The diary and the cenotaph; racial and atomic fever in the canadian record

Abstract

In Ottawa, the capital of Canada, on August 6, 1945, Prime Minister Mackenzie King learned that an atomic bomb had obliterated Hiroshima. Subsequent to an initial public statement lauding this “greatest achievement in science,” Mr. King wrote in his diary: We can now see what might have come to the British race had German scientists won the race. It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe. I am a little concerned about how Russia may feel, not having been told anything of this invention or of what the British and the U.S. were doing in the way of exploring and perfecting the process.