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Was it Necessary for us to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima?

So, the more I read about the circumstances surrounding the war with Japan and the Hiroshima, the more problems I have with some of the things we've been told. Like, for example, that dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was necessary to win the war. It turns out that it wasn't, in fact, necessary.

"President Dwight Eisenhower . . . had reservations. In a 1963 interview with Newsweek magazine, he said: 'The Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing.'"

It is simply not true that the Japanese were unwilling to surrender before the bomb was dropped. "The Japanese had sued for surrender several times during the year before Hiroshima. The Japanese asked for only one condition -- that the Emperor be allowed to remain in place.

The U.S. refused because FDR had coined the ridiculous phrase 'unconditional surrender' and was determined to stick to it. When the Japanese eventually surrendered without condition, the U.S. allowed the Emperor to remain in place anyway.

Almost every leading U.S. general and admiral was appalled by Truman's dropping of the atomic bomb -- especially on two cities with no military significance whatsoever."
---------'My God, what have we done?' -- the commander of the 'Enola Gay'
--------- The Myths of World War II
---------Hiroshima: Who Disagreed with the Atomic Bombing

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The bombing:

"Thousands of people were instantly carbonised in a blast that was thousands of times hotter than the sun's surface; further from the epicentre, birds ignited in mid-flight, eyeballs popped and internal organs were sucked from bodies of victims.
By the end of the day an estimated 160,000 were dead or injured and the bomb's "ghosts" walked the city -- thousands of initial survivors who would die within days, often with the word mizu -- water -- on their lips. Many more subsequently died -- and are still dying -- from various cancers."

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4 Comments:

David Schantz said...: I'll be checking out the links. I wanted to let you know I have posted my Question Of The Week (on this subject) I hope you will stop by to answer it.

God Bless America, God Save The Republic; 8/07/2005 4:26 AM
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Michael Morrison said...: Realm, your comments, both here and at David Schantz' blog, are great, and very necessary balances to the uninformed and usually just emotional comments of people who have not done the studying you have done.
I thank you for your insight.
Let me add, please, that as long as governments continue to have the near-ownership of people, of individual human beings, as long as governments continue to hold such power, then future wars and future nuclear destruction will remain not only possible, but likely.; 8/07/2005 1:20 PM
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Chris said...: I found my way here via Schantz's blog.

You are very correct with your research and I left a lengthy comment on Schantz's blog concerning my opinions on the matter. Whenever you get some time, check it out.

My overall conclusion is that had there not been a Pearl Harbor, there would not have been a Hiroshima.; 8/09/2005 12:26 AM
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Scriptor said...: I do know of an attempted coup by some Japanese military units right before the surrender broadcasting,but most of the military were loyal. Also, I read in a book that the ever-tightening U.S. submarine blockade could have ended the itself. After all, it would be hard to fight when your country can barely make anything but small arms.

Nobody except Truman himself will know exactly why the atomic bomb was dropped. There may have been something else that was covered up, but that sounds too conspiratorial. Also, the bombing of Nagasaki was completely unnecessary. The bomber was supposed to attack a military base, but a little bad weather prevented that, they couldn't even recall the plane.; 8/17/2005 2:40 PM
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