Teens discuss the atomic bomb in the ‘40s

From what I hear on the news, I guess it is now official that North Korea really did explode an atomic bomb and now joins the family of atomic nations.

Many nations today fear that other warlike governments will want to test their own weapons of mass destruction.

When America dropped the first two bombs on Japan in 1945, the world looked upon the bomb as an instrument of both war and peace.

It was on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945 that the military dropped the first nuclear weapon, “Little Boy,” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and then three days later dropped the second one, called “Fat Boy.” In days, the war was brought to a close.

At about the same time as the second bomb was dropped, the Rev. Luther A. Arthur stood in front of his First Baptist Church’s congregation on Sunday morning to deliver his morning sermon about this horrible new weapon and what it could mean to civilization.

Rev. Arthur called his message: “Will The Atomic Bomb Destroy The World?”

This subject would be the topic of many of our residents as they sipped their morning coffee in one of our Main Street cafes.

Over at Huntington High School, many of our students held their own views on this new frontier of warfare.

The students took a poll on Nov. 15 on the subject: “Should the secret of the atomic bomb be retained by the United States?”

Many of the pupils held strong views, both pro and con, on this important issue and expressed them to their teachers and parents.

The students felt that this issue would impact their lives and wanted to share their vision of a world where they would one day raise their children in peace.

The poll showed that 56 students wanted to share the bomb’s secret with other countries, while 30 high school students believed that America should keep the plans of making an atomic bomb secret.

After the poll was done, many of the students made known their views on the subject.

Student Body Vice President Dexter Whitfield said he believed we should give the secret to the other nations because they will be sure to find out, and if they did find the secret before we tell them, that fact would be held over our heads in future time of trouble, for peace is our primary object.

Elmer Combs agreed and thought we should try to keep all the United Nations members friendly toward us. No doubt, in the future the world will find out the secret of making the bomb anyway, so we might as well just tell them.

But Paul Pullen, the sports editor of the school’s paper, the High Lights, felt differently. He thought the atomic bomb should be outlawed as a weapon of war, just like poison gas is outlawed.

Bob Hudson, who didn’t think the world nations should be given the knowledge about the construction of this mighty weapon, held the same feelings. He felt the secret should only be revealed among the big five nations to help control the other countries from using this powerful weapon in a war against its neighbors.

This view was echoed by Kitty Case who felt that by the looks of things another war was inevitable and that by putting the secret of the bomb into other nation’s hands may result in trouble and if there is any way to keep it our secret, we should.

But Ralph Presson disagreed and thought that if the United States kept the secret to itself that other countries wouldn’t think the United States trusts them.

Corynne Bose held the view that if we didn’t share the secret, much suspicion would be aroused on the part of other nations — and suspicion practically always results in serious trouble, especially when the subject in question is as powerful and dangerous as the atomic bomb.

These are very heavy views and opinions for young students to hold, and we can be grateful for the wonderful teachers for opening their minds to many of the world’s problems, especially at a time when everyone was tired of war and wanted peace.

We should never forget that behind those nose rings and weird tattoos, our young people have strong opinions of how they want their world to be in the future.

We should listen to them and keep an open mind, because they are the future citizens of the world.