Ken Burns Affirms Truman’s Judgment and Humanity

From Sea to Shining Sea ^ | 10/13/07 | Purple Mountains

[PurpleMountains]

Former President Harry Truman has received much opprobrium from left-wing circles in the U.S. and elsewhere for his decision to substitute two atomic bombs in place of a D-Day type invasion of Japan in 1945. It was interesting to me to observe during Ken Burn’s current documentary, “War”, that Burns reported that credible estimates of the human cost of such an invasion were in the neighborhood of 500,000 dead Americans and 6,000,000 dead Japanese.

[MNJohnnie]

It is one of the absurdities of modern Political Leftism. They want to argue that it was some how immoral to use the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs. That we could of “Besieged” the Japanese.

That utter nonsense. The infrastructure of the Japanese islands was breaking down. Japan could not feed itself and rely-ed on food imports. Instead of killing about 200,000 Japanese Civilians, the Leftist “Siege” would of ended up killing tens of millions from disease, starvation and malnutrition. EVEN then there is NO indication that would of broke the Japanese will. Japanese soldiers hung on various pacific islands for decades after WW 2 ended. Even after the bombs dropped die hard militarists tried to stop the Emperor from surrendering.

Then there is the question. What response would the Japanese been to an invasion and occupation. The Left screams about the Iraqis “Insurgency” what do you suppose a Japanese Insurgency would of done? Who knows if the Japanese would of even survived as a people? The Civilian and Military casualties on Siapan and Okinawa were horrific. Give the intensifying tempo of suicide attacks,the fire power brought down on the Japanese Home Island prior to and during an Invasion would of killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of civilians, as well as military forces.

So to save a whole nation we kills a couple of cities. That was an act of humanity.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

And if our leaders would have listened to the voice of the left today and went ahead and done what they suppose instead of using the Hiroshima/Nagasaki bombs and " Besieged " Japan and countless American/Japanese lives gone, still that would not have appeased these Left wing kooks.
The Palestinians is a good example, you give them what they demand, and it's still not good enough.
These left wing kooks would have still gone and said that the " Besiege " of Japan would have been immoral and countless lives have died ( this is after the fact ) and we should have used the atomic bomb to bring this senseless bloodshed to a mercyfull end.
We did the right thing to use those atomic bomb to bring WWII to a sudden and mercyfull end.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I Liberal is NEVER a voice of reason or logic.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

A Liberal is NEVER a voice of reason or logic.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Sorry about the double post, I hit the button before I realized that it was mis spelled.

[Boundless]

The two Bombs were the lowest cost, lowest casualty
solution (for both sides). Period.

It was largely luck that the Japanese surrendered.
The Army was nearly successful in preventing the
emperor from getting the word out.

Then we also have the open mystery of what the Japanese
detonated, a few days after Nagasaki, on that island
off what is now North Korea. They were working on the
Bomb, too. They may have set one off, or just a TNT
test like the US did prior to Trinity.

If the Japanese had the Bomb, they would have had zero
hesitation in using it, if they could deliver it (even
by suicide sub under our fleet).

[Young Werther]

I think it was the 50th anniversary of the Hiroshima Bomb and a Japanese Grandmother was interviewed. She told of being a teenager who received training in "spear chuckin'" When the American soldiers stormed the beach they were to be met by waves of female Banzaii warriors weilding bamboo spears. They were propogandized to the point where their hatred overcame their common sense.

We didn't invade and she would learn that the Americans were not the devils that Hiro Hito had portrayed!

Truman was the last of the Democrat Presidents to show leadership skills. Great memoir, I recommend it!

[oyez]

We have to do things in war that would be unthinkable in time of peace. Many of current intellectual's mind set is always at peace. No country I can think of ever won a war by being humane to the enemy.

Two atomic bombs ended the war abruptly. Other wise all the rest of the Japanese cities would have looked like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It would just have took longer to do it by conventional bombing. Modern thinkers believe that is less moral to use nuclear means. What's the difference?

[VOA]

“Ken Burns Affirms Truman’s Judgment and Humanity”

Having watched “The War”, and (IMHO) thinking that during the first
four episodes that Burns spent about twice the time needed to make
his point about “America The Racist Country”...the last three episodes
really did seem to “straighten up and fly right” for the most part.

I HELD MY BREATH for the last episode...BUT...Burns gave the plausible
arguments for dropping the A-bombs on Japan.
And IIRC didn’t spend a minute on the trials at Nuremberg.
Not a single muttering about Truman being a war criminal or
America not having the right to judge war-criminals.

Even when one African-American soldier and a Japanese-American soldier
related some hassles they encountered right after the war...
Burns revealed that both of them had what the theater crowd
would call “great second and third acts” (great lives).

I will say that somehow I did get the accompanying book for “The War”
from the library and it’s a pretty darned good compilation of narratives
and photos.

...and for reference by the forum:

(discussion thread for Part 7 of The War; posts 1-4 have useful
links to discussions on Parts 1-6 and sources for buying The War
DVD and accompanying book)
“The War” (by Ken Burns) Part 7 of 7; Airing on PBS @ 7PM and 9:30PM Central 10-2-07
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1905614/posts

KEYWORD: THEWAR
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=thewar

[doc1019]

Yep, never understood the “Atom Bomb” was wrong argument. Worse to drop two bombs and kill a couple of hundred thousand or so, or drop thousands of bombs and kill a coupled of hundred thousand or so.