Dropping the Bomb: Why Did the U.S. Unleash Its Terrible Weapon?

New American ^ | 21 August 1995 | John F. McManus

[Arthur McGowan]

Much of the historical perspective on the era holds that the Japanese were prepared to fight to their very last man, and that until the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had been visited upon their homeland Japanese leaders had no intention of surrendering. But in fact the Japanese had sent peace feelers to the West as early as 1942, only six months after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. More would come in a flood long before the fateful use of the atomic bombs.

In her 1956 book, The Enemy at His Back, journalist Elizabeth Churchill Brown supplied overwhelming evidence to counter the inaccurate views about the close of the war. Beginning in 1949, she plunged into dozens of wartime memoirs and congressional hearings dealing with the conflict. The wife of noted Washington Star columnist Constantine Brown, Mrs. Brown had access to many of "the men who were no longer 'under wraps,'" as she noted. She wrote, "With this knowledge at hand, I quickly began to see why the war with Japan was unprecedented in all history. Here was an enemy who had been trying to surrender for almost a year before the conflict ended."

[Pelham]

“Wow. It took you a minute to post a typical revisionist article about the poor put-upon Japanese who couldn’t find enough white flags to properly surrender to nasty, war-mongering America.”

He has talent for that. Kind of a recurring theme for those of us familiar with what he likes to post.

[Charles Martel]

And Japanese lives were saved, too. Many more Japanese casualties if an invasion had been fought than would have died by the bombs.

Particularly if the Soviets beat us to the invasion of the Japanese home islands, as was quite likely.

[Laslo Fripp]

I’ve read the entire article.

May I comment now, Father?

Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

[Sequoyah101]

This is a stupid revisionist article to brainwash the snowflakes with lies to support dumbo.

Other than this commentary it is not worth the time to respond. If you know people who were alive then and know history you know why we dropped the bomb. We built it for that.

Any overtures by the japs to surrender had unacceptable conditions and left an aggressor such as they with their conquests.

We dropped the bombs because we drew a line in the sand and they crossed it. Add to that about 350,000 other reasons of dead and wounded American troops.

[BenLurkin]

Togo wanted to surrender? Hmmmm....

It’s been a while since I read John Toland’s pro-Japanese (and Pulitizer prize winning) book about their war, but I don’t recall him mentioning that.

[jpsb]

One of the most compelling was transmitted by General MacArthur to President Roosevelt in January 1945, prior to the Yalta conference. MacArthur's communiqué stated that the Japanese were willing to surrender under terms which included:

I've read several bios on The General and I never came across the above before. I am calling BS on this article.

[Arm_Bears]

Go peddle your revisionist tripe on DU.

[Ancient Man]

When Obama surrendered at Hiroshima, there was no mention of Pearl Harbor; the Nanking Massacre (300,000 civilians murdered;) the summary beheading of downed American airmen; the Bataan Death March; the atrocities in Manila; the wholesale slaughter of Chinese civilians using biological weapons; or, eating the livers of American POW’s. I’m sure that the Japanese officials were thinking, “If only this quisling had been president during WWII, he would have surrendered, and we would have won the war.”

Given the circumstances at the time, and in view of the casualty projections surrounding the invasion of the Japanese mainland, I wouldn’t have hesitated to turn their whole country into radioactive mist. But, we only had two bombs at the time. Now, President Pity Party commemorates a once genocidal regime that slaughtered 5,964,000 innocent civilians. Sniff, Sniff.

[cassiusking]

Rumor has it we had two more which Patton wanted to drop on Moscow

[DCBryan1]

Why Did the U.S. Unleash Its Terrible Weapon? 1) To save US military lives by winning the war early.

...2) Prove to the military that the weapon could be militarized.
3) Show the Russians that WE had a working, militarized, deliverable device to twarth them running from Eastern Germany to Portugal/UK, Japan, Korea, etc.
4) Virgin city bombed to see what the effects were (tactially) and show the world that we were willing to use it (strategically).

[elcid1970]

“The Japanese surrendered because they didn’t know that we couldn’t nuke them a third time.”

IIRC, a third bomb would have been ready by September 1945.

Then there was a captured P-51 pilot being tortured by the Japs & who had no knowledge of the atomic program. Hearing his torturers discussing what had just happened to Hiroshima & Nagasaki, he “confessed” that the U.S. had a hundred more atomic bombs ready to go, and that Tokyo was the next target.

This was forwarded directly to Hirohito & the imperial war council, and they finally decided the situation was hopeless; either surrender or see Japan extinguished as a people and a culture.

[mountainlion]

Hey time keeper I did not read the article. Form the statement that they tried to surrender for 6 months indicates it is trash. Whey did they fight to the death in so many battles? Why were there isolated soldiers fighting after the surrender. Anyone can rewrite history but I prefer the stories of those that were there.

[glorgau]

The Japanese were trying to “surrender”, yes. But on their terms. Which is not really a surrender. A better term would be “cessation of hostilities”.

[DCBryan1]

The Japanese surrendered because they didn’t know that we couldn’t nuke them a third time.

We could have by SEP/OCT 1945 with the Tinian bomb and 5-12 bombs by end of 1946.

[fruser1]

We were looking for unconditional surrender so we could try to ensure they couldn’t fight again.

Unlike people of today, the people of WWII learned their lesson from WWI.

That’s why we had that based in Germany for 50 years and still have a base in Okinawa today.

[Sir Napsalot]

Along the same vein, slightly OT but not to be missed -

"Hiroshima as Gun Control" (by Richard Fernandez, Belmont Club)

[HangUpNow]

Propagandist Author: "The Japanese had sent peace feelers to the West as early as 1942, only six months after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor."

Funny what a "peace-feeler" that humongous armada to Midway was.

[Chode]

feh...

[DCBryan1]

Then there was a captured P-51 pilot being tortured by the Japs & who had no knowledge of the atomic program. Hearing his torturers discussing what had just happened to Hiroshima & Nagasaki, he “confessed” that the U.S. had a hundred more atomic bombs ready to go, and that Tokyo was the next target. This was forwarded directly to Hirohito & the imperial war council, and they finally decided the situation was hopeless; either surrender or see Japan extinguished as a people and a culture.

Counterintelligence at its finest. God Bless that airman.

[miss marmelstein]

As the daughter of a veteran of the Pacific Theater of war, who was scheduled for the invasion, I find any revisionism of evil Imperial Japan a disgrace and an embarrassment to my country.