The Atomic bomb
What was the justification for dropping the A-bomb on Japan?
In many ways, history is being re-written in regard to the above question. I would not be writing about this subject if I had not turned on the the TV and watched a program on C-Span recently about the the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The presentation on the subject was by a Japanese-American professor in the History Department at U.C. Berkeley. Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate his name and address. He was an excellent presenter and he stated that the Japanese were beaten and were ready to surrender prior to the dropping of the Bomb and were not able to generate a lot of military power against us. He also felt that the Japanese would continue the war because of our insistence on unconditional surrender because that would mean the end of their Emperor. He also felt that if we invaded Japan, the casualties on our side would not be as high as our military was projecting. In summary, a change in our policy could have negated the need to drop the Bomb.
In the book, Memoirs of Harry S.Truman, Truman stated that the Secretary of War, Stimson filled Truman in with the whole story of the Bomb.The final decision was Truman’s and Truman never doubted that it should be used against the Japanese. Kyoto was eliminated as target because General Arnold pointed out that Kyoto was a cultural and religious shrine for the Japanese. On 28 July, 1945 Radio Tokyo announced that the Japanese government would continue to fight. There was no formal reply by the Japanese to the joint ultimatum of the U.S. , U.K. , and China. The first bomb was dropped on 5 August at 7:15 P.M. on Hiroshima and the second was dropped on Nagasaki on 9 August, 1945. The Japanese were given 3 days to surrender. On 10 August, the Japanese government said it was ready to accept the Terms enumerated in the Joint Declaration which was issued at Potsdam on 26 July, 1945. General MacArthur was appointed to receive the Japanese surrender.
The book, A history of the English Speaking Peoples by Andrew Roberts, quotes from Truman’s memoirs, Year of Decisions, that an invasion would cost half –a-million American lives. Others in Truman’s cabinet estimated one million lives and one million casualties. Intercepts showed that the Japanese air force had 10,000 planes to defend the homeland as well as kamikaze pilots and other suicide weapons. Intercepts also showed that 525,000 men were ready to defend Kyushu and was to reach 680,000 men shortly afterwards. On 8 June 1945, the Japanese government had pledged, in the presence of the Emperor that “the nation would fight to the bitter end”. Even after Hiroshima, Japan refused to surrender. When Nagasaki was destroyed by the second bomb, the Imperial Council of Japan on the night of 9 August concluded that in the words of the Chief of the Army General Staff of Japan “it would be inexcusable to surrender unconditionally”. It was decided to consult the Emperor and on 10 August at 2 A.M. the Emperor declared “we have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of Powers.”
There have been much second guessing since the Bomb but the fact remains that it took two destroyed cities to convince the politicians and their Emperor that the Japanese must surrender. The Japanese military might have sacrificed the entire nation if it were not for the atomic bomb attack. On this day November 1, 2007, Paul Tibbets who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima died. He was 92. Tibbets, then a 30-year old colonel, never expressed regret over his role. He said that it was his patriotic duty and the right thing to do. My thanks to the sources from Andrew Roberts’ book and the Memoirs Of Harry S Truman.
Gary E. Marsella