75 Years Later, It’s Clear Truman Was Right To Drop The Atomic Bomb

Admiral Leahy was apparently the only flag officer who stuck to his guns on his opposition to the Bomb. The others, such as Eisenhower, Halsey, Nimitz, and MacArthur, toned down their opposition in the run-up to its use. (Nimitz was later insistent that the Bomb played no role in Japan’s surrender, pointing out that the Japanese had sued for peace before its use.)

Of course there could not have been a negotiated peace where possible future events were taken into consideration. Germans and Japanese were inherently evil. Once they were eliminated peace would reign. The war worked out perfectly for the Soviets and their agents in the U.S. government. The two rivals containing them were eliminated. Modern warfare relies on demonizing the opposition. Japanese soldiers fought to the death. There was no comparable Bataan Death March. If a Japanese did not want to fight to the death he was assisted by a GI. The American people did not want any part of this war. They had had enough with the “War to End All Wars.” Progressives have had us in a perpetual war

“Germans and Japanese were inherently evil. Once they were eliminated peace would reign.”

Nonsense.

One could say the Hitler was evil for the Holocaust and some other things, but they, Germany and Japan simply had bad leaders and their leaders tried to be nationalist-imperialists at a point in time in world affairs when the age of imperialism and the acquiring of colonies was reaching a point of (a) not securing peace but creating & increasing international tensions and (b) sustaining control of colonies was reaching diminishing returns.

The Soviets kept & expanded their land-based colony system from Eastern Europe, across Central Asia and to the shores of the Pacific, but as much as it helped “mother Russia” in some ways, it was an economic basket case. They were not the future, they were mimicking a time that has passed.

There is not much moral difference between the Soviet Union’s hold on Eastern Europe and what would have been fascist Nazi Germany’s hold on much of Europe if they had prevailed against Russia. And the idea that having imperial Japan left holding much of its Asian occupied lands would have been some morally superior outcome than what actually happened is ludicrous.

Lastly, in the long term, Germany and imperial Japan were, during the war, posing more of threat globally to western interests than was believed to be true of Russia. The west made choices that they believed were expedient, not ideal, but the least of possible bad choices. The west could not help Germany against Russia and at the same time fight Germany from marching across western Europe. The west could not help Japan against the Soviets in Asia and fight Japan everywhere else in Asia that Japan had occupied territory. You conflate, wrongly, consequences with intent.

Truman didn't drop "the bomb," FDR did.

FDR issued orders for the first bombing, then the second if necessary, with orders to continue bombing as the weapons became available until Japan surrendered. They already had the plutonium for third bomb, which could have been ready within weeks of Nagasaki. By November the reactors in Washington State were producing enough plutonium per month for four more bombs. So there would have been a third bombing in the November-December time frame. And if the Japanese still hadn't surrendered yet, starting in January of 1946 the US would have been nuking basically a city every week.

But not on Truman's orders, on FDR's. All Truman did was not interfere with the orders Roosevelt already had in place. It was Roosevelt who nuked Japan ... from the grave.

And it's a myth that their surrender was "unconditional." The Japanese reply to the Potsdam declaration stated they would agree "with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler."

The US counter-offer did not address the terms Japan had requested but stated "From the moment of surrender the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate the surrender terms. Which was passing the buck to MacArthur and both sides already knew Mac's position on the Emperor. That the Japanese people would be easier to placare with a cooperating Emperor on the throne than with no Emperor at all.

“Germans and Japanese were inherently evil. Once they were eliminated peace would reign.”
“Nonsense.”
Nonsense indeed, this is not my opinion but the propaganda peddled at the time. “The age of imperialism” is past. That sounds like Francis Fukuyama’s end of history. Imperialism ended because the leaders of the U.S. said it was ended. Modernists are happy with the status quo. Good luck with that.
Looking for a “morally superior outcome.” Remember the Rape of Nanking. Well that was a tea party compared to what Mao did to the Chinese people.
“Germany and imperial Japan were . . . posing more of threat.” That was not the view of the vast majority of Americans prior to the FDR provoked attack on Pearl Harbor. The Soviets had already exterminated over 6 million subjects and expanded their empire (Tanu Tuva and Eastern Europe).

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.