Citation: Landmark Document in American History

Statement issued by U.S. President Harry S. Truman on August 6, 1945,

announcing that the United States had dropped a single atomic bomb on

the Japanese city of Hiroshima earlier that day. Truman described the

bomb as a revolutionary new force for destruction, harnessing the basic

power of the universe and having more force than 20,000 tons of TNT.

More than 70,000 people were killed. The U.S. president warned that if

the Japanese continued to refuse to surrender unconditionally, "they may

expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been

seen on this earth." On August 9, the United States dropped a second

atomic bomb, on Nagasaki.