Paul Tibbets Signed "Reflections on Hiroshima" Quote: "…the morality of dropping that bomb was not my business"

A souvenir typescript of a statement made by "Enola Gay" pilot Paul W. Tibbets (1915-2007), signed by him as "Paul W. Tibbets" at lower right. Tibbets's quote is printed on bright yellow double-weight paper, as, "'…the morality of dropping that bomb was not my business. I was instructed to perform a military mission…and that was the thing I was going to do to the best of my ability.'" Discretely pencil-inscribed by a former collector as "KH" verso. Near fine. 8" x 10."

Tibbets's powerful statement about wartime accountability first appeared in a 1989 documentary called "Reflections on Hiroshima." Co-produced by Tibbets and the Buckeye Aviation Book Company, the 58-minute-long documentary featured an interview between Tibbets, then a retired Brigadier General from the United States Air Force, and Tom Ryan. Tibbets's extended quote, which is the last line of the documentary, was: "I made up my mind then that the morality of dropping that bomb was not my business. I was instructed to perform a military mission to drop the bomb. That was the thing that I was going to do the best of my ability. Morality, there is no such thing in warfare. I don’t care whether you are dropping atom bombs, or 100-pound bombs, or shooting a rifle. You have got to leave the moral issue out of it."

On August 6, 1945, the crew of the B-29 Superfortress Bomber "Enola Gay" dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" over the southwestern Japanese metropolis of Hiroshima. Then Colonel Paul W. Tibbets piloted the 12-man crew. The nuclear bomb wiped out 70 percent of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure.

U.S. War Department estimates from July 1945 predicted that approximately 400 - 800,000 U.S. soldiers, and between 5 to 10 million Japanese, would have been killed in the alternative scenario--the full-scale invasion of Japan. Historian Tom Lewis goes further, arguing that forcing Japan to surrender earlier ultimately saved the lives of about 30 million people, by preventing death through starvation and other catastrophic war-end conditions.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!