Original caption: A dense column of smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over the Japanese port of Nagasaki, the result of an atomic bomb, the second ever used in warfare, dropped on the industrial center August 8, 1945, from a U.S. B-29 Superfortress.
The United States bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. These were the first instances of atomic bombs used against humans, killing tens of thousands of people, obliterating the cities, and contributing to the end of the war.
Only two nuclear bombs have ever been used in warfare. The first was when the United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Three days later, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
The Atomic Cloud Rises Over Nagasaki, Japan photograph is a part of America’s 100 Docs, an initiative of the National Archives Foundation in partnership with More Perfect that invites the American public to vote on 100 notable documents from the holdings of the National Archives. Visit 100docs.vote today.
