow howow much you lilike to know becauause it is a long story about fleeing that day.y.

. hideko tamura snider, ththank you for that account. we want to know if you know what happened to your mother or your siblings, and also the ongoing health impacts of radiation, of the dropping of this nuclear bomb on hiriroshima. hidedeko: ok. i never wanted to accept it, but the lastst she was seen was at the heavy concrete, a part of the building falling on her. she was buried alive and burned age. at barely 30 years of a beautiful woman, and very loving.

. was an only child therefore, no siblings, but i a s sibling, my playmate, a beloved cousin. the last he was seen, he was ath over 8000 children being able, barely to walk. but t a classmate e of his, mons , , told us heosion -- becauseith him all of his clothes were burned

.nd skin hanging but the shape of his head, we sort of recognized that he must be my cousin. and he said yes. so the two started to w walk a little bit. my cousin was barely making it. then the plane came back and we all thought that they came to in other kinds of attacks. you suffered radiation sickness. can you describe what that was like? you are a child. hideko: yeses, i was caught up with my cousin's story. i'm sorry. i loved him so much, i just slowed down.

boils in all with ththis afterwards. and then suddenly i started to run a very high fever, off the chart. trouble,ing, stomach i bordered life and death for weeks, and then finally it came down. but followed with jaundice. yellowedere completely , and you could tell, even towardasianan skin tends yellow, inas totally hue, and iellowish

.as exhausted like liver trouble, you know, jaundice. i had no energy. to even walk around. was sick where i i was with my relations, where we took refuge. i was not able to go to school.. i missed most of my school days that.e of it was sort of like top o of the mountatain type of a place, in a from quite a bit away hiroshima. noticed where i was

.xhausted and ailing some of the people whoho had ben in hiroshima were dying. with thyroid blowing up, high fever, and then bleeding from orifices, and having red spots all over. know, you know. we were even worried about mosquito bites, if it was the start of the radiation sickness. -- we didn'tt that know it was adam bomb related. only those people who barely survived -- that it was adam bomb related. only those people who barely survived, it was like you were not well. people suddenly then dieied. even those who came to look for

andrr kin entered the city had a similar kind of reaction. hideko tamura snider, astoundingly, you would come to the united states, bennett college in north carolina, and you got training as a psychiatric social worker. you live in portland. at 75 years ago today, as you have told your story to people, to students, to community groups, what message do you have for president trump today, as many fear the beginning o of a w nuclear arms racace? know, i came you to a conclusion, all survivors did, the people e of hiroshima w wowould likike to issue a messa, that this is a horrific bomb, so

harmful andd inhumanane, that te human race cannot live with it. and we want t to get that messae out to everyone. a former clinical ,ocial worker, is to encourage for my enemies especially, to come closer in what i call collective healing, because there are still things, anger tied up against a specific war against the jajapanese. and that means they are not healed either. heal, wer attempt to have to promote, don't let this happen to you. this is horrible. chair one sunny day initiative

to do that, and i try to bring that which would encourage seeking solutions and seeking treaties, and seeking collective approach to be able to live in peace in the world. are espececially toninting me to fix something president trump, i would say the same thing. isspresident, this unallowablble. a an unallowable weapon on this earth. please help us. talk it out through treatities rather t than intimidating, .ntimidatiting and pushing because throughout history, is not the intimidator that will start a war and d dunwise ththings.

it is the intimidated. that would started. ---- that would start it. if they thought there was nothing, they would strike back with everything possibible. their handthey have , please ber weapons prepared. it is the beginning ofof our en. amy: hideko tamura snider, i want to thank you for being with us. survivor of the atomic bombing of hiroshima. the memoir recounting that "one sunny day: a child's memories of hiroshima." she is the founder of one sunny day initiative. she lives in medford, oregon on. whwhen we come b back, we e wile joined by greg mitchell, authohr ofof many books on hiroshima, including his latatest, "the

beginnnning or the end: how hollywood and amererica learnedo stopop worryrying andd love the bomb." stay w with us. plays ♪ ♪

amy: this is democracynow, , amy amy goodwin nermemeen shaikh. today marks the 75th anniversary of t t u.s. dropopping the bomb, the atomic bombb on hiroshima. 75 years ago today. ushering in the atomic age. august 6, 1945. this is j robert oppenheimer, ed withentist credit coordinating the creation of the atomic bomb, heading the manhattan project, describing his feelings as the first nuclear explosion lit up the trinity blasast site in new mexixico, e e testite come on july 16, 1945. >> w we knew the world w would t be the same.e.

two people laughed. two people cried. most p people were s silent. i remembered the line from the hindu scripture, thehe vishnu trying to persuadede the princnce thahat e shshould do his dututy. and to impress him, takes on a saiaid now form and am become death, the destroyer of worlds. i suppose we all thohought thah, one waway or another. i am becocome death, the destroyer of f worlds." that is the scientist j oppenheimer quoting the bhagagavad-gita. uninitedrn now to how the

stateses governmnment contrtrole narrative about the race to build the first atomic on, especially by controlling how that story was portrayed in the media. this is the focus of a new book, called "the beginning or the end: how hollywood -- and america -- learned to stop worrying and love the bomb." thehe end" is or also the name of a 1947 movie by mgm. we will learn more about that and more by external us greg mitchell, who has written andnsively on the hiroshima nagasaki atomic bombings. it is great to have you with us, greg. anniversary, the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic, ushering in the nuclear age. before we talk about the film, the beginning or the end, that started to re-create a narrative about what happened, for people who are not familiar with what happened then, the significance

of j robert oppenheimer, president truman's decision to why the bomb, tell us bomb was d dropped, and the criticism at that time through to today t that was not t so muh hurt at the time. thank you. happy to be here. well, you know, the stated reason for droropping the bombm, whwhich has become the official narrative to this day come as we have seen again with the media coverage in the past month, was ththat it was ththe only thing t could enend the war. it saved a million american lives. the japanese would not have surrrrendered, we would have haa costly invasion of japan and we needed to drop the bomb bebecaue it was the only thing that worked. this came out of truman's initial statement, calling hiroshima a militaryry base. so from the beginning it was impoportant to communicate to te american people that this was a

decent and necessary act. and of course evidence has emerged over the decades which shows that t there were alternatives. truman had just gotten russia to promise to declare war on japan, around august 9 stop many people believe that -- including truman -- believed that japan would have surrendered quickly after the russian declaration of war. also some evidence has emerged that the use of the bombmb was t necessary, that it could have been delayed or not used at all. what was important was to set the narrative of justification, and it was set right at the beginning. and by truman anand his allies, with a very willing media. followining that suppression of evidencece from hirososhima and nagasakiki's confiscation of fim

footage, photograpaphs, c censop .ffifice in t tokyo my book picks up carrying the story to hollywood, and i think it tells the whole story of this period and what happened in this , oddly,turning point through h this rather entertaing story about this movie because the way that truman and the to make -- tovene adjust the movie and totally -- with revisions in the script to reflect the official nararrativ, rathther than raise questionons about thee bomb and ultimately when the movovie came e out, its nothing more thahan propaganda. so the story of this movovie, ad as i tell in the book, it reflects so much about this turning point in america where are set on thisath to endorsg the use e of the bomby most in the media and many among the public, right to this day.

amy: a very quick thing before we talk about the film. the other film you talk about, the u.s. government secretly filmed the bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki, not just from the sky but the devastation on the ground, rot the film back to scientists at los alamos, who did the manhattan project, made the bombs, and the r reports are thatat these scientists threw u. they were vomiting as they saw this film, horrified, not understanding this would ever be used on japan. can you talk about everyone from albert einstein to j robert oppenheimer, and how they ultimately felt that film would then be highly classified for decades. obviously not incriminating, not sharing nunuclear sececrets, but because of its huge effect? shows, the mgmok

movie e "the begininning of or e end" was inspired by one of werese scientists, whoho appalled by what happepened with the use ofof the bomb and the dangers ofhehe fute. onofof thecientistfrom oak ridg contacted hormer chemistrytudent, e actres dodoa reed,ddly, andonna making thismotion movie. amy: this was donna reed, the actress? greg: her chemistry teacher. she said she musust get hoywood toto make aa big b budget moviet would warn the world abobout the dangers of remaining on this nuclear path. and of course, as y you mention, albert einstein was very much aligd with that, was the leading spokesmaman for that. mgma reed set in motion for to lauaunch this m mov at paramoun.

they launcd a comping movi rand t scenwriter tooript wasltimatel cky evenor hollyod, so paraunt then threw in with mgm,here mov, on their teteible movie. but any case,hecientist a lae numberf them d turn againsthe bombndnd partly r eir troueses, th we -- the leadin scitists were surveill and followed, t the phon tapped t the f. yomentionethe confcation of footage. very brily, th japese newsreel team and the u.s. military team filmed in hiroshshima and nagasasaki, in e weeks and months after t the bombing, the u.s. footage was on color footage. it was probably -- whever you see color footage from hiroshima

and nagasaki, it comes from this u.u.s. military y team. i told the story firirst in atoc cover-up, a bobook i wrote a few years ago and now i have directed a fililm also called atomic cover-up, that explores how both japanese footage and the american footage was suppressed for decades because it showed too muchch of the humn effects of the bombing. but that is kind of a rerelated story to my current book because hollywood essentially did the same thingng. it was different but it was taking a movie script c complety -- a movie script, completely revising it, changing it by order ofof the white house, anda costly scene had to be reshot on orders from truman and the white house that would explain his decision to use the bombb, momoe favorably, you might say. which mgm did. itit is quite an incredible, j t that one e example among many, f

a sittining president ordering a movie studio to reshoot a key scene in a movie to reflect more favorably on him a and what t he did. greg mitchell, i want to turn to the present day and where the u.s. now stands on the ususe of nuclear weapopo, not jt years agogo but today youou wre 75 years after the first use of it is stillons -- supported by a majority of americans. you cite a recent survey ofducted by the bulletin atomic scientists that found that more than a third would support a nuclear strike onon north korea if north korea tested a long-range missile capable of reaching the u.s., even if that meant the deaths of a million civilians.

my workahat has driven for almost four decades now his people say why does hiroshima matter today. you caotot changee history. and if you could -- but the civil fact is that america continueues to have what is cald a first use policy. it means any resident is enabled to order a preemptive nuclear strike, in response to a conventional war or as you mentioned, a perceived threat from a rival or an enenemy. i think most people still thihik america would only launch in retaliliation, but that isis not true. we h have had a first use or aa first t strike policy.y. there have been efforts to change it. it has not happened. now we have a president in the white house who many people are very fearful of what he might do

in a crisis or in response to a tweet even. the stable exactlyy genius that he claims to be. so we have this policy still in effect. that is why i keep coming back to hiroshima every year in books and articles, because the media particularly continues to the f first use. no president has come out against it, and top officials continue to endorse it. on the one hand we say we must never use new their weapons again, they are too tererrible, but twtwo times we already usese itm, it was necessary and so is this endorsement of the use of the bomb then. i think we could all r rather easily see, if we launched another nuclear attack, the s se defenses would come out. we have this in our background, in our history. the world largely condemns it,

but it is in our history. amy: at that time, greg mitchell, the number of people is at 200,000 come o on both

narrator: on thihis episode of "e"earth fococus," avocadodos he become one of the most popular foods on the planet and exploded into a multibillion-dollar industry. the petorca province in chille is a hub of worldldwie avocado production, but the growth of the industry has created a crisis over water rights, raising questions about the moral dimensions of how our avocados are grown and consumed.