Aomic Bombs End WWII Labels; Look Like US 1995 50th Anniversary Of WWII Stamps

I thought these high-quality printed labels looked a little like the 1991-1995 stamps issues by the US to commemorate the Second World War.

What do you think????

--Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681

Jim,

There's a catalog that illustrates, describes, and values most of the known atomic bomb stamps.

See below for a sample image.

Jim

I am appalled that the notion of an atomic bomb stamp was even considered.

Why, it's legitimate history. I'm glad they chose not to issue it, but there is nothing wrong with talking about it and putting forth design ideas. If the war itself is fair game for stamps then it's either all or nothing.

I'm appalled that my government dropped the bomb. But we should never forget that this was a part of our history.

The whole war was appalling. Upwards of 60 million people died and probably 80% were civilians, possibly more. I have never understood the idea of taking one event out of context from the whole war.

The original proposed stamp was part of the 10 stamps to be issued in 1995 commemorating the 50th anniversary of WWII. The proposed stamp looked very similar to the first posting in this thread but with the caption "Atomic bombs hasten war's end, August 1945". The Japanese government protested and President Clinton ordered the stamp withdrawn. It was replaced with a stamp showing President Truman announcing Japan's surrender. There were several "protest labels" privately issued in 1995 objecting to the withdrawal of the original design. I have seven of these protest labels in my collection.

As Bart correctly mentions, the war was filled with appalling actions. The way the Japanese treated U.S. POWs was appalling. Had we not dropped the bomb, who knows how many thousands (or tens or hundreds of thousands) more U.S. servicemen would have died?

History and people's actions are always easy to judge in hindsight.

It is interesting that these two different line perforations 12 and 12.5 come from two different old pin hole Rosback line perforators that have been used in the printing trade.

The first line perforation comes from a Rosback stroke bar perforator with Kiusalas 12-67=11.75 perforations per 2 cm with larger rounder cleaner holes.
A picture can be found at http://www.rosbackcompany.com/images/Foot_Perf.jpg
Its patent can be found at https://www.google.com/patents/US387543
This perforator was also used to perforate some U.S. BEP revenue stamps from 1914 to 1956 and some U.S. wine revenue stamps.

The second line perforation comes from a Rosback rotary wheel perforator with Kiusalas 12.5-63=12.5 perforations per 2 cm with smaller oval rougher holes.
A picture can be found at http://www.rosbackcompany.com/images/pony_perf.jpg
Its patent can be found at https://www.google.com/patents/US1127092
This perforator was also to perforate a U.S. BEP postage stamp Scott 536 from 1919 and some U.S. wine revenue stamps.

I agree. And for some context, of all those lives lost, more were lost by the victors than by the vanquished. Two other facts worth noting. The largest loss of life from a single bombing was from the bombing of Tokyo with incendiaries, not the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki. Plus, the largest air raid of the war against Japan, in terms of planes launched, occurred after Nagasaki; Japan's surrender was announced as the planes on this raid were returning to the Marianas.

There will always be a debate on whether the war would have ended soon anyway without the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But even if so, until then the large scale bombing raids with "conventional" napalm would have continued, maybe even taking just as many lives over time as did the two single bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And the moral compass of whatever technical means was used to bring the war to an end must take into account the lives saved by ending the war sooner than later. Some would point out that the atomic bombs saved more Japanese lives in the long run by bring the war to a swifter end. Perhaps, but we will never know.

To stay on topic, was this event appropriate for "commemorating" on a stamp? The 1995 WW II commemorative minisheet included a Holocaust stamp. Why one and not the other?

And what about the fact that the political pressure brought to bear by the Clinton administration on the Postal Service was unprecedented? Supposedly, this is the only proposed stamp design to ever be withdrawn because of political interference.

Remember what Santayana said. Stamps help us remember history, both good and bad.