Page 19 - Demo

In 1991, the United States Postal Service issued a set of ten postage stamps commemorating significant events of WWII. Additional sets of stamps commemorating different events were released in each of the next four years, with the final set of ten made available on September 2, 1995. In that last set, there was to be a stamp illustrating one of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan that ended the war. The very idea of a stamp portraying a devastating nuclear blast that killed thousands of people generated a certain amount of public outcry. There was also an official objection by Japan, whose Prime Minister, Tomiichi Murayama, said the stamp was an, %u201caffront to the feelings of the Japanese people.%u201d As a result of the controversy, President Bill Clinton ordered the Postal Service not to release the stamp. A design showing President Truman announcing Japan%u2019s surrender was substituted.A few individuals objected to this political maneuver, and they created their own labels (also known as Cinderella stamps or poster stamps) which came to be known as atomic-bomb Protest Stamps. There were several different versions released in 1994 and 1995. Protest StampsOriginal design for the United States stamp depicting a nuclear blast (left) and the replacement design depicting President Harry S Truman.