To the editor: I was 2 years and a few days old when the ultimate terrorist instrument was dropped by my country on Japan, in the large cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Now, I am a few days past my 72nd birthday, and I learn from Susan Southard and The Times that my country then was in full “1984” operational mode before George Orwell's book was published and widely distributed. ("What U.S. citizens weren't told about the atomic bombing of Japan," op-ed, AUg. 7)
Even Orwell's Newspeak “war is peace” language was in use then.