ABSTRACT
The news that doctors were coming from Hiroshima cheered hibakusha in the United States (US), who had previously experienced only frustration in obtaining medical assistance from both the US government and from Japan. A meeting was organized, with the help of Dr. Noguchi, to discuss the hibakusha's problems from the perspective of medical specialists. Many who attended were not hibakusha, among them George Takei, a Japanese-American actor who was active in the anti-nuclear movement. The hibakusha who were interviewed were cautious, afraid that they might inflame the feelings of the American people, but they indicated that they could no longer keep silent. At long last, the American hibakusha began to take their case to the whole nation. The mass media had begun to pick up the story of the American hibakusha and make it known to the whole nation. Media attention provided validation to the hibakusha, but they also knew that disclosure of their A-bomb experience would carry consequences.
