Poll: Use of atomic bombs in WWII OK (Most Americans support use of nukes in Hiroshima)

NEW HAVEN, Conn. | A majority of Americans surveyed think dropping atomic bombs on Japan during World War II was the right thing to do, but support was weaker among Democrats, women, younger voters and minority voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

The poll, released Tuesday, found 61 percent of more than 2,400 American voters questioned think the U.S. did the right thing; 22 percent called it wrong, 16 percent were undecided.

The first bomb was dropped Aug. 6, 1945, on Hiroshima. An estimated 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months. Tens of thousands more died from radiation poisoning in years following.

Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered less than a week later.

"Sixty-four years after the dawn of the atomic age, one in five Americans think President Harry Truman made a mistake dropping the bomb," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The poll asked a single question: "Do you think the United States did the right thing or the wrong thing by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?"

Among voters over 55 years of age, 73 percent of those surveyed approved the decision, while 13 percent opposed. Sixty percent of voters 35 to 54 approved, while 50 percent approved among voters 18 to 34 years old, according to the poll.

"Voters who remember the horrors of World War II overwhelmingly support Truman's decision," Mr. Brown said. "Support drops with age, from the generation that grew up with the nuclear fear of the Cold War to the youngest voters, who know less about WW II or the Cold War."

Only 34 percent of black voters and 44 percent of Hispanic voters approved the decision, according to the poll.

Where do you come up with that nonsense? All Americans were committed to total, unconditional surrender of the Japanese.

Correction. The final surrender was NOT conditional. The Japanese kept insisting on keeping the emperor even after the two bombings. Truman, who said he he didn't want to "kill more of those kids" agreed to this condition. There were plenty of Americans, including Senator Robert A. Taft (Mr. Republican), who criticized FDR (suddenly a good guy to conservatives!) support for unconditional surrender. Many, many Americans criticized the dropping of the bombs/unconditional surrender including Eisenhower, MacArthur, Robert McCormick, the conservative anti-New Deal publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and Herbert Hoover. If you want the details, you can find all the sources in the New Dealers War by Thomas Fleming.

Again, we have a different view of the rules of war. According to all the traditions of just war theory, which date back for centuries, it is immoral to INTENTIONALLY target babes, little old ladies, and other civilians for slaughter simply as a means simply to terrorizing the enemy. The fact that the Japanese killed lots of Chinese babies for the sole purpose of terrorizing the Chinese is not a defense of the U.S. doing the same.

Many, many Americans criticized the dropping of the bombs/unconditional surrender including Eisenhower, MacArthur, Robert McCormick, the conservative anti-New Deal publisher of the Chicago Tribune, and Herbert Hoover.

Hindsight is always 20/20. The buck stopped in the WH and Truman made his decision based on the best information available and past experience with the Japanese, both in war and in peace. How much could Truman trust the Japanese who launched a surprise attack against our forces in Hawaii? Or used suicide attacks against our forces?

Mass warfare and mass weapons of destruction didn't exist centuries ago. Again, we DIDN'T INTENTIONALLY target babies, little old ladiers and other civilians for SLAUGHTER. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were legitmate military targets.

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of some industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops.

The city of Nagasaki had been one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and was of great wartime importance because of its wide-ranging industrial activity, including the production of ordnance, ships, military equipment, and other war materials.Nagasaki had never been subjected to large-scale bombing prior to the explosion of a nuclear weapon there. On August 1, 1945, however, a number of conventional high-explosive bombs were dropped on the city. A few hit in the shipyards and dock areas in the southwest portion of the city, several hit the Mitsubishi Steel and Arms Works, and six bombs landed at the Nagasaki Medical School and Hospital, with three direct hits on buildings there. While the damage from these bombs was relatively small, it created considerable concern in Nagasaki and many people—principally school children—were evacuated to rural areas for safety, thus reducing the population in the city at the time of the nuclear attack.

The fact that the Japanese killed lots of Chinese babies for the sole purpose of terrorizing the Chinese is not a defense of the U.S. doing the same.

My point was that the Japanese should be the last ones to be immune from such type of warfare. They set the standard. The fire bombings of Dresden and Hamburg killed more than the nuclear weapons did in Japan.

I asked you how old you were, because you seem to buy into this proportionate response nonsense and antiseptic war concepts that are really a luxury for those who have overwhelming power and don't fear for their own survival from the enemy. WWII involved our survival as a nation. The attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent declaration of war against us by the Germans two weeks later galvanized us as never before. Continental Europe was under the control of the Nazis [except for the Soviet Union] and the Japanese were running unchecked in the Far East. And the US was unprepared for war.

Mass warfare has changed the way we fight wars. Whole nations are marshalled into the fight. Troops are supported by a huge civilian infrastructure that supplies the weapons of war, food, ammunition, fuel, etc. In essence, entire countries become legitimate targets. And the objective becomes to break the will of the enemy.

Do you have a problem with our nuclear deterrence or our use of it? Do you believe that the US should adopt a policy of no-first use? Nuclear weapons or even conventional bombs can't distinguish between little old ladies and civilians engaged in the war machine.

Thank God For the Bomb - Ozzy Osbourne

Like moths to a flame
Is man ever gonna change?
Time’s seen untold aggression
And infliction of pain
If that’s the only thing that’s stopping war

Then thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Nuke ya, nuke ya

War is just another game
Tailor made for the insane
But make a threat of their annihilation
And nobody wants to play
If that’s the only thing that keeps the peace

Then thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Nuke ya, nuke ya

Today was tommorow, yesterday
It’s funny how time can slip away
The face of the doomsday clock
Has launched a thousand wars
As we near the final hour
Time is the only foe we have

When war is obsolete
I’ll thank God for war’s defeat
But any talk about hell freezing over
Is all said with tongue in cheek
Until the day the war drums beat no more

I’ll thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Thank God for the bomb
Nuke ya, nuke ya

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