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from http://www.japantoday.com/ __________ A-bomb documents fetch record prices at Christie's Thursday, March 28, 2002 at 17:00 JST NEW YORK - Historical documents related to the U.S. atomic bombing of the western Japan city of Hiroshima at the end of World War II were sold at record prices at Christie's auction in New York on Wednesday. Among the items was Albert Einstein's famous letter dated Aug. 2, 1939, to then U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt. It sold for a record price of $1.9 million, or some 250 million yen. In it, Einstein wrote about the potential of a chain reaction using uranium for the "construction of extremely powerful bombs." The letter precipitated the Manhattan Project, which eventually led to the "Little Boy" mission of the Hiroshima bombing Aug 6, 1945. Einstein later regretted his role, and wrote in a letter in 1950 that his only contribution was that letter to Roosevelt. Another historically significant document was a minute-by-minute detailed personal account written by the co-pilot of the B-29 bomber Enola Gay, which records the horrors of dropping the first atomic bomb. Christie's called it the "only in-flight, firsthand account" of Hiroshima bombing. Winning bidders for both documents were not identified since the transactions were made by phone. The log of Capt Robert Lewis fetched $350,000 or about 46 million yen. In it, he expressed his loss of words over what he and fellow comrades saw as "the greatest explosion man has ever witnessed." "I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say My God what have we done," he wrote in the logbook. "For the next minute no one knew what to expect...15 seconds after the flash there were two very distinct slaps (air turbulence) that was all the physical effects we felt," Lewis wrote. He went on to describe nine-10ths of the city was "covered with smoke," and a "column of white cloud, which in less than three minutes reached 30,000 feet (about 9.1 kilometers) and then went up to 50,000 (15 km)." "I am certain the entire crew felt this experience was more than anyone human had ever thought possible. It just seems impossible to comprehend. Just how many did we kill?" Lewis recounted, adding, "If I live a hundred years I'll never quite get those few minutes out of my mind." (Compiled from wire reports) ____________________ Click the link below to view this article and related discussions on Japan Today http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=208621 ____________________ "We're all downwinders!" Check out http://www.downwinders.org ===== Lake Merritt Neighbors Organized for Peace. Weekly peace walks around Lake Merritt in Oakland. Starts & ends at the colonnade between Grand & Lakeshore Avenues, 3 P.M., every Sunday. Info: (510)763-8712, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or http://www.webwm.com/LMNOP __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Movies - coverage of the 74th Academy Awards® http://movies.yahoo.com/ --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
