[H-PAD] H-PAD Notes 8/12/20: Recent articles of interest; Congressional Update

[Jim O'Brien]

 *A Congressional Update follows the list of articles.*


*Links to Recent Articles of Interest*

*"Dropping Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Was Unnecessary"*
<https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/08/06/dropping-atomic-bombs-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-was-unnecessary>
By* Gar Alperovitz and Martin Sherwin, *CommonDreams.org, posted August 6
(from the *Los Angeles Times*)
*Argues that the imminent entry of the Soviet Union into the war against
Japan was sufficient to force Japanese surrender. Gar Alperovitz teaches
political economy at the University of Maryland and Martin Sherwin teaches
history at George Mason University. Historians Kai Bird and Peter Kuznick
contributed to the article.*

*"The U.S. Hid Hiroshima's Human Suffering. Then John Hersey Went to Japan"*
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/08/06/john-hersey-hiroshima-anniversary-japanese-suffering>
By* Michael S. Rosenwald, **Washington Post, *posted August 6
*On the significance of John Hersey's August 1946 *book-length New
Yorker *article
on the human suffering caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The
article broke through a curtain of silence with the US military had imposed
on reports of the atomic bomb's civilian damage.*

*"The Elusive Horror of Hiroshima"*
<https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/photography/2020/08/the-elusive-horror-of-hiroshima>
By* Lesley M. M. Blume (with photographs by Hiroki Kobayashi), **National
Geographic, posted August 6*
*A richly illustrated essay on Hiroshima in the wake of the atomic bombing
and today. The author's new book on John Hersey,* Fallout: The Hiroshima
Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World, *was released
by* *Simon
and Schuster on August 4.*

*"Richard Nixon Bears Responsibility for the Pandemic's Child-Care Crisis"*
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/06/richard-nixon-bears-responsibility-pandemics-child-care-crisis>
By* Anna K. Danziger-Halperin, **Washington Post, *posted August 5
*On Nixon's veto of federally funded universal child care in 1971 and its
lasting consequences. The author is a postdoctoral fellow in women's
history and public history at the New-York Historical Society.*


*"Atomic Bombings at 75: Truman's 'Human Sacrifice' to *
<https://consortiumnews.com/2020/08/03/atomic-bombings-at-75-trumans-human-sacrifice-to-subdue-moscow>
*Subdue Moscow"*
<https://consortiumnews.com/2020/08/03/atomic-bombings-at-75-trumans-human-sacrifice-to-subdue-moscow>
By* Peter Kuznick, **Consortium News, *posted August 3
*Written as the introduction to the memoir of a Nagasaki bombing victim,
Taniguchi Sumiteru, tthis essay touches on the purpose and impact of the
atomic bombings and the role of victims in the Japanese anti-nuclear
movement. Peter Kuznick teaches history at American University and directs
the Nuclear Studies Institute there.*

*"The Battle of the Atlantic Has Lessons for Fighting Covid-19"
<https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/176634>*
By* Marc Wortman, *History New Network, posted August 2
*On the struggle to get coastal homeowners and businesses to observe a
coastal blackout in the interest of preventing German submarines from
enjoying free visibility for their attacks. The author is an independent
historian and journalist who wrote *1941: Fighting the Shadow War. A
Divided America in a World at War (Grove Atlantic, 2019).

*"The Next Lost Cause?"
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/31/lost-cause-donald-trump>*
By* Caroline E. Janney, **Washington Post, *posted July 31
*"The South's mythology glamorized a noble defeat. Trump's backers may do
the same." The author teaches the history of the Civil War at the
University of Virginia.*

*"A Magazine Story Opened Eyes to Hiroshima's Horror. White House Allies
Plotted to Shut Them Again"*
<https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/07/a-magazine-story-opened-eyes-to-hiroshimas-horrors-white-house-allies-plotted-to-shut-them-again>
By* Greg Mitchell, **Mother Jones, *posted July 24
*On the effort to counter the effect of John Hersey's *New Yorker *report
on the impact of the Hiroshima bombing. The author's book *The Beginning or
the End: How Hollywood--and America--Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the
Bomb
*was published earlier this month by The New Press). *

*"Tearing Down Black America"*
<http://bostonreview.net/race/brent-cebul-tearing-down-black-america>
By* Brent Cebul, **Boston Review, *posted July 22

*"Policing is not the only kind of state violence. In the mid-twentieth
century, city governments, backed by federal money, demolished hundreds of
Black neighborhoods in the name of urban renewal." The author teaches
twentieth-century US history at the University of Pennsylvania.*

*"The Border Patrol's Brute Power in Portland Is the Norm at the Border"*
<https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/176567>
By *Karl Jacoby, **Los Angeles Times, *posted July 22

*"What’s happening in Oregon reflects the long history of unprecedented
police powers granted to federal border agents over what has become a far
more expansive border zone than most Americans realize." The author teaches
US history at Columbia University.*

*Thanks to an anonymous reader for flagging some of the above articles.
Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48 at gmail.com <jimobrien48 at gmail.com>.*


*Congressional Update*
By Carolyn "Rusti" Eisenberg and Prasannan Parthasarathi, H-PAD's
legislative coordinators

Senators Need to Hear from Their Constituents
Capitol Switchboard : 202-224-3121

Increased funding for a wasteful, dangerous defense budget is nothing new.

But something different is happening this time: With our country in crisis
and  millions of Americans desperate for  federal assistance, the Senate
has authorized another $740.5 billion for defense, while refusing to vote
on the House of Representatives Heroes Act, in the name of fiscal
responsibility. The House bill has shortcomings, but it provides vitally
needed benefits that the President's Executive Order leaves out: $600 a
week added to unemployment insurance, a second stimulus check for American
beneath a certain income level, urgent assistance to states and city
government, funding for the post office and for schools, and other
important items.

Senators Need to Hear from Their Constituents.  Helpful to call your
Senators' office today:Capitol Switchboard:  202-224-3121. Let  them know
you are furious about the misplaced priorities of $740.5 billion for
"defense," and the failure to support the necessary expenditures contained
in the Heroes Act.

If it's a done-deal, why bother? All these offices keep a count of their
calls. And in one form another, both defense spending and a stimulus
package will come up again. So constituent push-back is still helpful.
.
Senate Roll-Call on 2021 Defense Authorization Act
<https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00140>
<https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00140>
<https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00140>

Further information on the  Heroes Act
<https://indivisible.org/resource/peoples-agenda-pledge-heroes-act-summary?akid=63412.1195386.9cy8CF&rd=1&t=11&utm_medium=li>
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