Statement on the 75 th Anniversary of the “Trinity” Nuclear Test
Pugwash Japan
July 20, 2020

​

　July 16, 1945, the United States Manhattan Project tested its first ever nuclear weapon in
the desert of New Mexico, which was code-named as “Trinity”. Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, a
father of the bomb, watching the fireball of the Trinity nuclear test, stated, “Now I am
become Death, the destroyer of worlds”, a famous quote from the Hindu sacred text. It is the
moment that the world became a hostage of the most powerful weapon created by mankind.
Now we still have more then 13, 000 nuclear warheads, any one of them could be used by
“one button” controlled by the leaders of states who possess nuclear weapons.
　75 years later, the US President Trump, issued a statement on the “Trinity” nuclear test,
saying “this remarkable feat of engineering and scientific ingenuity was the culmination of
the Manhattan Project which helped end World War II and launch an unprecedented era
of global stability, scientific innovation, and economic prosperity”.1
　We, Pugwash Japan, denounce this statement strongly, which is not only unacceptable to
all hibakushas, but also incorrect; historical facts show that the nuclear bombs were not the
decisive factor to end the World War II.2　Arguably, nuclear weapons have been a major
destabilizing force in world politics and a threat to the human race.
　More than $70 billion was spent on nuclear weapons in 2019 3 which could have been
spent for global health, education and welfare. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all
the more convinced that such spending is absurd. Mr. Trump is wrong: Science and
technology must never be used against humanity. As Russell-Einstein Manifesto pronounced
clearly 10 years after Trinity; “Remember your humanity, and forget the rest”.

​

Pugwash Japan, Chair Tatsujiro Suzuki
Co-Chair Takao Takahara

Co-Chair Yoshiko Kurita

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.Presidential Message on the 75th Anniversary of the Trinity Nuclear Test, The White House, July 16,2020. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/presidential-message-75th-anniversary-trinitynuclear-test/
2.Tsuyoshi Hasegwa, Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and the Surrender of Japan, Cambridge, MA: TheBelknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006. Majority of Japanese historians have long held the same view with Professor Hasegawa, namely that the Soviet entry into war was the decisive factor for Japan to
accept the Potsdam Declaration.
3.International Campaign for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), “Enough is Enough: Global Nuclear Weapons Spending”, May 2020. https://www.icanw.org/global_nuclear_weapons_spending_2020

​