36 Atomic Bomb Stamps, Cancelled And Never Issued For The 50th Anniversary Of Ending War With Japan

36 Atomic Bomb Stamps, cancelled and never issued for the 50th anniversary of ending war with japan.

The 50th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day brought simmering questions about the U.S. decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to a boil.

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Controversy erupted in 1994 when the U.S. Postal Service canceled a planned stamp that would have commemorated the end of World War II by showing a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb explosion.

The issue also emerged during a separate heated debate about the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's proposed exhibit of Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Veterans and members of Congress felt the debate slandered the U.S. troops who fought in the Pacific. The exhibit was eventually reworked and the aircraft displayed.

Ron Kaplan, an aviation artist who currently works for the National Aviation Hall of Fame, inadvertently joined the fray when he saw a TV news report about a decorative stamp that Vietnam veteran Gerry Newhouse had made in protest of the Postal Service proposed stamp's cancellation. Kaplan went to Newhouse's office in downtown Columbus, Ohio, to buy three sheets of decorative stamps, and he told Newhouse the B-29 in the artwork did not look realistic. "I remember saying words to the effect that: 'Gosh, I wish I had known you before you did these because I'm an aviation artist, and frankly I think the art could be a lot better.'"

Newhouse called Kaplan the next day to say the company making the stamps had lost the scan of the original artwork. Newhouse needed more stamps immediately because he was being deluged with orders, so he asked Kaplan if he could come up with a new design.

Kaplan quickly turned around a design for a decorative stamp showing a B-29 flying away from a mushroom cloud along with the words, "Atomic bombs end World War II." The stamps had no postal value, but they could be used along with stamps approved by the Postal Service. Newhouse sold the stamps in 1995 and 1996.

Kaplan quickly turned around a design for a decorative stamp showing a B-29 flying away from a mushroom cloud along with the words, "Atomic bombs end World War II." The stamps had no postal value, but they could be used along with stamps approved by the Postal Service. Newhouse sold the stamps in 1995 and 1996.

The stamp got a big endorsement from retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew the Enola Gay on the Hiroshima mission, Kaplan said.

As the 70th anniversary of VJ Day on Aug. 15 approaches, Kaplan talks about the legacy of the two B-29 missions that ended the Pacific War.

Notes: Never issued, limited supply as printing was halted by Congress over protests. As purchased see images.

$35 - $50

8" x 0.01" x 8"

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Richard Gabriel | (781) 883-6639 | gabriel@calixbooks.com

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