The War, the "Bomb", the Guilty Conscience

There is no doubt that the use of the atom bomb, first on Hiroshima and then on Nagasaki helped speed the date of the Japanese surrender. While Japan's defeat was inevitable, there is no doubt in the minds of many back then as well as today, that the use of atom bombs saved tens of thousands of American lives. Still, even today, the use of atom bombs soils the conscience of the ideal America.

"Readers are reminded that President Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, George Marshall, Admirals Haley and Nimitz, Bishop Fulton Sheen, the popes, and many others came to consider use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima unjustified. Indeed, the scientists behind the bomb had told Roosevelt not to use it on civilians, to only show it to the Japanese" (Bennison 2010, para, 12). While the decision to drop the atomic bomb twice on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan was a decision to save American lives, we much later learned that there were other reasons, too. One such calculated rationale to drop the bombs had to do with Russia's growing influence in Asia. Another reason was pure revenge for the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was not an easy decision to make. And, to this day it remains a controversial one. America, of course, was not the only nation to attempt atomic fission and research. There was evidence that Hitler's scientists were working hard to perfect atomic weapons which is why many of these Nazi sympathizers were given special entrance to the U.S. at the end of the war.

What was needed, both for legal reasons as well as for public relations and getting the support of the basically naïve American public was to get reassurances from the scientists who were actually working on the most viable model (and size) for the first a-bomb to be actually used. So, the government got such positive reactions from Drs. Edward Teller, Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists in the New Mexico and at the University of Chicago. Basically, what these men, when asked for their approval, said was: "We recognize our obligation to our nation to use the weapons to help save American lives in the Japanese war" (Oppenheimer 2010, 1).

Even given all the reasons for its use, the decision to drop the first bomb was made solely by then President Harry S. Truman. The tragedy of Harry S. Truman to this day is that he himself wrote: "The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japs to surrender and save lives" (Truman, 1945, 1). What Truman and many others did not come out publicly was simply the knowledge that Russia and the U.S. would be the two nations fighting over territory and supremacy. It was not called "the cold war" in 1945, but many knowledgeable statesmen knew it was coming. Here is one example from then Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, "Soon after the bombing of Hiroshima on September 11, 1945, Stimson told Truman 'I consider the problem of our satisfactory relations with Russia as not merely connected but virtually dominated by the problem of the atomic bomb'" (Takaki 1995, 7). Stimson was absolutely correct because atomic weapons and the fear of their use literally dominated world politics until the ends of the Cold War under President Reagan. More than thirty years later.

While most military commanders as well as President Truman saw the use of atomic bombs on Japan as purely a military maneuver to shorten the war and save lives, it was really AMERICAN lives they were concerned about. Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the two Japanese cities and hundreds of thousands would incur injuries, fatal to many years later. What is more distressing even today is the fact that neither of these cities were military targets. These two bombs caused far more damage than the much-disputed firebomb raid on Dresden near the end of the European war. But even today most historians seem to agree that President Truman was justified in his decision. In a radio broadcast after the Nagasaki bombing, the President was very blunt about his decision. This is part of what he said:

"I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb...having found the bomb, we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of young Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us" ("Was the Atomic Bombing..." 2010, para.7).

Before hastening to declare the Japanese people totally innocent victims, one must scan some of the interesting facts about Japan's getting ready in early 1945 for a potential American invasion. There was a specific task assigned, even to young girls, to band together in defense of their homeland. "In April 1945, the Japanese Suzuki government had prepared a war policy called Ketsugo a... plan for the defense of the home islands to the last man . "It involved training civilians to actively resist an American invasion. The plan included training children, boys as well as girls, to fight with improvised weapons. The military began implementing the strategy of Ketsugo (April 1945). Soldiers were assigned to schools to train even primary-level children in the use of weapons like bamboo spears" ("World War" 2008 para.

Most of the American public, who really knew little about what atomic power really meant, felt that the bombing was worth it, since the war ended soon afterward, was elated at the bombing and the surrender shortly thereafter. But there were several high ranking military leaders in the U.S. who felt it was morally wrong and not really necessary. One who spoke out was Admiral William D., Leahy. This is, in part, what he said:

"It is my opinion that the barbarous use of this weapon in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender...My own feeling is that as the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard to the Barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion..." (Alperovitz 1995, 3).

What is clear is that, even as more and more nations now have atomic arsenals and arsenals of nuclear weapons, America is the only nation which has ever used atomic weapons in wartime.

Should President Truman have ordered the bombs to be dropped? Most people may agree without really understanding the state of the world and the mood in America in 1945. Some who still object to the use of the A-bombs tend to forget the enormous cruelties the Japanese inflicted before they started losing the war: From China to Pearl Harbor to the Bataan Death march, to the fierce battles on Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima and elsewhere, Japanese did not obey the so-called "rules of engagement" that the Geneva convention set up. Maybe two wrongs do not make a right, but no one can tell how many American sailors and soldiers and marines were left alive when Japan surrendered without an invasion..

References:

Alperovitz, G. (1995): The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb

New York: Alfred A. Knopf

Bennison, Charles (2010): "Our first atom bomb: An All-American

story" Article cosisting of commentary for the book written

by Borsch, Frederick: Our First Atom Bomb: An

All-American Story Bloomington: University of Indiana

Press, 2009 excerpted in Anglican Theological Review

Fall 2010 . Vol. 92, Iss. 4; pg. 839

Oppenheimer, Robert (2010): "Recommendation in the Immediate use

of Nuclear Weapons June 16, 1945" Retrieved Dec, 10 on

www.dannen.com/decision/

Takaki, Ronald (1995): Hiroshima: Why We Dropped the Atomic Bomb

New York: Little, Brown & Co.

Truman Harry S (1945): "Harry S Truman Diary, July 25, 1945"

Retrieved Dec. 10, 2010 on

www.dannen.com/decision/hst-jl25.html -

" WAS THE ATOMIC BOMBING OF JAPAN IN 1945 JUSTIFIABLE?"

Retrieved Dec. 10, 2010 on

www.pacificwar.org.au/AtomBomb_Japan.html " World War II: Japanese Home Front--Ketsugo (April 1945)" ) Retrieved Dec. 10, on histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/jap/inv/w2ij-ket.html