Dr. Edward Gordon – Fireball in the Night: The Fire-Bombing of Japan and the Atomic Bomb Controversy
On April 18, 1942, Lieutenant-Colonel James H. Doolittle led a clandestine bombing raid of sixteen B-24 Mitchell bombers that flew from U.S. aircraft carrier Hornet to Tokyo, a distance of more than 650 miles. The damage inflicted was small, but it foreshadowed the mighty air raids to come.
Before a successful air campaign could even begin, the Allies needed to obtain airfields from which bombing raids on the Japanese home could be launched. After the U.S. conquest of the Mariana Islands, airfields were constructed on Saipan and Tinian on which B-29s were based. From these and other island airbases the newly designed B-29s, which could fly up to 3,500 miles with a maximum load of 4 tons of bombs, could begin a massive air campaign against Japan.
This program on the bombing of Japan and the dropping of the atom bomb will chronicle the events that made U.S. airpower a decisive factor in the fall of Japan in 1945 including:
The story of the end of the Pacific war is a unique mixture of military strategy, modern science, and ancient traditions. In the end, Japan’s leaders had two choices – defeat or the possibility of total annihilation. Never in the history of warfare would air power play such an important role in the outcome of a war.
Biography of Edward E. Gordon
Edward E. Gordon is an internationally known historian, speaker, researcher, and author. He taught history at DePaul University, Chicago and was a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians for 10 years. He has presented hundreds of historical programs to museums, libraries, universities, and a wide variety of other organizations across the United States.
Ed Gordon is also the president and founder of Imperial Consulting Corporation. He is the author of 20 books and over 150 articles in the areas of history, business, and education. His latest book, Divided on D-Day: How Leadership Failures Threatened the Normandy Invasion, co-authored with David Ramsay, was published by Prometheus Books.
He has appeared on the CBS network’s “The Early Show,” CNN, the PBS News Hour, National Public Radio, and many other media venues.
Dr. Gordon earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees in history at DePaul University, his Ph.D. at Loyola University Chicago, and pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago.