Mr Truman’s bomb
The ruins of Hiroshima after the nuclear attack
ALAMY/PICTORIAL PRES
In a recent article in The Tablet (“Miss Anscombe changes course”, 13 June) Professor John Berkman recorded the courageous stance of an Oxford philosopher, G.E.M. Anscombe, who on 1 May 1956 voted against Oxford University’s proposal to award an honorary degree to former US President Harry Truman, on the grounds that he was “a mass murderer who had boasted … that he was responsible for the obliteration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki”.
In her intervention Miss Anscombe compared Truman to Nero, Genghis Khan and Hitler. She was one of only four members of the university’s teaching body to vote against the honour, but her protest attracted worldwide attention.
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