THE first time a nuclear bomb was tested successfully was on July 16, 1945, when the United States Army blasted its first nuclear-powered bomb in Jornada del Muerto, a desert area in Alamorgo, Los Alamos, New Mexico. At the time, the Potsdam Declaration, which the US-led allies issued to demand the unconditional surrender of Japan, had already been up for immediate implementation. Only a probable last-minute change of mind of Russia, one of the signatories in the Potsdam Declaration, could stay its execution and the Japanese militarists kept their fingers crossed that the Soviets would go their side. For this reason, while US President Harry S. Truman delivered his ultimatum to Japan, 'a rain of ruin from sky,' the Japanese stood their ground and refused the Potsdam demand.

Thus did on Aug. 6, 1945, the first ever nuclear bomb was dropped, over Hiroshima, to subdue an enemy. One more 'rain of ruin' like that, this time dropped on Nagasaki the following August 9, was immediately followed by the announcement by Japanese Emperor Hirohito on radio that he was accepting the Potsdam Declaration.