Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of arguably one of the most influential pieces of journalism ever written. John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” was originally published in the New Yorker magazine a little more than a year after the Second World War ended. The article exposed the realities of six people directly affected by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on Aug. 6, 1945.
Hersey was sent to Japan by the New Yorker to cover the aftermath of the bombing with a focus on the damage to infrastructure in the city. However, on the trip, Hersey became ill and was given a copy of The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder. The 1927 novel focuses on the lives of five individuals affected by a fictional disaster and inspired Hersey to write about the people affected by the atom bomb in Hiroshima rather than the damaged infrastructure.
   Hersey would later admit he was horrified by what he saw in Hiroshima, so much so that he could only stay in the city a few weeks. However, in those few weeks, he compiled the accounts of six people, five Japanese and one German, who witnessed and survived the bombing.  When he returned to the New Yorker, the decision was made to give the article the entirety of the magazine’s editorial space, something that had never been done before and has not been done since. The article’s existence and publication were kept secret until 12 hours before it was to be published, when editors Harold Ross and William Shawn sent copies to all major U.S. newspapers. Many seemed to recognize the importance of the piece and ran editorials urging readers to read the issue of the New Yorker.
   “Hiroshima” proved to be a hit, and all 300,000 original prints sold out immediately. Albert Einstein even tried to purchase 1,000 copies for fellow scientists. The president of the U.S. Book of the Month Club gave all subscribers a free copy of the magazine because, in his words, “We find it hard to conceive of anything being written that could be of more importance at this moment to the human race.” 
 The Japanese had been demonized by American propaganda long before Pearl Harbor, and when “Hiroshima” first landed in consumers’ hands, readers were able to see the human aspect of the country that just a little over a year ago was America’s greatest enemy. The New Yorker received letters from everyday citizens expressing their shame at the horror endured by regular people in the city of Hiroshima after the bomb fell.
Other reporters told their own stories about the destruction of the city, but none matched Hersey’s very personal glimpse into the lives of the survivors. Much of the information in Japan was being suppressed by US occupying forces, and the whole of humanity is lucky Hersey was able to get the information to the public. For the first time, people walking down Broadway were forced to consider the deadly power of a “noiseless flash.” The people of the world were able to bear witness to the most destructive weapon ever conceived by man through the eyes of those who were lucky enough to survive. “Hiroshima” made the knowledge of radiation sickness, of the bomb’s ability to kill long after the mushroom cloud faded away available to the people who could not even point to the city on a map. 
So often in today’s society, journalism is overlooked or dismissed due to a constant bombardment of information most people are uninterested in. However, there are moments in time that are of such importance to the whole of humanity, every creed, color and country that the word comprises, when we, the people, need to know what happened. We need people like John Hersey to go to places where death hangs heavily in the air, to see the sights that would make most of us sick to the stomach. The people have a right to know, and journalists will always be responsible to the people and the people alone.
The image of nuclear destruction is something that is ingrained in the minds of nearly everyone in society today. Over the past 70 years, we have seen it in movies, read about it in textbooks and novels and even heard songs urging caution with such powerful weapons. It all started with Hiroshima, but John Hersey showed the world what it really meant with “Hiroshima.”
We at The Reflector are proud to mark this anniversary not only as journalists but specifically as citizens of the world. Each and every one of us strives each day to reach for the incredibly high bar set by exceptional journalists like John Hersey, and to report not only what our fellow man wants to know but what they need to know, as well. That is the highest ethical goal we can reach for in our profession.