‘Truman and the Bomb’ at Historical Society Sept. 18

The Wayne County Historical Society will host Truman and the Bomb, a program scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Schoolhouse on the WCHS grounds in Wooster.

Tickets for the program are $8 and are available by calling 330-264-8856 with admission also including entrance to the Compton Exhibit opening at 5:30 p.m.

Truman and the Bomb includes a brief biography of the president and goes on to cover the Manhattan Project, World War lI in the Pacific, and the decision-making process that led to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Guest speaker Judge William F.B. Vodrey will argue that given the military, diplomatic and political situation in late summer 1945, using the atomic bomb was the least-bad alternative for Truman, ending the war more quickly and with lower casualties than any other course of action then open to him.

Vodrey serves on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Born and raised in East Liverpool, he graduated with honors from Oberlin College and later received his law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He has been interested in presidential and military history for many years and often speaks on such topics to historical societies, clubs and roundtables. He also is a former Civil War reenactor with the 51st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company B, in which he achieved the rank of corporal.