Description

William L Laurence was fascinated with atomic science and its militarization When the Manhattan Project drew near to perfecting the atomic bomb he was recruited to write much of the governments press materials that were distributed on the day that Hiroshima was obliterated That instantly crowned Laurence as one of the leading journalistic experts on the atomic bomb As the Cold War dawned some assessed Laurence as a propagandist defending the militarization of atomic energy For others he was a skilled science communicator who provided the public with an understanding of the atomic bomb

Laurence leveraged his perch at the Times to engage in paid speechmaking book writing filmmaking and radio broadcasting His work for the Times declined in quality as his relationships with people in power grew closer and more lucrative Atomic Bill reveals extraordinary ethical lapses by Laurence In 1963 a conflict of interest led to his forced retirement from the Times

Kiernan shows Laurence to have set the trend common among todays journalists of science and technology to prioritize geewhiz coverage of discoveries That approach in which Laurence served the interests of governmental official and scientists recommends a revision of our understanding of the dawn of the atomic era