Conference to discuss consequences and dangers of atomic weapons
In response to the Smithsonian Institution's unchanged plans for its Enola Gay exhibit that opens next Monday, a national conference will be held to inform the public of the consequences of dropping the atomic bomb and the dangers of nuclear weapons today.
"Hiroshima in the 21st Century: Will We Repeat the Past?" will be held on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Kay Spiritual Life Center. Admission is free.
"The most important issue confronting the United States today is the threat posed by the proliferation and potential use of nuclear weapons," said Peter Kuznick, director of AU's Nuclear Studies Institute, "yet few Americans are aware of the seriousness of the international situation or the dangers involved in the Bush administration's increased reliance on nuclear weapons and its effort to develop a new generation of weapons."
Speakers at Saturday's event will include scientists, Pulitzer Prize winners, atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and many of the country's leading experts in nuclear history and policy. Notably, Daniel Ellsberg, Robert Lifton and former National Air and Space Museum director Martin Harwit will be speaking.
The Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, will solely be displayed as a "magnificent technological achievement" at the National Air and Space Museum's addition near Dulles International Airport. The Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy, formed by Kuznick, hoped the museum would have included the consequences of the bomb in its exhibit.
Both the Nuclear Studies Institute and the Committee for a National Discussion of Nuclear History and Current Policy are sponsoring the event.
- STOKELY BAKSH
