The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 18 | Issue 13 | Number 5 | Article ID 5413 | Jun 25, 2020

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From Hiroshima to Hollywood: How Pressure from LeslieGroves and President Truman Sabotaged the First MovieAbout the Bomb

Greg Mitchell

“If our sin as scientists was to make and usethe atomic bomb,” Leo Szilard, famed physicistwould admit, “then our punishment was towatch The Beginning or the End.” Szilard'sexposure to the 1947 MGM movie, however,went far beyond merely enduring a viewing ofthe first Hollywood drama about the creationand use of the bomb. The previous year he hadtraveled from Chicago to Los Angeles to offerhis input on key scenes, then signed a contractagreeing to be portrayed in the movie--andafter much cajoling, convinced Albert Einsteinto sign his own approval.

Szilard would not be the only atomic scientistto express disappointment in the big-budgetfilm, which drew mixed reviews from moviecritics and modest box office receipts. Theproject, after all, had shifted 180 degrees fromits inception, when it was inspired by the

scientists as a warning against building newand bigger bombs. Now it was little more thanerror-ridden, pro-bomb propaganda.

It had started with an urgent letter from aworried scientist at Oak Ridge to his formerhigh school chemistry student, actress DonnaReed. Now it concluded with a scene at theLincoln Memorial, with the one voice ofconscience remaining in the script, a youngscientist named Matt Cochran, addressing hiswife as a ghostly figure. Despite having justperished in an accident while arming theHiroshima bomb (which would then slaughter125,000 others), he assures his widow, incloudy, apparitional form, "God has not shownus a new way to destroy ourselves. Atomicenergy is the hand he has extended to lift usfrom the ruins of war and lighten the burdensof peace.... We have found a path so filled withpromise, that when we walk down it we willknow that everything that went before thediscovery of atomic energy was the Dark Ages."

This "cheery imbecility" would be mocked byJames Agee in his Time magazine review. Lifemagazine would call it "hokum" and "full offlossy but trite hopes for a better world." Thestudio's unique, if desperate, trailer for themovie (https://youtu.be/DqnQ1U3_Qt4) utilizeda fake "Inquiring Reporter" interviewing B-listactors and actresses pretending to be moviegoers.

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How and why did that transpire? Once MGMbought out a rival project (with a script by noneother than Ayn Rand) from Paramount, it hadclear sailing to take any route it desired.Legendary studio chief Louis B. Mayer, inapproving the project, had insisted that itbecome the "most important" movie he wouldever present. Producer Sam Marx wasrelatively liberal for a movie executive in thatera of Hollywood. Mayer, in contrast, was ahardcore conservative and turned the overallmanaging of the project to one of the mostrightwing activists in town, James K.McGuinness (later a prominent promoter of theblacklist and McCarthyism).

Even more critical to the outcome, the studiopaid the then-enormous sum of $10,000 toGeneral Leslie R. Groves, director of theManhattan Project, for his exclusive services,and essentially granted him final approval ofthe entire script (a power he would exert, tothe max). The scientists served only an advisoryfunction. They were able to successfully fact-check some technical aspects, but had noauthority to force any changes in tone ormessage and were paid little or nothing fortheir services.

Ultimately, mainly thanks to Groves, the moviewould not only fully endorse the decision to usethe bomb against Japan, but re-write history tosupport that conclusion. For example, itrepeatedly referred to the U.S. "showering" thetarget cities with leaflets explicitly warningthat a new weapon was on the way--whileeliminating plans to reveal some of the humaneffects of the bomb on the ground inHiroshima. And Nagasaki? In the end it wasn'teven mentioned once.

Groves with actress Donna Reed, 1946

Finally, the White House, which also had vetopower in its pocket, got crucially involved, withTruman and his press secretary Charles Ross,ordering a costly re-take (an unprecedentedorder from the Oval Office in the history ofHollywood) of the key scene showing thepresident explaining his reasons for deciding todrop the bomb. Truman even got the actorplaying him fired. He wanted someone withmore of a military "bearing."

What follows is an excerpt from The Beginningor the End: How Hollywood--and America--Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb(http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2020/01/announcing-my-new-book.html).

This picks up with the writing and revising ofthe film's script at about its midway point in thespring of 1946.

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J. Robert Oppenheimer wasn’t the only criticalfigure in the atomic bomb regime to finallyreceive an MGM script this month. He had onlyhelped create the new weapon; PresidentTruman had ordered its use, twice, againstJapanese cities. The two men, therefore, wereamong those who shared responsibility forwhat had happened, and what might happennext, in the “atomic age.” As displayed in theirsingle Oval Office meeting, only one of themseemed to harbor any regrets about his role.

Hume Cronyn as Robert Oppenheimer inthe movie

Truman, in fact, seemed more perplexed anddistant from the bomb than remorseful. At aCabinet meeting he admitted he did not knowhow many atomic weapons were in the U.S.arsenal and did not really care to know,earning a lecture from his secretary ofcommerce, Henry Wallace. He also mused toWallace that he was worried that atomic energywould one day reduce the number of hours inan average workweek, causing laborers to “getinto mischief.” By now, Truman’s risingpopularity, following V-J Day, had faded in theface of crippling labor strikes and threats of

same, particularly involving the railroads.Common wisecracks around DC and in thepress claimed, “To err is Truman” and “I’m justmild about Harry.”

Now, in any case, what would Truman think ofthe MGM script?

Apparently it seemed fine with him, at least atthis stage (only later would major complaintsand extreme pressure ensue). His presssecretary, Charles Ross, voiced only three fairlyminor areas of concern to MGM’s CarterBarron, after revealing that, yes, Trumanhimself did read the script. Ross orderedremoved any reference to the presidentsupplying the title of the film. The actor playingTruman must be filmed only from the rear.Also, the White House wanted excised anyreference to Truman, as senator, rising to fameleading the committee investigating militarywaste, including the massive spending on somesecret operation not yet revealed as theManhattan Project. They may have feared itmade him look like someone who might haveexposed and thereby derailed the bomb project.So that had to go.

MGM’s Barron quickly jumped to the task, anda few days later wrote a formal letter to Ross to“confirm my agreement on behalf” of MGM toexecute those deletions. Barron closed byexpressing gratitude “for your speedy attentionto our problem.” Ross would reply the sameday, explaining that if these promises werekept the White House would have “noobjection” to MGM moving forward in makingtheir picture, although of course the presidentwould not offer any public endorsement.

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Publicity image for the movie (the film wasin black & white, however)

Soon after, an MGM press release announcedthat the studio had secured approvals to beimpersonated in the movie from Truman,Groves, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Enola Gay pilotPaul Tibbets, and others. “Never has a singlemotion picture presented such an array ofprominent living personalities,” the releaseboasted. One other, even more famousscientist, Albert Einstein, who had just receivedthe screenplay, later granted his approval.

So, what remained in the heavily revised, scriptthat was being circulated to a few key players?Changes were still being made week to week.Frank Wead’s original manuscript was againfilled with messy pencil edits, major cuts andhand-scrawled inserts. A note in one of thescripts helpfully advised that in pronouncingOppenheimer’s name please know that it’s OPPas in TOP.

Elsewhere, the script was adapted toemphasize the desire to portray the atomicattack in a heroic way, and as one absolutelynecessary to save America from meeting thesame fa te . FDR now c la ims that h i spsychological warfare experts told him that the“Japs will fight right down to the women andchildren.” Now the "light flak" greeting theAmerican bombers near Hiroshima--already anenormously revealing falsehood--has beentransformed into "heavy flak." Even worse,when purely fictional Japanese fighter planes

approach the Enola Gay, they are so close (inthe movie) that the Americans need to returnfire! The accident that dooms Matt Cochran’slife now occurs before Hiroshima, as he armsthat bomb, not in the run-up to Nagasaki. Thisenabled the script to totally eliminate anydepiction of the even more questionable secondbomb.

Brian Donlevy as Groves and secretary(Audrey Totter)

Even more revealing was the addition of twonew, fictionalized, warnings about the Japaneseobtaining atomic weapons to greet a U.S.invasion. One of them had Roosevelt musing,“Our latest intelligence worried me . . . the Japsmay have atomic weapons before we do.”Groves, as before, claims the half million U.S.death toll in an invasion will climb horribly ifthe Japanese greet the Allies with atomicbombs. But now, when a top U.S. militaryadviser warns, “The Germans have sent manyatomic experts and materials to Japan bysubmarine,” all of those in the room “areshocked” (a sentiment that would have beenshared by any serious historian, since nothingof the sort ever happened). The advisercontinues, “We’re slapping down every sub thatshows its nose, but some are bound to get

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through!”

This desperate rewriting of the script, andhistory, culminated in the wildest scene yet,adding an element of unintentional blackhumor to the script.

The setting: a cove near Tokyo very late in thewar. Japanese sailors and scientists gaze offover the water with binoculars . . . and spot asubmarine surfacing. A Nazi officer with hisaides soon comes ashore. He is accompanied bya Dr. Schmidt, Germany’s leading atomicscientist. Professor Okani, a Japanese physicist,greets him, then tells his colleagues thatSchmidt has brought uranium “and everythingelse we will need.” The Japanese have“factories, men and materials” ready forSchmidt to use to make his bomb.

Schmidt says the only reason Hitler didn’t getthe A-bomb first was because the German labscould not be protected from Allied bombs, buthere on Japan “it will be different.” A Naziofficer booms: “Yes! We are not defeated. Wecan sink the enemy fleet, wipe out their menand bases and begin to fight our way back toAxis victory.” He adds: “Heil Hitler!” TheJapanese respond, “Banzai Nippon!”

And then the kicker. “We have prepared a finelaboratory for you,” Okani tells the Germans,“at our new Army Headquarters in . . .Hiroshima.”

This scene proved to be too much for evenGroves to accept, and it would be deleted fromthe script. Nearly all of the other falsificationsremained, however.

Greg Mitchell's new book is The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood--and America--Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb(http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2020/01/announcing-my-new-book.html). He has tenprevious books, including two previous related to this subject: Atomic Cover-up(https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Cover-up-Soldiers-Hiroshima-Nagasaki/dp/1468127403/?tag=theasipacjo06-20) and, with Robert Jay Lifton, Hiroshima in America(https://www.amazon.com/Hiroshima-America-Robert-J-Lifton/dp/0380727641/?tag=theasipacjo06-20). He recently completed writing and directing a documentary film based on the long-suppressed film explored in Atomic Cover-up. Read also his recent article “New FilmExplores U.S. Suppression of Key Footage from Hiroshima and Nagasaki(https://apjjf.org/2020/12/Mitchell.html)” on The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.