I read the book “The Making Of The Atomic Bomb” and General Gates, who was in charge of the Manhattan Project said that after all that money and resources and material used the Bomb had to be dropped. Also the powers that be were convinced that Japan would surrender real quick after Hiroshima but it took the second one to convince them that we had more. The firebombing campaign obliterated something like 59 cities and there wasn’t very many to choose from to be Atom Bombed (as the book stated) that were intact so they could measure the destruction. To me, and the generation that fought thought that bombing Nagasaki was vengeance because that’s where the torpedo’s used at Pearl Harbor were manufactured. Karma is a real biatch. The liberals today didn’t live through that era and don’t know squat on how Americans felt during the war or their feelings towards the Japanese.
“...that were intact so they could measure the destruction.”
True - but also to be able to show the Japs how powerful it was.
“Okay - this map shows the blackened area of the 60% of Toyko that has been burned to the ground. See that round area of grey - that’s where we dropped the bomb.
The firebombings destroyed MUCH more and killed far more than the A-bombs did. But, as back then, the A-bomb had a much larger impact on the heart and soul of the people. “Shock and Awe.”
[ The liberals today didn’t live through that era and don’t know squat on how Americans felt during the war or their feelings towards the Japanese. ]
Yeah, Libs have no clue at all.
I do have a lot of respect for the Japanese, they went from medieval age lifestyle to full blown industrial revolution in under 50-60 years, 1860-1920. The problem was it was such a culture shock that they went power mad after they beat the tar out of the Russians During the Sino-russian war in the early 1900’s.
They got too big for their britches and started taking over the pacific Asian rim on island and country at a time. They were essentially running under a medieval war code using modern weapons and military tactics. As a result they ROLLED over the other less well armed and less industrialized Asian countries. They needed a wake up call to get them out of the Medieval mindset and getting thoroughly humiliated and humbled by the nukes.
Douglas MacArthur is essentially a “re-founder” of Japan, in that during the rebuilding of Japan after the war he made damned sure not to repeat the mistakes of Germany after WW-I and in the process we gained a very important ally in the Pacific. As a result the average Japanese citizen today has been more or less “Tamed and Civilized” due to his efforts in introducing more of western culture into Japan while at the same letting them retain many aspect of their Island culture.
Funny how you almost never hear the Libs talk about Douglas MacArthur, and when they do they Hate the Man for no damned good reason. This is a man who saw all the atrocities that Japanese Soldiers did in the pacific fronts, but he didn’t hold it against the citizenry after they had surrendered and were humbled when it came to the post war activities of rebuilding and humanitarian relief for the citizenry. He also helped establish their Constitution as well.
But the Libs love to cite the atomic bombing of Japan while ignoring how much we did to get their society back up on their feet.
Except when it suits THEIR agenda.... Of course they all forget that Nation building only works after the entire country has been thoroughly humbled and humiliated.
You got that right. I was born in 1935 and well remember WW11.
Americans wouldn't have minded if we dropped more atomic bombs on Japan.
I get a kick out of today's lamenting about Roosevelt interning Japanese Americans as being outrageous.
I believe had he not done that, some of those Japanese would have been beaten to death by American citizenry.
I personally witnessed, in Boston, after the war was on for several years and some wounded service people were coming home, Chinese being beaten, because the Citizenry didn't differentiate between orientals in that time period. -Tom