We Didn't Have to Drop the Bomb

[ghostsinthemachine]

Seventy years ago this week, the United States ushered in the age of nuclear terror by dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing an estimated 200,000 and injuring another 100,000 who would eventually succumb to their wounds or radiation poisoning. At the time, the American public was led to believe that the bomb helped end the war and “saved lives.” This was never true.

As commemorations occur around the world to reflect on the bomb and its centrality to our past and present lives, it is an appropriate time to ask, “Was the use of nuclear weapons against civilians necessary for victory in Japan?”

There is a trove of information revealing that many senior U.S. military officials believed the bombs were not needed to end the war in the Pacific. President Truman approved of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s destruction, but many of the top-ranking brass, from Douglas MacArthur to Chester Nimitz, knew better.

Secretary of War Henry Stimson informed Dwight D. Eisenhower, general of the armies, that the bomb would be dropped on Japan. In “Mandate for Change,” Eisenhower’s autobiography, Ike related this exchange: “I 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. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of ‘face.’”

There are many more such testimonials, if someone takes the time to look:

MORE HERE: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/08/08/we_didnt_have_to_drop_the_bomb_127709.html

[Hoyt]

1. I know some folks think it was necessary, but I can't see how they can rationalize the second bomb.

[SheilaT]

2. The recent book

Hiroshima Nagasaki by Paul Ham is excellent, and makes it exceedingly clear that Japan wasn't very far from surrendering when we dropped the bombs. It also gives details about how we were fire-bombing the major cities, and hundreds of thousands of civilians had been killed. Their ability to build new anything was almost non-existent.

More to the point the book points out that the claim that some huge number of American soldiers would have died in an invasion is essentially a lie. Yes, we would have lost soldiers had we invaded, but no where near the numbers that are generally claimed.

Great book. I recommend it to anyone interested in this topic.

[hack89]

3. Truman would have been lynched

if word got out to the American public that we had the atomic bomb but refused to use it - especially if there had been a bloody invasion.

His duty as president was to end the war as quickly as possible, saving as many American lives as possible.

[SheilaT]

4. An invasion probably wouldn't have been all that bloody.

I do urge you to read the book. Which is not to say I think you're necessarily wrong, but that the book is absolutely fascinating.

I think the worst that would have happened to Truman would have been not being re-elected in 1948, but of course it's impossible to know.

[hack89]

5. It would have created more than zero deaths

the war needed to end.

[SheilaT]

6. Are you suggesting that even one

U.S. death was worth the 150,00 or so Japanese, mostly civilians, who died in the bombings? I would not agree.

[TeddyR]

7. I would suggest

That the president of the United States should value the life of one U.S. citizen over the life of any number of citizens of a country that bombed Pearl Harbor and killed thousands of U.S. military members in a war of aggression.

[SheilaT]

8. Including children?

Noncombatants?

Okay. We simply have a different take on this.

[hack89]

9. Are you suggesting that conventional bombing, starvation and disease

Would not have killed at least that many even if no atomic bomb was dropped?

[left-of-center2012]

10. I suspect ...

I'm sure there are books taking every side of the issue.
Glad you found one you like.
Personally I believe what I've read --> that every man, woman, child was prepared to defend the Japanese homeland against American invaders.
just my humble opinion

[wss2001]

11. 20/20 hindsight

We have to look at the decision to drop the atomic bombs from the perspective the United States had at the time. Each island fought for in the Pacific
was defended fanatically by the Japanese...
With soldiers fighting to the death and mass suicides by the civilian populations. It is inconceivable that Japan would have surrendered without the bombs. As horrible as the effects of the bombs were they saved lives both Japanese and allied. We shouldn't let our fear and emotions cloud
Clear judgment when evaluating the past.

[mwooldri]

12. Exactly. We didn't know what we didn't know then.

If the atomic bomb had not been developed, would Japan have still surrendered? Given that the same number of people died in our carpet bombing Tokyo versus the two atomic bombs, it is plausible that we could have done something as horrendous as dropping the atomic bomb with more traditional ordinance.

I'll leave with this Wikipedia reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki - this is a debate that will never have a definitive end.

On one thing I'm sure everyone is agreed on. Never ever again. Ever. Never. Ever.

[Jim Lane]

14. What you now dismiss as "inconceivable" was the opinion of all the military leaders

The OP notes that Eisenhower disagreed with your assessment. For others making statements to the same effect, see this collection of quotations.

[Javaman]

13. doesn't matter.

we were going to use them anyway.

Read up on "Operation Downfall" the plan to invade Japan.

We were going to use no less that 3 additional bombs if the Japanese didn't surrender.

One each on each beach head prior to landing.

that also doesn't include what would have potentially been used during the full campaign.