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Hersey was a war correspondent during World WarⅡ. He used his connection with the US military to get access to visit Hiroshima in May 1946. There, he met Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto who would come to play a pivotal role in Hersey's coverage of the atomic bombing and the survivors known as hibakusha. Upon his return to the US, Hersey got in touch with the editor of The New Yorker magazine and wrote what people often refer to as one of the masterpieces of the 20th-century journalism, "Hiroshima." Because of the sensitive nature of his work, the publication was carried out in secrecy and Hersey took the precaution to temporarily relocate his family from New York City to a remote location.
His writing was a sensation. Henry Stimson, Secretary of War during WWⅡ, reacted with a magazine article, which became the foundation for the US rationale to justify the use of the atomic bombs: They spared the lives of one million US soldiers and brought the war to an end. Hersey was gradually shunned from the US mainstream media, and "Hiroshima," too had retreated from the front line of world affairs for a long time.
