Wilfred Burchett (1911-1983) was a well-known but controversial Australian journalist. Described as “one of the most important journalists of the twentieth century,” Burchett was the first Western civilian reporter to enter Hiroshima after the United States’ nuclear attack (June 1945). His accounts of the “atomic plague” (radiation poisoning illness) precipitated vehement US military denials and propelled him to international notoriety. An avowed socialist who presented stories from a non-Western perspective, his reporting from Russia, Vietnam, Korea, Portugal, and Angola reflects a keen understanding of modern revolutionary processes, placing him among the most impactful figures of Cold War generation political journalism.