Video: 'American Experience Truman 1' (Aug. 6, 1945, at 2:10:56)

(Monday, August 6, 1945, a few minutes before noon in “Zone Plus Three” time; during World War II) — U.S. President Harry Truman, eating lunch aboard the USS Augusta on his way from when he was Plymouth, England, to Newport News, Virginia, following the Potsdam Conference in Germany, was handed a decoded message today informing him of the successful use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, saying “this is the greatest thing in history.”

That afternoon, Truman issued a warning to the Japanese government: “If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a reign of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” (click here for an extended clip on Truman’s Aug. 6, 1945).