The guy who piloted the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima sixty-nine years ago today, didn’t lose any sleep over it. In fact, President Truman instructed him not to lose any sleep over it. I’m kind of ambivalent about that. Part of me thinks he should have been anguished about his role, but part of me is happy that he was able to live out his life without being tormented by his role in killing so many innocent civilians. The decision to drop the two atomic bombs will always remain controversial. On balance, I think that dropping them and looking at the ensuing damage helped prevent anyone from dropping any more nuclear weapons. And, since those weapons quickly became much more destructive, this is a very good thing. I am glad that no one ever set off a hydrogen bomb in a populated area.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration’s efforts at non-proliferation have lost out to their desire to refurbish our nuclear arsenal. Today is a good day to express our disappointment.