- Excerpt from a memorandum recommending the use of the atomic bomb against Japan, drafted by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson
“This is the greatest thing in history”
– President Harry S. Truman, upon receiving notification that the bombing of Hiroshima was a success.
August 6th, 1945 - a day that should live in infamy.
Today, of course, marks the 65th anniversary of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. On the morning of August 6th, at 8:10AM, a weapon of previously unimaginable power was unleashed upon Japan - and upon mankind. This new weapon was over 2000 times more powerful than any bomb ever detonated before and ushered us into a new era of military threat and fear.
The only thing to fear is fear itself.
Oh, and nuclear weapons.
Did FDR leave that part out?
The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki quickly killed over 150 000 people, many - if not most were civilians. Cities were leveled. People were seared to death. Cooked where they stood.
Shadows were literally burnt into the ground:
150 000 people died this way. Double, maybe even triple the deaths in the days and weeks after the bomb fell. Radiation sickness, burns, injuries, other illnesses, starvation and dehydration were several ways the Japanese met death.
But the world was at war, right? And the Allies, the Americans really, were forced by the belligerent Japs to drop the bombs to end the fighting, right? At least that's what I was taught and what I believed when I was growing up. As a Canadian I was proud to have had my country participate in something so spectacular, so just.
But maybe those two bombs were a completely unjust action in an otherwise unusually just war.
1. The bomb as dropped in 1945 but the decision to drop the bomb was made in 1942. That was the year FDR authorized what became known as the Manhattan Project. The project, at its peak, employed over 129 000 people simultaneously and cost over $2 billion USD (approx. $25 billion in 2010 dollars). By the time the weapon was finally completed the Americans had justify so much time, money and ingenuity put into the project. The Atomic Bomb was proof to the world of American scientific superiority and can-do.
2. The was never any serious consideration by the military or the White House about whether or not to use the bomb. It was just a matter of when and where. Harry Truman took over as Commander-in-Chief rather quickly and somewhat unexpectedly when FDR passed away and inherited the monster project. As a senator he wasn't even authorized to know about it. Secretary of State and twice Sec'y of War Henry L. Stimson remembers:
" …I went to explain the nature of the problem to a man whose only previous knowledge of our activities was that of a Senator who had loyally accepted our assurance that the matter must be kept a secret from him. Now he was President and Commander-in-Chief, and the final responsibility in this time as in so many other matters must be his. President Truman accepted this responsibility with the same fine spirit that Senator Truman had shown before in accepting our refusal to inform him." - (Harper's Magazine, Feb., 1947)
In the article Stimson hints at Truman more as loyal servant to the cause than active leader. In hindsight, Stimson also realized that really no one else ever really questioned the use of the bomb. They had become so absorbed with the process that they forgot to question the outcome.
I find that crazy.
Especially when you realize that they intended for the most powerful weapon ever created to be used against civilians. From a proposal sent to Truman in 1945:
1. The bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible.
2. It should be used on a dual target - that is, a military installation or war plant surrounded by or adjacent to houses and other buildings most susceptible to damage, and
3. It should be uses without prior warning.
Shock and awe indeed.
3. But wait! Didn't the bombs save lives by putting the war to a quick end? - No.
Yes, it's true that some lives were saved. Mainly American lives and not as many as is usually reported. Back in 1945, military estimates for American casualties were about 30 000 - an already inflated number. During speeches and later, post-war writings, numbers were again and again inflated. Truman was said 500 000 American lives were saved. Stimson estimated a million. But again, these numbers had no basis in reality. Back in '45, 22 Japanese soldiers were being killed for every 1 American soldier. In August, the Japanese didn't have the man power left to keep up those losses. Surrender was imminent.
4. The US wanted to stop the Soviet invasion into Japan and scare them off with a show of force. The US was already envisioning post-war scenarios and saw a conflict with the Soviets as inevitable. The USSR was trying to rush into Japan but by dropping the bombs and ending the war the Soviet force remained at home. Truman and others in the White House didn't want the Soviets to gain any more territory or influence - keeping them out of Japan was vital. You might even consider the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the first hostile acts of the Cold War.
The anniversary of the atomic attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki should always serve as a warning to us and future generations. We unleashed awesome amounts of power and we did so in the homes of our fellow man. We killed woman, children, grandmothers, grandfathers and soldiers with equal enthusiasm.
We used these destructive weapons without properly looking ahead to the future to see how they might endanger our civilization, our very world. And maybe worst of all, we didn't even use the weapons out of necessity. They were dropped because of politics, bad communication, and groupthink.
Forget about hope and prayer.
Let's work together to ensure that this never happens again.
UPDATE:
Here is a great slide show of previously unreleased photographs from Life of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombing.
No comments:
Post a Comment