August 6th 2010, Hiroshima revisited
On the morning of August 6th 1945, a plane named the “Enola Gay” took off from an airfield on Tinian Island and headed for mainland Japan carrying a very special cargo named “Little Boy.”
Once Colonel Paul Tibbets reached the Japanese city of Hiroshima–a strategic military target located in the middle of a civilian city–he unleashed “Little Boy.” The effects were immediate and devastating, some 70,000 people died on the first day, while estimates for the total loss of life are somewhere around 150,000-200,000. Nobody knows for sure how many Japanese died as a direct result of this bombing.
But still the Japanese–who all had sworn to fight until the death–refused to surrender. Even in the face of warnings by Harry Truman that the United States had in its possession the most powerful explosive known to man, and would continue to use it if the Japanese did not tender its unconditional surrender they refused to give in.
Three days later “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki and the end result was inevitable and although Hirohito never used the word surrender: “However, it is according to the dictates of time and fate that we have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is insufferable,” preferring to call surrender unendurable and insufferable– everybody knew that that meant. Nine days after the first bomb was dropped Japan had surrendered, the war was over.
In the 65 years that have followed the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it has been greatly debated whether the bombings were necessary or if the United States dropped the bombs solely as a show of force to other nations (Russia–which had entered the war against Japan after Hiroshima–in particular.)
Some have claimed that Japan was on the verge of surrendering anyway, and that all we had to do was give them more time. While it is true that Hirohito had had discussions with his generals about surrender, he rejected any notion of surrender every time it was brought up. He had no intention of surrendering after all of these years of telling every Japanese person that to die for the emperor was glorious and that Japan would never surrender.
This mentality was so engrained in the Japanese soldier that once it was learned that Hirohito had decided to “endure the unendurable” the military leaders actually started planning a coup to overthrow him and continue the war until every man was dead–swearing to jump off the cliffs to their deaths if necessary instead of surrendering.
If the bombs were not dropped and a full-scale invasion of mainland Japan was executed (as General MacArthur hoped for) instead, the invasion force would have dwarfed the allied invasion in Normandy on D-Day and it is estimated that extending the war would have cost America alone an additional one million plus casualties.
The effects of the bombings were brutal but they brought a swift end to a brutal war–in a way the war in the Pacific may have been more brutal than the European theater, just look at the atrocities performed by Japanese soldiers on American POWs–that may have lingered on for who knows how long.
The debate over the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will forever be debated, but in my opinion while many lives were taken in such a short period of time, the lives saved over the longterm because of the continued fighting is all the justification needed.
America's Watchtower 
I have studied Operation Downfall. It was a bloodbath ready to happen. So much so, that the military ordered hundreds of thousands of Purple Heart Medals. In fact, they ordered so many that those medals are still being used for Iraq and Afghanistan, and every other war since WWII. Unless something disastrous happens, there will never be a need to order more.
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I have read that about the Purple Hearts as well, that alone tells us how bad they thought prolonging the war would be.
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President Truman was placed in the position of having to make what could arguably be the most difficult decision an American President has ever had to make. He chose the immediate devastation and horror over what would surely have been a long, drawn-out invasion of Japan, costing countless American and Japanese lives. It can easily be argued that Japan is where it is today because President Truman made the choices he made.
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I don’t think there’s a shred of doubt that Japan owes her current greatness to Truman’s decision to drop the bombs. If we’d lost a quarter million men, with three times as many more wounded, that were the projected casualties of an invasion, I doubt we’d have been able to conduct as enlightened an occupation, nor would the Japanese have been quite so acquiescent in that occupation.
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I can’t even imagine being in the position that Harry Truman was in and having to make that decision. In the end he did the right thing but you can’t help but think what must have been going through his mind when he gave the order.
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I spent a good amount of time studying this issue years ago, reading books both pro and con, and my opinion’s unchanged – Truman did the right thing under the circumstances. Even today, I have people telling me I’ve got to read this or that book, and I told one fellow I’m not inclined to read every book that someone intent on changing my opinion advises me to read.
I’ve been told that Eisenhower and MacArthur opposed the bombings. They’re good and honorable men, although I suspect you’re right, I think MacArthur was looking forward to leading a million-man invasion of the Japanese home islands, and felt deprived of the glory. But Marshall and Bradley supported the bombing – and for every expert opposed, there’s at least one who supports.
At least this time around we’re not hearing nearly as much of the screams of racism – I guess the blame America first crowd finally figured out that Germany surrendered before we had an operating device we could deliver to a target, otherwise Germany would have experienced that light brighter than a thousand suns.
Have a glorious weekend!
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There is no doubt in my mind that MacArthur wanted to invade because he was looking for glory; much like Patton wanted to turn on the Russians amd march on Moscow and end the communist threat there and then.
There doesn’t seem to have been the same amount of debate around this issue as in years past, and yes you are right, if we had the bomb in time it would have been used on Germany first. I still don’t think that would have persuaded Japan to surrender.
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Oh, as to Truman, when asked about it, he said the issue was quite clear and he never lost a moment’s sleep. He certainly lived up to his nickname “Give ’em hell Harry!”
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Let’s see — Several 100K of our enemies dead or several 100K of American service men dead…
Hmmmm… Lemme think….
OK, I vote for it to be THEM and not us… 😈
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Seems like a simple choice to me!
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Based on everything I have read on this subject, Japan was going to fight to the bitter end. The body count retaking island by island was already high and Truman knew that it would have increased dramatically by invading Japan’s mainland. What people forget is Japan still had a capable land army even though their Navy was in complete shambles. Hiroshima was a base of operations for a large force. Another thing people don’t realize is that the women and children were also ready to fight.
I think Truman played the hand his was dealt and to second guess his decision is somewhat pointless. Great post Steve.
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Thanks John! There is no doubt that Harry Truman realized that Japan was never going to surrender, he did the right thing. Hell, it still took Hirohito nine days to surrender after the first bomb was dropped.
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