Truman was right to use the bomb on Japan

Washington Post ^ | August 17, 2015 | By Richard Cohen

[Brad from Tennessee]

Should the United States apologize for the nuclear bombing of Japan at the end of World War II? The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 70 years ago this month, killed as many as 250,000 people, most of them civilians. For many of the victims, it was a horrible, excruciating death, and for many others, the effects of burns and radiation, although not immediately lethal, produced years of agony. Should we say we’re sorry?

My answer is no, but I do not dismiss the question out of hand. It is, after all, naggingly relevant, raising issues of proportion, race and culture. A recent article on the Web site of the decidedly liberal magazine the Nation makes three points. The bombings were animated by racial animus, they were disproportionate to the number of U.S. deaths that might have resulted from an invasion of the Japanese mainland and the bombs amounted to wretched excess: Japan was ready to surrender anyway.

Maybe so. But an imminent Japanese surrender was hardly apparent at the time. Instead, even as the war was ending, the Japanese fought nearly to the last man on Iwo Jima, a month-long battle in which almost 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers on the island, only about 200 were taken prisoner. Some held out for weeks in caves. Still later in 1945, the Japanese fought tenaciously until mid-June to hold Okinawa. That battle cost 14,000 American lives.

There was reason to believe that Japan would never surrender and that an invasion of the main Japanese islands would result in staggering U.S. casualties. . .

[Dilbert San Diego]

I never quite understand the debate about this.

Reason being, far more died in conventional bombings in World War II than were killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I guess what I wonder is, does it make any difference how people die in warfare??? If they get killed, if they are civilian collateral damage, they are still dead, regardless of weapons used.

[doorgunner69]

The bombs saved millions of lives.

MY father's and my not yet born life, for sure.

My dad had nightmares about the "Japs coming to kill him" until he died. Fot them, starting that war and the atrocities they did during it, not a shred of pity for what happened to them. The citizens were behind Tojo and the emperor 110%.

[Calpublican]

I should have mentioned the millions of leaflets US dropped warning civilians to evacuate.

[ConservativeInPA]

That is correct. We also told the Japs which cities that we were going to fire bomb. More civilians died in the fire bombing of Tokyo alone than died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. It puts the bombing of Dresden to shame.

[Calpublican]

The Japanese are a very tough people. Wonder what they think of our weasely President who wallows around trying to apologize for real and imagined wrongs.

[Jim from C-Town]

My response is ‘You mess with the Bull you getthe horns F@cker! It’s nice to see that you learned your lesson’

[tanknetter]

He saved a lot of American lives. That’s all that matters.

But it bears stating that he saved even more Japanese and Chinese lives. Magnitudes more. And all the POWs/Internees of various nationalities held by Japan throughout Asia who were to be executed when an invasion occurred.

Why Truman Dropped the Bomb from the Weekly Standard in 2005 is a must-read on the whole "Japan was ready to surrender" lie.

[tanknetter]

Really??? I have never heard that.

Sort of. There was no explicit "we have this thing called the 'atomic bomb' and if you don't surrender right now we're going to start incinerating your remaining cities using it" warning.

There were general warnings that the US was prepared to systematically start blowing Japanese cities off the map. The major one was by Truman at Potsdam. But the more specific "rain of ruin" warning came after Hiroshima, not before.

[ETL]

Obama should apologize to Americans for the devastation he has caused, and will continue to cause, here.

[MasterGunner01]

If you study Japan's risen and fall immediately before and after the atomic bombing, you'll understand why the atomic bombs had to be dropped.

The Japanese military was dedicated to the Code of Bushido. Honoring the Code required Japanese to die in battle; dishonor came to the soldier and his family if he surrendered or was captured.

In October 1944, the first kamikaze raids occurred during the invasion of the Philippines. This was the first time that suicide was applied to a Battle situation by Japanese airmen against the American Navy or USAAF.

Then came the invasions of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and Okinawa on April 1, 1945. The Japanese fought to the last man with orders to kill 10 Americans for each of their numbered killed. The casualty count mounted on Iwo before it was secured. Okinawa was far worse for Army and Marines ashore and Navy ships around the island. Kamikaze raids on Navy ships produced horrific numbers of casualties.

Meanwhile, on the night of March 9-10, 1945, 334 B-29 bombers commenced a massive fire bombing raid on Tokyo. Over 100,000 people died in the firestorm, 1 million were left homeless, and 40 percent of Tokyo was reduced to ashes. Over the next series of months up to August 6, 1945, virtually ever small, medium, and large city in Japan was burned to cinders. After repeated calls for surrender, the Japanese refused.

It was only after the two atom bombs were dropped did the Emperor entertain the thought of surrender. He made a recording his intent to surrender that was broadcast to the Japanese people over the objections of the hardliners who wanted to fight on. The hardliners' logic was to bleed the Americans so badly that they would accept Japanese terms to end the killing. That is why the two atomic bombs were dropped. millions of Japanese and Allied lives were saved, and the casualties of both atomic bombings were less than the numbers killed in the B-29 fire raids.

[Cronos]

I think we should say sorry, but note that this was a necessary evil.

The primary purpose in war is to save your own people's lives. And this was the outcome

Secondarily it is to reduce unnecessary deaths on the other side -- and the bomb DID do that

[Brad from Tennessee]

[That is why the two atomic bombs were dropped. millions of Japanese and Allied lives were saved, and the casualties of both atomic bombings were less than the numbers killed in the B-29 fire raids.]

The nature of this weapon at first glance was supernatural. It was unprecedented in world history and there was no known defense against it. This allowed the militarists and the emperor a measure of face saving in their surrender.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Truman was right to use the bomb on Japan

Obama would have got the Japs to lay down their arms and saved millions of lives on both sides with his reason.

If only we had Obama POTUS in WW2, it would have ended in 1942.

Obama?? If he were in charge

We would be buying their (the Jap's) cars made in China and Japan for nearly nothing., and we all working for them would be getting Obama care quality for it, a free checkup,

[PhilDragoo]

You divine the key to victory in the Pacific:

Surrender was disgrace in the Bushido code, and the only way they would surrender, civilians included, is if the Emperor told them to. Which he did when he concluded we were liable to blast all of Japan apart.

General Douglas MacArthur set Japan up as a democratic ally by showing respect for the emperor.

A vital ally with South Korea in countering China.

[stephenjohnbanker]

LOL

Deadly accurate

[MasterGunner01]

I remember reading stories of Japanese military and civilians getting the word: One airplane and one bomb wiped out Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. They were stunned by the destructive force and realized that there was no defense against this weapon. The Emperor's speech to his people, the first time the average Japanese had heard his voice, drove home the point that Japan would have to “endure the unendurable” and surrender. In that sense, the Japanese government and Emperor were given a way to save face — and it worked.

[Calpublican]

They dropped a million leaflets on Hiroshima and surrounding areas warning citizens to evacuate.

[Calpublican]

They dropped a million leaflets on Hiroshima and surrounding areas warning citizens to evacuate.

[Impy]

Damn right. There is very little criticism of Truman for nuking, if Dewey had done it, boy oh boy would things be different.

[Mack the knife]

He saved a lot of American lives. That’s all that matters.

---

In case that is not all that matters, recall that the Japanese (through starvation, disease, battle casualties, and brutality) were causing about 250,000 casualties A MONTH, mostly Chinese civilians.

And the brutality was so bad that the author of “The Rape of Nanking” committed suicide because she could not remove those images from her mind.