Two local men read the words of a designer of the atomic bomb and one of its victims in an event to observe the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Adam Novick, son of the late University professor Aaron Novick, who helped build the bomb, and Steve Morozumi, the programs adviser of the University Multicultural Center, read a transcript of a meeting between Aaron Novick and Senji Yamaguchi at the Lane County Court Building Friday. The reading marked the beginning of Hiroshima/Nagasaki International Observance Week.
The meeting between Aaron Novick and Yamaguchi took place at the 1989 International Nuclear Free Zone Conference in Eugene.
Aaron Novick worked on the Manhattan Project and later became an active opponent of nuclear weapons. He also founded the University Institute of Molecular Biology. He died Dec. 22, 2000.
Adam Novick read his father’s words encouraging public involvement in nuclear disarmament. “It would be criminal for us not to pursue this for as long as we can,” said Novick. “Now that humans know how to make atomic weapons, bombs will be a problem for all the future of human history.”
Yamaguchi was fourteen years old when Nagasaki was bombed on Aug. 9, 1945, three days after Hiroshima. He spent years recovering from the effects of the bombing, and he traveled the world speaking out against nuclear weapons.
“At the beginning of my recovery, I was not strong enough to speak to any groups,” were Yamaguchi’s words, read aloud by Morozumi. “But in the tenth year, an H-bomb was dropped on Bikini Island … That’s when I became more active in support of the total ban of nuclear weapons.”
George Beres, who organized the event, said keeping the words of Novick and Yamaguchi alive is of great importance.
“These words being read aloud take on so much more personal meaning,” said Beres. “We need to keep these words in front of the public.”
Following the reading, Beres opened the floor to comments.
L. Allan White, a nuclear disarmament advocate, said the bombing of Hiroshima was devastating, but added that it may have had some benefits.
“I was in the Navy in World War II … Without a doubt, the bomb saved my life,” he said. “I submit that it saved more lives than it took.”
Despite conflicting opinions on whether Japan should have been bombed, the majority of those in attendance agreed that nuclear devastation is still a possibility.
“I believe we need to extend every effort and resource to guiding against nuclear accidents and the devastation of nuclear war,” said Beres. “That means redirecting government resources to methods of controlling and preventing nuclear accidents.”
Hiroshima/Nagasaki International Observance Week events will conclude Thursday with speeches and a candlelight ceremony at Alton Baker Park scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. For more information, call (541) 686-4134 or (541) 344-0282.