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. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.
Harry Truman
August 6, 2011 marks the 66th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Japan and the above words were spoken by President Harry Truman. Over 100,000 Japanese were killed by that first atomic blast. Unfortunately, there was no surrender and 3 days later another atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. On August 15, 1945, the Japanese surrendered.
There has been much debate since the Enola Gay slipped into sky above Hiroshima and unleashed the atomic age. Most folks of that era felt that using atomic weapons was the only way to go. Some historians have justified the use of the bomb by talking about the number of lives, both American and Japanese, that were saved by using atomic weapons rather than a land invasion. Others have talked about how debilitated the Japanese navy was and how surrender was immenent anyway. The ethics question will probably go on for centuries.
My dad was on the west coast awaiting orders for Japan. I know where I stand. Had things gone another way, I might not be posting this thread. That fact, however, doesn’t make me immune to the ethics of the question of using atomic weapons on other human beings. Where do you stand?
