Download DROPPING THE BOMB Perhaps no more controversial event

DROPPING THE BOMB
Perhaps no more controversial event occurred in World War II. Was the dropping of
the atomic bomb on Japan justified? Necessary? There were already many instances
of mass killing in bombing raids by both sides – The London blitz, the air raids in
1. “I was there. I did it. I would do it again”. More than 10 years later, Harry
Truman still justified his decision to drop the bomb. In his memoirs, published in
1955, he gives this account:
My own knowledge of these (atomic) developments had come about only after I
Tokyo, the Dresden fire bombing. But the first use of the atomic bomb was
became President, when Secretary Stimson had given me the full story. He had told
controversial because of the terrifying nature of the newest death weapon and the
me at that time that the project was near completion, and that a bomb could be
unresolved question of the necessity of its use.
In the summer of 1945, the Japanese seemed to be facing certain defeat. The navy
and air force were in shambles and the Japanese ring of defense lay on the mainland of
Japan itself. But strong-willed Japanese army leaders continued to fight, bent of
defending the honor of the emperor. The price of victory for the United States
seemed to be a tremendous loss of life in a land invasion of Japan.
At the same time, 10,000 miles away, the first atomic bomb was exploded, rocking the
imaginations of the scientists who watched the death cloud over the New Mexico
desert. Three more bombs were in the stockpile.
President Harry S. Truman did not know of the project to develop the atomic
expected within another 4 months. It was at his suggestion, too, that I had then set up
a committee of top men and had asked them to study with great care, the implications
the new weapon might have for us…
It was their recommendation that the bomb be used against the enemy as soon as it
could be done. They recommended that it should be used without specific warning
… I had realized, of course, that an atomic bomb explosion would inflict damage and
casualties beyond imagination. On the other hand, the scientific advisors of the
committee reported, “We can propose no technical demonstration likely to bring an
end to the war; we see no acceptable alternative to direct military use”. It was their
bomb until he became President in April 1945. He relied on the advice of his secretary
conclusion that no technical demonstration they might propose, such as over a
of war, Henry L. Stimson. Stimson had read the diplomatic messages from Japan
deserted island, would be likely to bring the war to an end. It had to be used against an
which rejected the demands for unconditional surrender. He had also read the huge
enemy.
casualty estimates that American generals were making it he plan for the invasion of
Japan. Moreover, at Yalta, the Russians had agreed to join the war against Japan 90
days after the war in Europe ended – on August 8. The Soviets were poised to attack
from the north in Manchuria. What would be the consequences of a Soviet
occupation of Japan?
Yet the Japanese were almost defeated. They were sending peace signals through
Russian diplomatic channels.
The decision was swift. On July 26, 1945, President Truman warned the Japanese to
surrender or face the destruction of their country. He set August 3 as a deadline. No
reply came. On August 6 the single bomb drifted down from eh morning sky on
Hiroshima. The city was devastated. Three days later, Nagasaki. The war ended
August 14, 1945.
The final decision of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let
there be no mistake about it. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had
any doubt that it should be used.
2. The scientific community was split on the bomb issue. One committee, headed by
physicist James Franck, produced a report that opposed even the testing of the atomic
bomb. Part of it read:
We believe that these considerations make the use of nuclear bombs for an early
unannounced attack against Japan inadvisable. If the US were to be the first to release
this new means of destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public support
throughout the world, (bring about) the race for armaments and (reduce) the possibility
of reaching an international agreement on the future control of the weapons.
3. After the atomic bomb was tested, the committee of physicists issued a petition
I came out of the river bank…. There for the first time I realized that I had become
calling on the United States government to warn the Japanese of the terrible effects of
separated from Mother. At the side of the Kyobashi River burned people were
the weapon. Part of the committee disagreed. These scientists issued this petition:
moaning, “Hot, Hot!” and jumping into the river, and since they could not move
Are not the men of the fighting forces a part of the nation? Are not they, who are
their bodies freely, they would call for help with the voices of those facing death, and
risking their lives for the nation, entitled to weapons which have been designed? In
then drown. The river became not a stream of flowing water but rather a stream of
short, are we to go on shedding American blood when we have available a means to
drifting dead bodies. N matter how much I might exaggerate the stories of the burned
speed victory? No! If we can save even a handful of American lives, then let us use
people who died shrieking and how much the city of Hiroshima was burned to the
this weapon – now!
ground , the facts would still be clearly more terrible and I could never really express
These sentiments, we feel, represent more truly those of the majority of Americans
and particularly those who have sons…in the foxholes and warships of the Pacific.
4. Then, there was the bombing itself. This account is taken from a school
composition written by a boy who lived through the Hiroshima blast:
Suddenly from outside the front entrance incredible color and light-an eerie
greenish-while flash-came thrusting in.
the truth on this piece of paper, on this point I ask for pardon. Looking as this pitiable
scene, I wondered why human beings, who ought to be of the same mind, have to
make war; why they to have kill each other like this.
5. Years later, Japanese officials were interviewed about the bombing decision. This
is the comment of Hisatune Sakomizu, who was secretary to the Japanese Cabinet
during the summer 1945:
After a little while I regained consciousness. Everything around me was pitch dark.
At the time the Army felt it would be great shame for them if they were to
Somehow I managed to figure out that I seemed to have been blown down the hall to
surrender unconditionally as a military force, even if was not was not a national
the back of the inn. I was buried under the wreckage of the two-story building and
surrender. They felt it was impossible. Therefore it was necessary to work out a
although I struggled to free myself and crawl out, I couldn’t move my body… I
suitable pretext [false reason] which would make the Army feel they could not do
thought that if I didn’t get out there in a hurry I would be burned to death, and I
anything else but just follow it. That’s why we asked for the decision of the Emperor.
called for mother as loudly as I could. Mother pulled aside the boards and beams which
The A-Bomb provided an excellent help, because the A-Bomb sacrificed many people
were already on fire and pulled me out to safety…. But at once I was stunned by the
other than Japanese military men. This provided us with an excuse that America would
completeness of the change which had taken place in my surroundings. Everything in
not refrain from doing such evils, that therefore there would be no other choice but to
sight which had been called a building is crushing to the ground and sending out
cease the war to save many innocent Japanese citizens. If the A-Bomb had not been
flames. People who had burned so badly that the skin of their bodies is peeling off in
dropped we would have had a great difficulty to find a good reason to end the war.
red strips are raising shrieking cries that sound as though the victims would die the next
minute. There are even some people who are already dead. The street is covered with
dead people and burned people stretching out and groaning, and with fallen houses
and things, that we can’t get through. While we are trying to think what to do next we
notice that flames are steadily coming closer to the west of us…