ABSTRACT
During its planning for the postwar occupation of Japan, the United States set up the basis for censorship operations. The differences of opinion among departments of scap were numerous, both on general policy questions and on individual cases, as shown in the area of censorship. Originally, censorship was used primarily to collect intelligence, maintain security, discover attempts to violate military order, and the like. There was also nervousness on the part of the Occupation authorities about the fact that censorship existed at all. Punishment for censorship violations existed, from confiscation to years at hard labor, although it was never publicized. Nowhere in its censorship operations was the discrepancy between the needs and goals of the United States and its ideals more evident than in the case of the atomic bomb. Requests for decisions about censorship of atomic bomb material in Japan brought confusion and referral of decisions to all kinds of departments.
