Many historians dispute Snell’s claim of having interviewed a Japanese intelligence officer involved with the program and having witnessed the detonation. There is no evidence, however, that the story was fabricated, and while there is also no evidence supporting it, Snell was an experienced reporter. During his tenure as a reporter and as a correspondent for Life Magazine, none of his other stories were ever called into question. After seeing an interview where he defended the story, and having no evidence he lied and in light of an unblemished career as a reporter, I found him credible, and included it in this newsletter. His credibility is, none the less, a highly contested issue. It has been suggested that it could be resolved by visiting the test site, but Konan is in North Korea, and they have denied access. It appears clear, however, that he correctly identified the location of the North Korean site before the US became aware of it decades later. It is also possible that his source was indeed from the lab, but exaggerated the lab’s success. The footnote contains a link to the original story.

The veracity of his claim is also somewhat beside the point, since the main thrust of the newsletter is that in a war with the Japanese it would have been irresponsible and reckless to assume they were defeated and to not continue to press every advantage until the war was over, knowing full well that that’s what they would do.