Is it true that the United States tried to keep the media quiet about the balloon bombs?
Yes, it is. The U.S. knew that the only way Japan could measure the success of its balloon bomb program (called “Fu-Go”) was by media reports. They could then use those media reports to improve the accuracy of the bombs. So the government sent a request to all media asking them not to talk about the balloon bombs. It wasn’t until a few weeks after six people were killed in Bly, Oregon that the request was lifted. The censorship put on the media was partially credited for Japan ending the attacks since they never knew whether the project worked or not. To this day the majority of Americans still don’t know about the attacks.
