@JTT,
Quote:On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered and World War II was over. American policy makers have argued that the atomic bombs were the precipitating cause of the surrender. Historical studies of the Japanese decision, however, reveal that what the Japanese were most concerned with was the Soviet Union’s entry into the war.
Nonsense. Historical studies of the Japanese decision show that they were most concerned about the fact that they had no ability to prevent us from invading and occupying them.
Quote:Japan surrendered with the understanding that the emperor system would be retained. The US agreed to do what Truman had been advised to do before the bombings: it signaled to the Japanese that they would be allowed to retain the emperor.
While technically true, those statements leave so much truth out that they have to be regarded as falsehoods.
Japan was not willing to surrender, under any conditions whatsoever, until the day after Nagasaki.
Once they were finally willing to surrender, they requested to surrender with the condition that Hirohito retain unlimited dictatorial power as Japan's living deity.
We replied by telling them that Hirohito was going to be subordinate to MacArthur.
Could Japan have deduced from that that we intended to keep Hirohito as a powerless figurehead? Probably. But the nuances of the exchange are quite different from what the article makes it sound like.
As for "advice to Truman", some people did advise him that Japan might be more likely to surrender if we promised to retain Hirohito's dynasty as part of a Constitutional monarchy (note: a promise that would have given us the right to depose Hirohito in favor of his son).
Others advised that giving Japan such a promise would make surrender less likely.
The decision to "wait until Japan broached the subject" wasn't too significant. Japan was not willing to surrender
at all until after the second A-bomb. And then they broached the subject immediately.
Quote:This has left historians to speculate that the war could have ended without either the use of the two atomic weapons on Japanese cities or an Allied invasion of Japan.
It was Japan who decided to wait until they were nuked before they surrendered.
Quote:The US Strategic Bombing Survey concluded that, even without the use of the atomic bombs, without the Soviet Union entering the war and without an Allied invasion of Japan, the war would have ended before December 31, 1945 and, in all likelihood, before November 1, 1945.
The US Strategic Bombing Survey was conducted well after the war, with knowledge of hindsight that was not available during the war.
It also had a sizable axe to grind. The entire point of it was to claim that conventional air power alone was responsible for winning the war, so post-war defense spending should emphasize the Air Force over the other services.
Quote:The US dropped atomic bombs on a nation that had been largely defeated and some of whose leaders were seeking terms of surrender.
Japan's leaders did not seek the terms of surrender, because they already knew them. That's what the Potsdam Proclamation was.
If Japan was already defeated, it was their own fault for not surrendering.
Quote:Many World War II era servicemen who were in the Pacific or anticipated being shipped there believed that the bombs saved them from fighting hard battles on the shores of Japan, as had been fought on the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. What they did not take into account was that the Japanese were trying to surrender, that the US had broken the Japanese codes and knew they were trying to surrender, and that, had the US accepted their offer, the war could have ended without the use of the atomic bombs.
The article just shifted gears from "devious half-truths" to "outright lies".
Japan did not make
any attempt to surrender until after Nagasaki.
Quote:Most high ranking Allied military leaders were appalled by the use of the atomic bombs.
No. Only one high-ranking military leader was appalled: Ike. And no one gave him much credence on the matter.
Quote:General Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces Europe, recognized that Japan was ready to surrender
True, but he was the only one who thought that.
Further, he told only one person: Secretary of War Stimson.
Further yet, he only told Stimson shortly before the bombings, when it would have been too late to halt them even if he'd been convincing.
And finally, he was not at all convincing. Stimson told him he didn't know what he was talking about, and that was the end of the discussion.
But if Japan was ready to surrender, they should have surrendered instead of waiting until we had nuked them twice.
Quote:General Hap Arnold, commander of the US Army Air Corps pointed out, “Atomic bomb or no atomic bomb, the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse.”
Amazing what you can make it look like when you selectively take a few words out of a quote.
"It always appeared to us that atomic bomb or no atomic bomb the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse. Nevertheless, the abrupt surrender of Japan came more or less as a surprise, for we had figured we would probably have to drop about four atomic bombs or increase the destructiveness of our B-29 missions by adding heavy bombers from Europe."
Quote:Admiral William Leahy, Truman’s chief of staff, put it this way: “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender. In being the first to use it, we adopted an ethical standard common to barbarians of the Dark Ages. Wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”
Leahy "put it that way" many years after the war was over, with the benefit of hindsight that was not available to Truman when the war was still raging, and with a huge axe to grind (he was arguing that naval sea power won the war alone, so post-war defense spending should emphasize the Navy over the other services).
The only thing Leahy had to say about the bombs before they were used is: "I'm an expert in bombs, and I assure you these contraptions will never work."
Quote:What Truman had described as “the greatest thing in history” was actually, according to his own military leaders, an act of unparalleled cowardice,
Nonsense.
Quote:The use of the atomic bombs was the culmination of an air war fought against civilians in Germany and Japan,
The US air war never targeted civilians.
Quote:Szilard did his utmost to prevent the bomb from being used against Japanese civilians.
A lie. Szilard's concerns had nothing to do with fear of targeting civilians.
