A Timeline of the Bombing
What events lead to this controversial bombing? Who was involved? When did it all begin?
- December 1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor & U.S. enters WWII.
- 1942: Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer becomes director of the Manhattan Project, a government program commissioned to build and test an atomic bomb.
- May 7, 1945: Germany agrees to unconditional surrender; war in Europe ends.
- July 16, 1945: U.S. successfully denotes first atomic bomb in history at a test site in the desert of New Mexico.
- August 6, 1945: The first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima at approximately 8:15 a.m. It is released from Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber piloted by Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets.
- August 9, 1945: A second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki by a B-29 bomber piloted by Maj. Charles Sweeney.
- August 15, 1945: Japan surrenders & WWII ends.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4785786