Did President Truman Ever Regret His Hiroshima Decision?

Newsweek ^ | Aug 05, 2020 | Greg Mitchell

[SeekAndFind]

Seventy-five years ago this week, President Harry S. Truman exulted when he heard the first report that the atomic bomb he had ordered dropped over Hiroshima, Japan, by a B-29 bomber, had exploded as planned and on target, most likely devastating most of the large city.

Truman was on the ocean, returning to Washington from the Potsdam Conference in Germany, where he had secured Joseph Stalin's promise to declare war on Japan around August 10. An article in the press the day after the first atomic attack depicted Truman, his voice "tense with excitement," personally informing his shipmates about the atomic attack. "The experiment," he announced, "has been an overwhelming success."

Missing from this account was Truman's burst of triumphalism when the news of the bombing first reached the ship: "This is the greatest thing in history!"

Truman's official announcement, released while he was still at sea, again showed pride in America's achievement. The atomic bomb, he declared, represented "a harnessing of the basic power of the universe." America had "won the greatest scientific gamble in history." And Japan had now been repaid for Pearl Harbor "manyfold."

From that moment on, Truman rarely (some would say, never) looked back from a different angle, inevitably responding to questions about ordering two bombs dropped over Japan—from the media or in sometimes hostile letters to him at the White House—by affirming that decision, or even with what we would now call "doubling down."

He said he "didn't have any doubt" about the wisdom of the decision—unlike those he pictured as "eggheads" or "Monday morning quarterbacks."

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TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Society
KEYWORDS: 100percentright; atomicbomb; goodcall; hiroshima; nagasaki; truman

[God luvs America]

And that’s just the number for Americans...Jap deaths would’ve been several times that...

[albie]

Only the Lame asses at Newsweak would ask such a lame question.

[Chainmail]

The really sketchy part of the use of the nuclear weapons was the careful targeting of cities that had no prior bombing attacks: it smells of using those cities as a testing ground complete with unwarned civilians rather than a target.

If I had been in charge of that targeting, I would have targeted the Japanese 16th Army Headquarters in Kyushu. Wiping them out would have conclusively demonstrated the power of the bomb, decapitated the leadership of the forces defending Kyushu, and if we had to invade there, dramatically reduced the Japanese resistance.

But the Air Force aimed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, at civilians and at our POWS in those cities (not to mention wiping out most of the Japanese Christian population in Nagasaki).

[dfwgator]

Thank God FDR replaced that commie Henry Wallace with Truman.

[ansel12]

No one ever talks about Presidents and PTSD, thankfully, since it doesn’t seem to have been a problem, including for all the ex-military, ex war heroes, and 12 ex generals who have been presidents, but each and every one of them have had to make incredible decisions, even ones we don’t associate with such decisions were making them.

There are times when I am glad that I can merely have an opinion, or not have one, instead of being the guy who actually has to make a firm decision that will be executed on (and this post isn’t about the atom bomb, that seems an easy decision to me).

[doorgunner69]

Japan had killed far more civilians and needed to be stopped from furthering their killing.

Never been a single Pacific war veteran recorded as saying it was wrong, has there?

[doorgunner69]

A true shame what has happened to the democrat brand since the likes of Truman

[allendale]

Know one person who never doubted his decision. My father in law flew 26 combat missions in a B24 out of Italy with the 15th Air Force as a gunner. Somehow survived some incredible episodes. Flew from May 1944 thru August 1944.Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Was rotated back to the States and was immedeatly grabbed as a chaffeur for some stateside general. By March 1945 he was reassigned to a new unit training in Texas for action in the Pacific. By then the new pilots of these four engine bombers were often high school graduates who passed aptitude tests. He related that it was a terrifying experience as these young pilots tried to learn how to fly in formation. He said he used up all his luck over Europe. He was convinced that he survived the war only because Truman dropped that bomb and forced Japan to surrender. Only reason my wife and children came to exist. He was a great, humble man who was affected for the rest of his life by his wartime experiences.

[dfwgator]

Plus the Soviets would have gotten half of Japan, and then try to take the rest, as happened in Korea.

[central_va]

Made in the USA and tested in Japan.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Here we go. Now we are going to write Woke fan fiction in which historical figures are guilt-ridden over their decisions that aren’t PC under today’s standards. Good old Harry Truman is filled with remorse over his callous murder of non-whites. He’s going to attend a struggle session to atone. Who’s next on the list? Maybe liberal darling Woodrow Wilson atoning for his unrepentant racism?

[ansel12]

From wiki
“The Target Committee nominated five targets: Kokura (now Kitakyushu), the site of one of Japan’s largest munitions plants; Hiroshima, an embarkation port and industrial center that was the site of a major military headquarters; Yokohama, an urban center for aircraft manufacture, machine tools, docks, electrical equipment, and oil refineries; Niigata, a port with industrial facilities including steel and aluminum plants and an oil refinery; and Kyoto, a major industrial center. The target selection was subject to the following criteria:

The target was larger than 4.8 km (3 mi) in diameter and was an important target in a large city.
The blast wave would create effective damage.
The target was unlikely to be attacked by August 1945.[73]
These cities were largely untouched during the nightly bombing raids, and the Army Air Forces agreed to leave them off the target list so accurate assessment of the damage caused by the atomic bombs could be made. Hiroshima was described as “an important army depot and port of embarkation in the middle of an urban industrial area. It is a good radar target and it is such a size that a large part of the city could be extensively damaged. There are adjacent hills which are likely to produce a focusing effect which would considerably increase the blast damage. Due to rivers it is not a good incendiary target.”[73]

The Target Committee stated that “It was agreed that psychological factors in the target selection were of great importance. Two aspects of this are (1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and (2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released. ... Kyoto has the advantage of the people being more highly intelligent and hence better able to appreciate the significance of the weapon. Hiroshima has the advantage of being such a size and with possible focussing from nearby mountains that a large fraction of the city may be destroyed. The Emperor’s palace in Tokyo has a greater fame than any other target but is of least strategic value.”[73]

Edwin O. Reischauer, a Japan expert for the U.S. Army Intelligence Service, was incorrectly said to have prevented the bombing of Kyoto.[73] In his autobiography, Reischauer specifically refuted this claim:

... the only person deserving credit for saving Kyoto from destruction is Henry L. Stimson, the Secretary of War at the time, who had known and admired Kyoto ever since his honeymoon there several decades earlier.[74][75]

Extant sources show that while Stimson was personally familiar with Kyoto, this was the result of a visit decades after his marriage when he was governor-general of the Philippines,[76] not because he honeymooned there.[77][78] On 30 May, Stimson asked Groves to remove Kyoto from the target list due to its historical, religious and cultural significance, but Groves pointed to its military and industrial significance.[79] Stimson then approached President Harry S. Truman about the matter. Truman agreed with Stimson, and Kyoto was temporarily removed from the target list.[80] Groves attempted to restore Kyoto to the target list in July, but Stimson remained adamant.[81][82] On 25 July, Nagasaki was put on the target list in place of Kyoto. It was a major military port, one of Japan’s largest shipbuilding and repair centers, and an important producer of naval ordnance.”

[Midwesterner53]

Ask him how he likes the current Democrat/Maoist Party.

[DFG]

“Operation Meetinghouse” March 9-10, 1945 : The firebomb raids killed about 100,000 in Tokyo. Charles Buckinsky (Charles Bronson) was a B-29 gunner on these Tokyo firebomb missions.

If the atomic bombs were not used, much more of Japan would have been firebombed. 2,000 more B-29’s would have delivered to the Mariana’s and thousands of B-17’s and B-24’s would have bombed Japan from Okinawa.

[ansel12]

“””””A true shame what has happened to the democrat brand since the likes of Truman””””

Which is why I try to point out the difference of a 21 year old Reagan signing up as a democrat under FDR and his last democrat presidential vote being Truman in 1946, versus some republican that was a democrat of the post roe v wade, 1990s or 2000s gay power, feminism, abortion, anti-gun, gays in the military, etc. modern party of the Hillary Clintons, Obama, Pelosi and such, they are not the same thing or else the democrat state of Texas would have been made up of total leftists before abandoning the democrats.

[ChronicMA]

The question should be Did Hideki Tojo ever regret bringing destruction to Hiroshima as a consequence of his actions?

[pepsi_junkie]

His decision probably saved more lives than it took, especially with the Soviets bearing down on northern Japanese territory.

This is the part everyone forgets that added extra urgency to the decision. The Soviets had already seized all of eastern Europe and made no signs to withdrawal, and now that the war in the Pacific was at end-game they suddenly started massing troops to pretend they were part of the Pacific war all along so they could steal some more territory by partitioning Japan.

[Verginius Rufus]

My dad was in the Marines and took part in the Guam campaign in 1944 and the invasion of Okinawa in 1945 until he was wounded and evacuated. If there had been an invasion of Japan he would have recuperated enough to take part in it.

I asked him once about the use of the bomb knowing what he would say--he agreed with it. In fact he wanted the US to use the bomb on North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

If a million Americans and millions of Japanese had died because Truman refused to use the bomb, and the public learned that it existed, what do you think Americans would have thought of his refusal?

[Georgia Girl 2]

“75 years ago this week” ??????

How about 81 years ago this week. I see they’re relying on chatgtp

[Verginius Rufus]

If I had been in Truman’s place, I might have waited a day or two longer before using the second bomb, but the outcome probably would have been the same. Even after two bombs were dropped a lot of the Japanese leadership did not want to surrender.