Hiroshima

Farm labor organizer Cesar Chavez was among 103 people arrested today in a peaceful demonstration at the Nevada Test Site marking the 42nd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. The demonstration drew more than 200 anti-nuclear protesters. They were jeered by two dozen counterdemonstrators who called for continued testing of nuclear weapons at this desolate desert site.

Re "Why Agonize Over Hiroshima, Not Dresden?" Aug. 30: To justify our Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombings, Ernest Lefever makes the usual claim that the bombings actually saved both Japanese and American lives by avoiding the need for an invasion of mainland Japan. Lefever believes, as do most Americans, that once Japan's leaders saw the bomb's enormous destructive power, they understood that further resistance was futile and quickly accepted our terms for unconditional surrender. I ask an obvious follow-up question: Why, then, could not a bloodless demonstration of the bomb (say over Tokyo Bay)

A thermonuclear weapon 11 times more powerful than the World War II atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima jolted the southern Nevada desert Thursday, one day after the Soviets and the Reagan Administration agreed to reopen talks on nuclear testing. Purpose of the underground test was not disclosed by the Department of Energy. The detonation, delayed six hours because of adverse wind conditions, generated earth tremors felt in Las Vegas, 102 miles from ground zero.

Martin Goldstein's comparison of the story of the Zumwalts, father and son, to a Greek tragedy could hardly be more apt. However, there are a couple of other points he seeks to make in his review of "My Father, My Son" with which I would take exception. Perhaps I am being picky, but to say that Hiroshima was "an event whose symbolic importance after (World War II) ultimately looms larger than its actual effect during it" needs a response. Granted, Hiroshima as a symbol of man's inhumanity to man and our potential for repeating errors of the past looms larger.

A fool and her money are soon parted. The sooner the better as far as "freezenik" Joan B. Kroc is concerned. Granted it will take some time to deplete Mrs. Kroc's $500 million; meanwhile she will serve Soviet disinformationists well. In less than three weeks, Mrs. Kroc will beat her breast in guilt as she attends "commemorative services" in Hiroshima while daughter Linda Smith leads the well-meaning but ignorant Mothers Embracing Nuclear Disarmament in Balboa Park. On that same day and three days later, I will pray silently (I guess I can do this as long as I'm not in school)

Re "Voices from Hiroshima," Opinion, Aug. 9 As one of the first scientists on the Manhattan Project, I must write that this collection of stories completely ignores the American military reasons to drop the atomic bomb. I was privileged to be among those briefed by the first Americans going into Hiroshima, and I will always remember the photos taken of the terrible destruction. But the decision to use the bomb was based on military estimates that more than 1 million American soldiers and sailors would die if they'd been forced to storm the Japanese homeland; also, 2 million Japanese would die. If the bomb were dropped, about 200,000 Japanese would be killed.

I write in reply to Ellen Goodman's column of April 29, "Germany Has No Place at the D-Day Reunion." Of course, we should always remember those who died in Nazi concentration camps and those who died trying to free them. It's important to remember the national denial and the international denial that made the Holocaust possible. Goodman says that the sins of the grandparents should not be visited on the grandchildren. She points out that in 1944 few Germans thought they were getting a welcome liberation from Hitler.

Your "Nuclear Age Amnesia" editorial (May 25) calls for Americans to save ourselves from the terrible kind of death suffered by the people of Hiroshima when hit by a nuclear weapon. For this we need to get every nation in the world to verifiably destroy every single one of their nuclear weapons. Their destruction would have to be confirmed by inspectors from a trustworthy international organization. How can we bring this about? By sending every nation's rulers -- and their people -- photos of Hiroshima's horribly mangled bodies.