1. “Had there been a negotiated peace where they retained Korea and Manchuria there would have been no Korean War or Red China.”
The prospects of that under any U.S. administration was nil. Its pure crystal ball fantasy.
2. Leahy said: “The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons ... “
But in fact there is no proof in the diplomatic record that Japan had officially adopted that position.
The Japanese would have fought to the last man as they did on all the islands leading up to the homeland. Millions would have died.
Of course there could not have been a negotiated peace where possible future events were taken into consideration. Germans and Japanese were inherently evil. Once they were eliminated peace would reign. The war worked out perfectly for the Soviets and their agents in the U.S. government. The two rivals containing them were eliminated. Modern warfare relies on demonizing the opposition. Japanese soldiers fought to the death. There was no comparable Bataan Death March. If a Japanese did not want to fight to the death he was assisted by a GI. The American people did not want any part of this war. They had had enough with the “War to End All Wars.” Progressives have had us in a perpetual war