Hiroshima anniversary drives peaceniks postal
By Michael M. Bates (08/09/05)
Last week marked 60 years since the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Protests were held around the world with some of them condemning America for what happened in Japan in 1945, for what is happening in Iraq in 2005, and for everything in between.
Actor Martin Sheen, who is what passes for a conscience in Make Believe Land, was taken into custody at a no-nukes demonstration in Nevada. Unfortunately, authorities turned him loose.
A letter printed in the Chicago Tribune asserted: "No civilized nation could do what the U.S. did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Most Americans still lack the morals to determine that such a hideous deed was a massive crime against humanity."
The writer was at least partially correct: a majority of Americans think using the bomb on Hiroshima was the right thing to do. A recent Gallup poll didn’t match the 85 percent approval reflected in a 1945 opinion survey, but it still showed solid support among the public.
An interesting finding is that Republicans are more likely to back the decision to use the bomb than Democrats. Indeed, among Democratic women, only 37 percent say it was the right thing to do.
That’s ironic. President Truman, who authorized using atomic bombs, was a Democrat. His judgment was widely applauded by liberals of the time.
Republicans and conservatives didn’t share that enthusiasm. Former President Herbert Hoover wrote that the bomb’s indiscriminate killing of women and children "revolts my soul." General Dwight Eisenhower voiced his grave misgivings about the action directly to the secretary of war.
General Douglas MacArthur questioned the military necessity of using the bomb. Two years after Hiroshima, the Chicago Tribune editorialized about the unnecessary killing of uncounted Japanese.
So how did conservatives and liberals manage to switch sides over Hiroshima over the years? One reason, I think, is that the Truman contention that the bomb was essential to save Allied soldiers has largely prevailed.
"What is history but fable agreed upon?" famously asked Napoleon Bonaparte.
In this case, the fable, if it is one, had some substance. There were credible estimates of between 250,000 to one million casualties had the war continued. And those numbers represented losses just on our side.
Even after the bomb fell, Japanese military commanders gave little indication that they considered surrender an option. Japan’s war minister at first even denied Hiroshima had been bombed. Fanatically dedicated military leaders forced Emperor Hirohito to work on surrender documents in secret.
Hiroshima wasn’t enough to persuade those running the war to give up. Some Japanese argued that the U.S. only had one bomb and wasn’t capable of destroying other targets. (In fact, the U.S. had just two more). Other Japanese leaders thought, or at least hoped, world opinion would dissuade America from conducting further attacks.
The case that Japan was going to lay down its arms without a massive show of Allied force isn’t persuasive. Militarists had adopted a fight-to-the-finish strategy.
Nor is the theory advanced by some historians that the Red Army’s attack on Japanese forces was significant. It came too late.
Two days after Hiroshima’s destruction, President Truman held an abbreviated press conference. He said, "I have only a simple announcement to make. . . Russia has declared war on Japan! That is all."
Truman’s presidential papers indicate there were applause and laughter from the reporters as they walked out of the press room.
Dropping the bomb was welcomed by most Americans. At long last, after years of war and hundreds of thousands of American deaths, peace was at hand. The perfidy of Pearl Harbor and the brutality of Japan – one-third of our prisoners of war died in their camps – were still fresh in our minds.
What the United States did 60 years ago wasn’t our finest moment, but it perhaps was the best available option. Maybe President Truman made a mistake, but he was the president and we the people gave him the power to make such decisions.
We can only be thankful we were the ones with the bomb. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate.
Those who always look to blame America first will continue to cite Hiroshima as yet another example of our intrinsic evil. They might take a moment to consider that, were it not for the bomb, they may never have been born.
(This appears in the August 11, 2005 Oak Lawn (IL) Reporter. Mike Bates is the author of Right Angles and Other Obstinate Truths.)
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