Who knows? Not me. Why wasn't Kyoto destroyed by an atomic bomb during World War II? Rumor has it, the Secretary of War at the time, Henry Stimson, had fallen in love with the city during his honeymoon years earlier. But is this a STORY or REALITY?

To get some answers, Bob calls up historian Alex Wellerstein.

Was Kyoto spared because of military strategy? Political calculations? Or the personal intervention of Stimson? And if Kyoto was spared, which city took its place?

It's a fascinating story about war, power, culture, and one of the most consequential decisions in American history.

Guest: Alex Wellerstein, historian of science at Stevens Institute of Technology and author of The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for the Atomic Age.