Posted on Aug 3, 2020
ATOMIC BOMBINGS AT 75: Truman's 'Human Sacrifice' to Subdue Moscow
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ATOMIC BOMBINGS AT 75: Truman’s ‘Human Sacrifice’ to Subdue Moscow
Historian Peter Kuznick's memoir.
Historian Peter Kuznick's memoir.
ATOMIC BOMBINGS AT 75: Truman's 'Human Sacrifice' to Subdue Moscow
Posted from consortiumnews.com
WWII World War Two
Japan
World History
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
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The War Was Won Before Hiroshima—And the Generals Who Dropped the Bomb Knew It
...The top American military leaders who fought World War II, much to the surprise of many who are not aware of the record, were quite clear that the atomic bomb was unnecessary, that Japan was on the verge of surrender, and—for many—that the destruction of large numbers of civilians was immoral. Most were also conservatives, not liberals. Adm. William Leahy, President Truman’s Chief of Staff, wrote in his 1950 memoir, “I Was There”, that “the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.… in being the first to use it, we…adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”
The commanding general of the US Army Air Forces, Henry “Hap” Arnold, gave a strong indication of his views in a public statement only eleven days after Hiroshima was attacked. Asked on August 17 by a New York Times reporter whether the atomic bomb caused Japan to surrender, Arnold said that “the Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air.”
...
Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, stated in a public address at the Washington Monument two months after the bombings that “the atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan…” Adm. William “Bull” Halsey Jr., Commander of the US Third Fleet, stated publicly in 1946 that “the first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment…. It was a mistake to ever drop it…. [the scientists] had this toy and they wanted to try it out, so they dropped it…”
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, for his part, stated in his memoirs that when notified by Secretary of War Henry Stimson of the decision to use atomic weapons, he “voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives…” He later publicly declared “…it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.” Even the famous “hawk” Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, head of the Twenty-First Bomber Command, went public the month after the bombing, telling the press that “the atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all.”
The record is quite clear: From the perspective of an overwhelming number of key contemporary leaders in the US military, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not a matter of military necessity.
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-the-us-really-bombed-hiroshima/
...The top American military leaders who fought World War II, much to the surprise of many who are not aware of the record, were quite clear that the atomic bomb was unnecessary, that Japan was on the verge of surrender, and—for many—that the destruction of large numbers of civilians was immoral. Most were also conservatives, not liberals. Adm. William Leahy, President Truman’s Chief of Staff, wrote in his 1950 memoir, “I Was There”, that “the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.… in being the first to use it, we…adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”
The commanding general of the US Army Air Forces, Henry “Hap” Arnold, gave a strong indication of his views in a public statement only eleven days after Hiroshima was attacked. Asked on August 17 by a New York Times reporter whether the atomic bomb caused Japan to surrender, Arnold said that “the Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air.”
...
Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet, stated in a public address at the Washington Monument two months after the bombings that “the atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan…” Adm. William “Bull” Halsey Jr., Commander of the US Third Fleet, stated publicly in 1946 that “the first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment…. It was a mistake to ever drop it…. [the scientists] had this toy and they wanted to try it out, so they dropped it…”
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, for his part, stated in his memoirs that when notified by Secretary of War Henry Stimson of the decision to use atomic weapons, he “voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives…” He later publicly declared “…it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.” Even the famous “hawk” Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, head of the Twenty-First Bomber Command, went public the month after the bombing, telling the press that “the atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all.”
The record is quite clear: From the perspective of an overwhelming number of key contemporary leaders in the US military, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not a matter of military necessity.
https://www.thenation.com/article/why-the-us-really-bombed-hiroshima/
The War Was Won Before Hiroshima—And the Generals Who Dropped the Bomb Knew It
Seventy years after the bombing, will Americans face the brutal truth?
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Sgt Bob Leonard
MSgt Steve Sweeney -
“...American intelligence had broken the Japanese codes, knew the Japanese government was trying to negotiate surrender through Moscow, and had long advised that the expected early August Russian declaration of war, along with assurances that Japan’s Emperor would be allowed to stay as a powerless figurehead, would bring surrender long before the first step in a November US invasion, three months later, could begin.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-the-us-really-bombed-hiroshima/
Note the main message of that paragraph: “American intelligence... knew... and had long advised... (etc)... would bring surrender long before the first step in a November US invasion, three months later, could begin.“
We had control of the air. We had control of the sea. Japan was an island nation with no way or hope of obtaining many of the necessities of life beyond what they could produce themselves, much less import from outside sources - and no one was going to trade with them, anyway. They had none of the raw materials necessary for war. The land invasion - with its projected bloodbath - was an option, not inevitable.
“...American intelligence had broken the Japanese codes, knew the Japanese government was trying to negotiate surrender through Moscow, and had long advised that the expected early August Russian declaration of war, along with assurances that Japan’s Emperor would be allowed to stay as a powerless figurehead, would bring surrender long before the first step in a November US invasion, three months later, could begin.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-the-us-really-bombed-hiroshima/
Note the main message of that paragraph: “American intelligence... knew... and had long advised... (etc)... would bring surrender long before the first step in a November US invasion, three months later, could begin.“
We had control of the air. We had control of the sea. Japan was an island nation with no way or hope of obtaining many of the necessities of life beyond what they could produce themselves, much less import from outside sources - and no one was going to trade with them, anyway. They had none of the raw materials necessary for war. The land invasion - with its projected bloodbath - was an option, not inevitable.
The War Was Won Before Hiroshima—And the Generals Who Dropped the Bomb Knew It
Seventy years after the bombing, will Americans face the brutal truth?
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Capt Raymond Sonoda REALTOR® CA Broker CRE ITAR
Why America shouldn’t have nuked Japan
Seventy-five years ago today, the United States unleashed the only nuclear war in history. Among the truths held self-evident by millions of Americans is the notion that the atomic destruction of H…
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Capt Raymond Sonoda REALTOR® CA Broker CRE ITAR
MSgt Steve Sweeney - Thank you for your perspicacious discussion, and I respect your viewpoint. Not trying to argue with it, just presenting another perspective. Thank you for your dad's service working with the UDT. That must have been an incredibly tough assignment. My dad also served during WWII in the US Army Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in Japan and was later assigned to the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal under MacArthur.
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Capt Raymond Sonoda REALTOR® CA Broker CRE ITAR
MSgt Steve Sweeney - Thank you. Your dad is a father to all the SEALs!
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