“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima. It is an atomic bomb. We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”
— President Harry S. Truman
America did what it thought it had to do. It took a tremendous risk. The devastation to a mostly civilian population was unthinkable and unspeakable.
I have often said, I have very mixed feelings about the use of the atomic bomb 70 years ago. I expect if it hadn’t existed, I would not be here. My father was on the west coast, probably waiting to be shipped out to mainland Japan. On the other hand, I believe we should never use nuclear weapons on human beings again.
The Manhattan Project and all its secrets remain a fascination, even 70 years later. How much do we not know?
The Japanese town of Nagasaki was bombed 3 days later on August 9, 1945. Total surrender took place about a week later. WWII was finally over, or was it?
More reading:
An illustrated history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings
In 1968 my ship was in Japan for several days and I took leave to travel by train down to Hiroshima. It was a very sobering experience to stand near ground zero, and to see the remaining evidence of the blast. Compared to what’s in the arsenal of the nuclear powers now, the Hiroshima weapon was hardly more than a tactical nuke. But, at that time, a mere 23 years after the blast, there was plenty of indication of how much damage had been done. I also have to say that then and even as recently as last year, on my trips to Japan, I don’t think I have anywhere been treated more kindly and considerately in any of my travels than I have been by the people of Japan.
My father had been in the Navy in World War II on an LST that had been designated to be part of the first landing wave for the attack on Japan that never happened. I have very mixed feelings about all of it. However, I think if I had been in a decision-making position at that time, with the information and knowledge they had at that time, and knowing the cost of a direct assault on the Home Islands of Japan, I would have been very hard put to say that we would stay our hand if there were a chance that the War could be ended sooner rather than later.
I feel like you do on the subject, Scout. I am horrified at what that bomb did to human beings, even though they were “the enemy.” I also don’t think I would have said “no, don’t do it” back in 1945.
Then there is that sticky point about how little they really did know. Other than that one test in the desert, they were pretty clueless. Even after the test, the decision-makers still didn’t know anything about how human subjects would be affected.
When I start thinking about that horrible death and total annihilation, I think about Pearl Harbor. Those thoughts mitigate my horror somewhat. Fire-bombings weren’t too cool either.
To the larger point–war sucks and man continues to find more and more horrifying ways to heap destruction upon his enemies.
Maybe Barry McGuire said it best…We’re on the Eve of Destruction.
I, too, have been to Hiroshima and like Scout found it to be a very sobering experience. There were estimations that we would suffer a million casualties if we had to invade Japan. President Truman made the right decision.
As a side note, I visited the museum with a group of young Marine officers and while we were there a group of Japanese college students arrived. One of the students came up to a young Second Lieutenant and said something on the order of, “Aren’t you ashamed of this terrible thing you did?” Without blinking an eye, the lieutenant retorted, “Well, we didn’t ask to bomb Pearl Harbor.” End of conversation.
While there is no way of knowing now, I sometimes think there have beens situations where the use of nuclear weapons may have changed the outcome of things-the Korean War comes to mind. I am reasonably convinced that had we used some tactical weapons against the Chinese as well as the North Koreans, there might be a single Korea today. I attend the Marine corp Command and Staff College many years ago and there were several exercises where tactical nuclear weapons were deployed agains very large forces. “Pulling the trigger” on nuclear weapons is an extremely difficult decision, particularly now with more weapons in more countries. No one want to start the third world war and a nuclear attack might do just that.
George, thank you for your input. I think this issue might be more meaningful to my generation and yours. Scout and I grew up as the kids who sheltered under a desk in case of nuclear blast. The thought now of that “protecting us” makes me smile. What a bunch of hooy!
I suppose the Cuban Missile Crisis was about as close as they got in my lifetime. I did grow up with the fear, for sure.
Good for That young Marine. Many years ago, my husband and I went in to DC to see Torah, Torah, Torah. It wasn’t playing in the suburbs and I couldn’t wait. As Pearl Harbor was being bombed, bunches of young Asian men cheered, clapped and carried on. Today I would have asked the manager to have them removed from the theater for disruption. Back in the 70’s, I was just horrified. The idea that someone would live in this country and cheer for its destruction was too much for me to absorb. I have learned a lot since then.
Again, thanks for your input.
Nagasaki in the 1960’s. In summer whites. Same sobering experience. Except that, when I had finished at the museum and peace memorial and was walking down the street outside, someone threw a nasty shoulder block into me and then disappeared rapidly into the Japanese crowd. I have always thought………..
@Wolve
That reminds me of something that happened a looonnnngggg time ago. I went on R&R from Korea and one day I went to a Japanese barbershop to get a hair cut and a shave since I had heard from others who had been on R&R that it was a great experience. First the haircut then the shave. As the shave began, the barber, a large man for a Japanese male (may well have been a Japanese Marine during the war), wrapped my face in a warm towel, then lathered my face, let it set the removed it with another warm towel, reapplied later then shave my face. Then another warm towel, then oil on my face and another warm towel when it was all done, my face was a soft as a baby’s but and just as smooth. The interesting part came during the shave. As the chair was leaned back and the barber started to shave my throat, the thought crossed my mind that had it been just a few years earlier…
I am glad you didn’t get your throat slit, George.
Sorry for the typos-old, arthritic fingers.
Me, too Moon!
Today is the 70th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The same sort of terrible firestorm and loss of life. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. All total somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter million people died, many instantly incinerated with nothing remaining of them except some shadows in some places. “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima had the blast equivalent of about 12-15 kilotons of dynamite. “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki had about 22 kilotons blast equivalent. Today we measure our nuclear weapons in multi-megatons that could kill hundreds of thousands in a few short seconds. We should vow, “Never again”.