New York Times reporter William L. Laurence, the only journalist to witness the U.S. development of the atomic bomb, has long been heralded as one of the newspaper's legends.
But Times reporter William J. Broad in Tuesday's newspaper details Laurence's serious ethical conflicts, including his collusion with Manhattan Project leader Gen. Leslie R. Groves in downplaying the deaths and horrible illnesses caused by radiation in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
In an accompanying article in the newspaper's Science section, Broad credits black journalist and war correspondent Charles H. Loeb for first reporting that radiation caused a high number of deaths and injuries in the Hiroshima bombing. Loeb, in an article for the National Negro Publishers Association on Oct. 5, 1945, found that radiation from the bomb's initial blast killed and injured many Hiroshima citizens. The Atlanta Daily World is cited as one of the black newspapers that published the article.
New Yorker writer John Hersey has long been credited for exposing an American coverup of the radiation devastation in Hiroshima. But Loeb, who participated in a press tour of Hiroshima following the bombing, broke the news first.
Laurence in his Times stories spread Groves' false assertion that the bombs' blast caused the deaths and injuries at Hiroshima, and that radiation had little effect. Groves and Laurence characterized reports of radiation's lethal power as Japanese propaganda.
Concerned that Americans would be accused of atrocities against civilians if radiation's ravages were known, Groves with Laurence's aid cast the atomic bomb attacks as similar to those of conventional weapons.
In witnessing the development of the atomic bomb from the start of the Manhattan project to the first test of the weapon in Nevada, Laurence served a dual role as a paid governmental employee as well as a Times reporter. Laurence wrote press releases and even a draft speech for President Harry Truman announcing the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima. Groves selected Laurence as the sole reporter to document the bomb's development.
The Times viewed Laurence's association with Groves and the government as a patriotic duty. Laurence received a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the bomb's development.
Broad also reports that in later years, Laurence had a similar arrangement with Robert Moses, New York City's powerful public works chief. At the time, Laurence led the Times' science department and served as an editorial writer.
In a stunning conflict of interest, Laurence wrote an editorial supporting public financing of a science pavilion in Queens for the 1964 World's Fair, which Moses led. Laurence also testified in support of the project. After his retirement from the Times, Laurence worked as a spokesman for Moses.
In contrast to Laurence, Loeb is viewed as a diligent and independent journalist whose career deserves more recognition. Before the radiation scoop, Loeb covered the American war effort in the Pacific, gaining a wide readership among black readers. Loeb should be honored as one of America's great World War II reporters along with Ernie Pyle, Homer Bigart, Edward R. Murrow and others.
The takedown of Laurence recalls the Times' mea culpas for the Depression-era stories of Soviet correspondent Walter Duranty, whose reputation plunged after revelations of his rosy reporting on Joseph Stalin's regime. Duranty neglected the devastating famine in the Ukraine caused by Stalin.
Laurence's lapses don't match Duranty's. Yet Laurence's spreading of false information about radiation's horrors was a major violation of journalistic standards.
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