Is the WWII Nuclear 'Story' In Need of Revision?

[Sukerkin]

This is a very interesting article that discusses whether or not the dropping of two nuclear devices on Japan really was 'necessary' and whether they really were responsible for the Japanese surrender:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/29/the_bomb_didnt_beat_japan_nuclear_world_war_ii

 

[elder999]

This is a very interesting article that discusses whether or not the dropping of two nuclear devices on Japan really was 'necessary' and whether they really were responsible for the Japanese surrender:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/05/29/the_bomb_didnt_beat_japan_nuclear_world_war_ii

Having actually had the opportunity to speak face to face with some of the players involved on the U.S. side-some of whom didn't want the bomb dropped, and were holding out (at the time) for the "demonstration option," I have to offer this-nowhere in that article did I see the key words that express the U.S. military and governmental viewpoint at the time that led to actually dropping the bombs:

UNCONDITIONAL surrender.

Sure, there were all sorts of overtures and efforts being made at the time-such things are a matter of history. Sure, the Japanese were on the ropes, and knew it. Bottom line-the U.S. wanted "unconditional" surrender-the right to make the Japanese march to our tune, and we did......the Soviets were pretty much done, and knew that we had the bomb, and were going to use it-that, as much as anything else, is what drove them to go ahead and declare war on Japan- they had spies in Los Alamos, knew we had the bomb, and figured the Japanese were toast-this is a forgotten and documented part of the history that the article omits, as far as it being "Stalin's " doing.

That said, I'm also pretty convinced that we dropped the bombs because we had that capability, and wanted to show the world.......

 

[arnisador]

That said, I'm also pretty convinced that we dropped the bombs because we had that capability, and wanted to show the world.......

Regrettably, I'm sure there's a nontrivial amount of truth to that.

 

[elder999]

Regrettably, I'm sure there's a nontrivial amount of truth to that.

DWIGHT EISENHOWER

"...in [July] 1945... Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. ...the Secretary, upon giving me the news of the successful bomb test in New Mexico, and of the plan for using it, asked for my reaction, apparently expecting a vigorous assent.

"During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face'. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude..."

- Dwight Eisenhower, Mandate For Change, pg. 380

In a Newsweek interview, Eisenhower again recalled the meeting with Stimson:

"...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

- Ike on Ike, Newsweek, 11/11/63

BRIGADIER GENERAL CARTER CLARKE
(The military intelligence officer in charge of preparing intercepted Japanese cables - the MAGIC summaries - for Truman and his advisors)
"...when we didn't need to do it, and we knew we didn't need to do it, and they knew that we knew we didn't need to do it, we used them as an experiment for two atomic bombs."

Quoted in Gar Alperovitz, The Decision To Use the Atomic Bomb, pg. 359.

That list just goes on and on. We spent over $1 billion 1945 dollars to make the damn things.

Of course we were gonna use 'em, and Japan was the only target left by the time we got there......

 

[K-man]

Interesting article. I always considered the Nagasaki bomb unnecessary but was not aware of the underlying issues. :asian: