Page 73 - Demo

Nuclear Weapons of the Atomic AgeRay Cowdery was quite outspoken when he learned that the U.S. Postal Service had cancelled a postage stamp featuring an atomic blast, saying, %u201cLike millions of Americans, I was absolutely shocked when I read of the USPS bowing to Clinton Administration pressure on this issue.%u201dCowdery, owner of USM, Inc., a small Lakeville, Minnesota company, decided to create atomic-bomb labels to protest the Post Office%u2019s actions. His Protest Stamps were issued in panes of 36 (6 X 6), with text in the top and bottom selvedges. They are imperforate, with printed perforations. A pane sold originally for $2.50.According to one of Cowdrey%u2019s Press Releases, %u201cThese labels serve as proud reminders of the difficult and courageous decision to drop the atomic bombs that quickly ended the most destructive, bloody, and costly war in world history.%u201d Cowdrey also said, %u201cSo I decided to take the financial risk of printing a non-postage commemorative atomic bomb stamp myself.%u201d To him, the facts were clear, %u201cThe atomic bombs dropped on Japan on 6 and 9 August 1945 didn't %u2018hasten%u2019 the war%u2019s end as the USPS contended; they ended the war, period. They also brought an end to the unspeakable slave labor, concentration camps, medical experimentation, enforced prostitution and criminal neglect that Japanese people had inflicted upon their neighbors for decades.%u201dCowdrey also pointed out that, %u201cFewer Nazis were indicted as %u2018Class A%u2019 War Criminals at Nuremberg than the number of Japanese indicted as %u2018Class A%u2019 War Criminals in similar Allied proceedings in Tokyo after World War II.%u201d He added that, %u201cWe Americans should take pride in commemorating the anniversary of the use of atomic bombs each year not because so many Japanese died as a result, but because it ended forever the ruthless Japanese reign of terror that had subjugated millions of humans for decades throughout Asia.%u201dIn creating his Protest Stamps, Cowdrey said, %u201cThey do serve as proud reminders of the difficult and courageous decision to drop the atomic bombs that quickly ended the most destructive, bloody and costly war in world history.%u201d Cowdrey Protest Stamp, 1995