Just a little followon:
HIROSHIMA
WHO DISAGREED WITH THE ATOMIC BOMBING?
From what we read in the general media, it seems like almost everyone
felt the atomic bombings of Japan were necessary. Aren't the people who
disagree with those actions just trying to find fault with America?
Positions listed refer to WWII positions.
~~~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
~~~ADMIRAL WILLIAM D. LEAHY
(Chief of Staff to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman)
"It is my opinion that 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 because of the
effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.
"The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are
frightening. My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we
had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark
Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be
won by destroying women and children."
- William Leahy, I Was There, pg. 441.
~~~HERBERT HOOVER
On May 28, 1945, Hoover visited President Truman and suggested a way to
end the Pacific war quickly: "I am convinced that if you, as President,
will make a shortwave broadcast to the people of Japan - tell them they
can have their Emperor if they surrender, that it will not mean
unconditional surrender except for the militarists - you'll get a peace
in Japan - you'll have both wars over."
Richard Norton Smith, An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover,
pg. 347.
On August 8, 1945, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Hoover wrote
to Army and Navy Journal publisher Colonel John Callan O'Laughlin, "The
use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and
children, revolts my soul."
quoted from Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, pg. 635.
"...the Japanese were prepared to negotiate all the way from February
1945...up to and before the time the atomic bombs were dropped; ...if
such leads had been followed up, there would have been no occasion to
drop the [atomic] bombs."
- quoted by Barton Bernstein in Philip Nobile, ed., Judgment at the
Smithsonian, pg. 142
Hoover biographer Richard Norton Smith has written: "Use of the bomb had
besmirched America's reputation, he [Hoover] told friends. It ought to
have been described in graphic terms before being flung out into the sky
over Japan."
Richard Norton Smith, An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover,
pg. 349-350.
In early May of 1946 Hoover met with General Douglas MacArthur. Hoover
recorded in his diary, "I told MacArthur of my memorandum of mid-May
1945 to Truman, that peace could be had with Japan by which our major
objectives would be accomplished. MacArthur said that was correct and
that we would have avoided all of the losses, the Atomic bomb, and the
entry of Russia into Manchuria."
Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, pg. 350-351.
~~~GENERAL DOUGLAS MacARTHUR
MacArthur biographer William Manchester has described MacArthur's
reaction to the issuance by the Allies of the Potsdam Proclamation to
Japan: "...the Potsdam declaration in July, demand[ed] that Japan
surrender unconditionally or face 'prompt and utter destruction.'
MacArthur was appalled. He knew that the Japanese would never renounce
their emperor, and that without him an orderly transition to peace would
be impossible anyhow, because his people would never submit to Allied
occupation unless he ordered it. Ironically, when the surrender did
come, it was conditional, and the condition was a continuation of the
imperial reign. Had the General's advice been followed, the resort to
atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki might have been unnecessary."
William Manchester, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964, pg. 512.
Norman Cousins was a consultant to General MacArthur during the American
occupation of Japan. Cousins writes of his conversations with MacArthur,
"MacArthur's views about the decision to drop the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were starkly different from what the general
public supposed." He continues, "When I asked General MacArthur about
the decision to drop the bomb, I was surprised to learn he had not even
been consulted. What, I asked, would his advice have been? He replied
that he saw no military justification for the dropping of the bomb. The
war might have ended weeks earlier, he said, if the United States had
agreed, as it later did anyway, to the retention of the institution of
the emperor."
Norman Cousins, The Pathology of Power, pg. 65, 70-71.
~~~JOSEPH GREW
(Under Sec. of State)
In a February 12, 1947 letter to Henry Stimson (Sec. of War during
WWII), Grew responded to the defense of the atomic bombings Stimson had
made in a February 1947 Harpers magazine article:
"...in the light of available evidence I myself and others felt that if
such a categorical statement about the [retention of the] dynasty had
been issued in May, 1945, the surrender-minded elements in the
[Japanese] Government might well have been afforded by such a statement
a valid reason and the necessary strength to come to an early clearcut
decision.
"If surrender could have been brought about in May, 1945, or even in
June or July, before the entrance of Soviet Russia into the [Pacific]
war and the use of the atomic bomb, the world would have been the gainer."
Grew quoted in Barton Bernstein, ed.,The Atomic Bomb, pg. 29-32.
~~~JOHN McCLOY
(Assistant Sec. of War)
"I have always felt that if, in our ultimatum to the Japanese government
issued from Potsdam [in July 1945], we had referred to the retention of
the emperor as a constitutional monarch and had made some reference to
the reasonable accessibility of raw materials to the future Japanese
government, it would have been accepted. Indeed, I believe that even in
the form it was delivered, there was some disposition on the part of the
Japanese to give it favorable consideration. When the war was over I
arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of Japanese
officials who had been closely associated with the decision of the then
Japanese government, to reject the ultimatum, as it was presented. I
believe we missed the opportunity of effecting a Japanese surrender,
completely satisfactory to us, without the necessity of dropping the bombs."
McCloy quoted in James Reston, Deadline, pg. 500.
~~~RALPH BARD
(Under Sec. of the Navy)
On June 28, 1945, a memorandum written by Bard the previous day was
given to Sec. of War Henry Stimson. It stated, in part:
"Following the three-power [July 1945 Potsdam] conference emissaries
from this country could contact representatives from Japan somewhere on
the China Coast and make representations with regard to Russia's
position [they were about to declare war on Japan] and at the same time
give them some information regarding the proposed use of atomic power,
together with whatever assurances the President might care to make with
regard to the [retention of the] Emperor of Japan and the treatment of
the Japanese nation following unconditional surrender. It seems quite
possible to me that this presents the opportunity which the Japanese are
looking for.
"I don't see that we have anything in particular to lose in following
such a program." He concluded the memorandum by noting, "The only way to
find out is to try it out."
Memorandum on the Use of S-1 Bomb, Manhattan Engineer District Records,
Harrison-Bundy files, folder # 77, National Archives (also contained in:
Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed, 1987 edition, pg. 307-308).
Later Bard related, "...it definitely seemed to me that the Japanese
were becoming weaker and weaker. They were surrounded by the Navy. They
couldn't get any imports and they couldn't export anything. Naturally,
as time went on and the war developed in our favor it was quite logical
to hope and expect that with the proper kind of a warning the Japanese
would then be in a position to make peace, which would have made it
unnecessary for us to drop the bomb and have had to bring Russia in...".
quoted in Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed, The Decision To Drop the Bomb,
pg. 144-145, 324.
Bard also asserted, "I think that the Japanese were ready for peace, and
they already had approached the Russians and, I think, the Swiss. And
that suggestion of [giving] a warning [of the atomic bomb] was a
face-saving proposition for them, and one that they could have readily
accepted." He continued, "In my opinion, the Japanese war was really won
before we ever used the atom bomb. Thus, it wouldn't have been necessary
for us to disclose our nuclear position and stimulate the Russians to
develop the same thing much more rapidly than they would have if we had
not dropped the bomb."
War Was Really Won Before We Used A-Bomb, U.S. News and World Report,
8/15/60, pg. 73-75.
~~~LEWIS STRAUSS
(Special Assistant to the Sec. of the Navy)
Strauss recalled a recommendation he gave to Sec. of the Navy James
Forrestal before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima:
"I proposed to Secretary Forrestal that the weapon should be
demonstrated before it was used. Primarily it was because it was clear
to a number of people, myself among them, that the war was very nearly
over. The Japanese were nearly ready to capitulate... My proposal to the
Secretary was that the weapon should be demonstrated over some area
accessible to Japanese observers and where its effects would be
dramatic. I remember suggesting that a satisfactory place for such a
demonstration would be a large forest of cryptomeria trees not far from
Tokyo. The cryptomeria tree is the Japanese version of our redwood... I
anticipated that a bomb detonated at a suitable height above such a
forest... would lay the trees out in windrows from the center of the
explosion in all directions as though they were matchsticks, and, of
course, set them afire in the center. It seemed to me that a
demonstration of this sort would prove to the Japanese that we could
destroy any of their cities at will... Secretary Forrestal agreed
wholeheartedly with the recommendation..."
Strauss added, "It seemed to me that such a weapon was not necessary to
bring the war to a successful conclusion, that once used it would find
its way into the armaments of the world...".
quoted in Len Giovannitti and Fred Freed, The Decision To Drop the Bomb,
pg. 145, 325.
~~~PAUL NITZE
(Vice Chairman, U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey)
In 1950 Nitze would recommend a massive military buildup, and in the
1980s he was an arms control negotiator in the Reagan administration. In
July of 1945 he was assigned the task of writing a strategy for the air
attack on Japan. Nitze later wrote:
"The plan I devised was essentially this: Japan was already isolated
from the standpoint of ocean shipping. The only remaining means of
transportation were the rail network and intercoastal shipping, though
our submarines and mines were rapidly eliminating the latter as well. A
concentrated air attack on the essential lines of transportation,
including railroads and (through the use of the earliest accurately
targetable glide bombs, then emerging from development) the Kammon
tunnels which connected Honshu with Kyushu, would isolate the Japanese
home islands from one another and fragment the enemy's base of
operations. I believed that interdiction of the lines of transportation
would be sufficiently effective so that additional bombing of urban
industrial areas would not be necessary.
"While I was working on the new plan of air attack... [I] concluded that
even without the atomic bomb, Japan was likely to surrender in a matter
of months. My own view was that Japan would capitulate by November 1945."
Paul Nitze, From Hiroshima to Glasnost, pg. 36-37 (my emphasis)
The U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey group, assigned by President Truman to
study the air attacks on Japan, produced a report in July of 1946 that
was primarily written by Nitze and reflected his reasoning:
"Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the
testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's
opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability
prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the
atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the
war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."
quoted in Barton Bernstein, The Atomic Bomb, pg. 52-56.
In his memoir, written in 1989, Nitze repeated,
"Even without the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it seemed highly
unlikely, given what we found to have been the mood of the Japanese
government, that a U.S. invasion of the islands [scheduled for November
1, 1945] would have been necessary."
Paul Nitze, From Hiroshima to Glasnost, pg. 44-45.
~~~ALBERT EINSTEIN
Einstein was not directly involved in the Manhattan Project (which
developed the atomic bomb). In 1905, as part of his Special Theory of
Relativity, he made the intriguing point that a relatively large amount
of energy was contained in and could be released from a relatively small
amount of matter. This became best known by the equation E=mc2. The
atomic bomb was not based upon this theory but clearly illustrated it.
In 1939 Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt that was drafted
by the scientist Leo Szilard. Received by FDR in October of that year,
the letter from Einstein called for and sparked the beginning of U.S.
government support for a program to build an atomic bomb, lest the Nazis
build one first.
Einstein did not speak publicly on the atomic bombing of Japan until a
year afterward. A short article on the front page of the New York Times
contained his view:
"Prof. Albert Einstein... said that he was sure that President Roosevelt
would have forbidden the atomic bombing of Hiroshima had he been alive
and that it was probably carried out to end the Pacific war before
Russia could participate."
Einstein Deplores Use of Atom Bomb, New York Times, 8/19/46, pg. 1.
Regarding the 1939 letter to Roosevelt, his biographer, Ronald Clark,
has noted:
"As far as his own life was concerned, one thing seemed quite clear. 'I
made one great mistake in my life,' he said to Linus Pauling, who spent
an hour with him on the morning of November 11, 1954, '...when I signed
the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made;
but there was some justification - the danger that the Germans would
make them.'".
Ronald Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times, pg. 620.
~~~LEO SZILARD
(The first scientist to conceive of how an atomic bomb might be made - 1933)
For many scientists, one motivation for developing the atomic bomb was
to make sure Germany, well known for its scientific capabilities, did
not get it first. This was true for Szilard, a Manhattan Project scientist.
"In the spring of '45 it was clear that the war against Germany would
soon end, and so I began to ask myself, 'What is the purpose of
continuing the development of the bomb, and how would the bomb be used
if the war with Japan has not ended by the time we have the first bombs?".
Szilard quoted in Spencer Weart and Gertrud Weiss Szilard, ed., Leo
Szilard: His Version of the Facts, pg. 181.
After Germany surrendered, Szilard attempted to meet with President
Truman. Instead, he was given an appointment with Truman's Sec. of State
to be, James Byrnes. In that meeting of May 28, 1945, Szilard told
Byrnes that the atomic bomb should not be used on Japan. Szilard
recommended, instead, coming to an international agreement on the
control of atomic weapons before shocking other nations by their use:
"I thought that it would be a mistake to disclose the existence of the
bomb to the world before the government had made up its mind about how
to handle the situation after the war. Using the bomb certainly would
disclose that the bomb existed." According to Szilard, Byrnes was not
interested in international control: "Byrnes... was concerned about
Russia's postwar behavior. Russian troops had moved into Hungary and
Rumania, and Byrnes thought it would be very difficult to persuade
Russia to withdraw her troops from these countries, that Russia might be
more manageable if impressed by American military might, and that a
demonstration of the bomb might impress Russia." Szilard could see that
he wasn't getting though to Byrnes; "I was concerned at this point that
by demonstrating the bomb and using it in the war against Japan, we
might start an atomic arms race between America and Russia which might
end with the destruction of both countries.".
Szilard quoted in Spencer Weart and Gertrud Weiss Szilard, ed., Leo
Szilard: His Version of the Facts, pg. 184.
Two days later, Szilard met with J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head
scientist in the Manhattan Project. "I told Oppenheimer that I thought
it would be a very serious mistake to use the bomb against the cities of
Japan. Oppenheimer didn't share my view." "'Well, said Oppenheimer,
'don't you think that if we tell the Russians what we intend to do and
then use the bomb in Japan, the Russians will understand it?'. 'They'll
understand it only too well,' Szilard replied, no doubt with Byrnes's
intentions in mind."
Szilard quoted in Spencer Weart and Gertrud Weiss Szilard, ed., Leo
Szilard: His Version of the Facts, pg. 185; also William Lanouette,
Genius In the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, pg. 266-267.
~~~THE FRANCK REPORT: POLITICAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS
The race for the atomic bomb ended with the May 1945 surrender of
Germany, the only other power capable of creating an atomic bomb in the
near future. This led some Manhattan Project scientists in Chicago to
become among the first to consider the long-term consequences of using
the atomic bomb against Japan in World War II. Their report came to be
known as the Franck Report, and included major contributions from Leo
Szilard (referred to above). Although an attempt was made to give the
report to Sec. of War Henry Stimson, it is unclear as to whether he ever
received it.
International control of nuclear weapons for the prevention of a larger
nuclear war was the report's primary concern:
"If we consider international agreement on total prevention of nuclear
warfare as the paramount objective, and believe that it can be achieved,
this kind of introduction of atomic weapons [on Japan] to the world may
easily destroy all our chances of success. Russia... will be deeply
shocked. It will be very difficult to persuade the world that a nation
which was capable of secretly preparing and suddenly releasing a weapon,
as indiscriminate as the rocket bomb and a thousand times more
destructive, is to be trusted in its proclaimed desire of having such
weapons abolished by international agreement.".
The Franck Committee, which could not know that the Japanese government
would approach Russia in July to try to end the war, compared the
short-term possible saving of lives by using the bomb on Japan with the
long-term possible massive loss of lives in a nuclear war:
"...looking forward to an international agreement on prevention of
nuclear warfare - the military advantages and the saving of American
lives, achieved by the sudden use of atomic bombs against Japan, may be
outweighed by the ensuing loss of confidence and wave of horror and
repulsion, sweeping over the rest of the world...".
The report questioned the ability of destroying Japanese cities with
atomic bombs to bring surrender when destroying Japanese cities with
conventional bombs had not done so. It recommended a demonstration of
the atomic bomb for Japan in an unpopulated area. Facing the long-term
consequences with Russia, the report stated prophetically:
"If no international agreement is concluded immediately after the first
demonstration, this will mean a flying start of an unlimited armaments
race.".
The report pointed out that the United States, with its highly
concentrated urban areas, would become a prime target for nuclear
weapons and concluded:
"We believe that these considerations make the use of nuclear bombs for
an early, unannounced attack against Japan inadvisable. If the United
States would be the first to release this new means of indiscriminate
destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public support throughout
the world, precipitate the race of armaments, and prejudice the
possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control
of such weapons.".
Political and Social Problems, Manhattan Engineer District Records,
Harrison-Bundy files, folder # 76, National Archives (also contained in:
Martin Sherwin, A World Destroyed, 1987 edition, pg. 323-333).
~~~ELLIS ZACHARIAS
(Deputy Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence)
Based on a series of intelligence reports received in late 1944,
Zacharias, long a student of Japan's people and culture, believed the
Japan would soon be ripe for surrender if the proper approach were
taken. For him, that approach was not as simple as bludgeoning Japanese
cities:
"...while Allied leaders were immediately inclined to support all
innovations however bold and novel in the strictly military sphere, they
frowned upon similar innovations in the sphere of diplomatic and
psychological warfare."
Ellis Zacharias, The A-Bomb Was Not Needed, United Nations World, Aug.
1949, pg. 29.
Zacharias saw that there were diplomatic and religious (the status of
the Emperor) elements that blocked the doves in Japan's government from
making their move:
"What prevented them from suing for peace or from bringing their plot
into the open was their uncertainty on two scores. First, they wanted to
know the meaning of unconditional surrender and the fate we planned for
Japan after defeat. Second, they tried to obtain from us assurances that
the Emperor could remain on the throne after surrender."
Ellis Zacharias, Eighteen Words That Bagged Japan, Saturday Evening
Post, 11/17/45, pg. 17.
To resolve these issues, Zacharias developed several plans for secret
negotiations with Japanese representatives; all were rejected by the
U.S. government. Instead, a series of psychological warfare radio
broadcasts by Zacharias was later approved. In the July 21, 1945
broadcast, Zacharias made an offer to Japan that stirred controversy in
the U.S.: a surrender based on the Atlantic Charter. On July 25th, the
U.S. intercepted a secret transmission from Japan's Foreign Minister
(Togo) to their Ambassador to Moscow (Sato), who was trying to set up a
meeting with the Soviets to negotiate an end to the war. The message
referred to the Zacharias broadcast and stated:
"...special attention should be paid to the fact that at this time the
United States referred to the Atlantic Charter. As for Japan, it is
impossible to accept unconditional surrender under any circumstances,
but we should like to communicate to the other party through appropriate
channels that we have no objection to a peace based on the Atlantic
Charter."
U.S. Dept. of State, Foreign Relations of the United States: Conference
of Berlin (Potsdam) 1945, vol. 2, pg. 1260-1261.
But on July 26th, the U.S., Great Britain, and China publicly issued the
Potsdam Proclamation demanding "unconditional surrender" from Japan.
Zacharias later commented on the favorable Japanese response to his
broadcast:
"But though we gained a victory, it was soon to be canceled out by the
Potsdam Declaration and the way it was handled.
"Instead of being a diplomatic instrument, transmitted through regular
diplomatic channels and giving the Japanese a chance to answer, it was
put on the radio as a propaganda instrument pure and simple. The whole
maneuver, in fact, completely disregarded all essential psychological
factors dealing with Japan."
Zacharias continued, "The Potsdam Declaration, in short, wrecked
everything we had been working for to prevent further bloodshed...
"Just when the Japanese were ready to capitulate, we went ahead and
introduced to the world the most devastating weapon it had ever seen
and, in effect, gave the go-ahead to Russia to swarm over Eastern Asia.
"Washington decided that Japan had been given its chance and now it was
time to use the A-bomb.
"I submit that it was the wrong decision. It was wrong on strategic
grounds. And it was wrong on humanitarian grounds."
Ellis Zacharias, How We Bungled the Japanese Surrender, Look, 6/6/50,
pg. 19-21.
~~~GENERAL CARL "TOOEY" SPAATZ
(In charge of Air Force operations in the Pacific)
General Spaatz was the person who received the order for the Air Force
to "deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual
bombing after about 3 August 1945..."(Leslie Groves, Now It Can Be Told,
pg. 308). In a 1964 interview, Spaatz explained:
"The dropping of the atomic bomb was done by a military man under
military orders. We're supposed to carry out orders and not question them."
In the same interview, Spaatz referred to the Japanese military's plan
to get better peace terms, and he gave an alternative to the atomic
bombings:
"If we were to go ahead with the plans for a conventional invasion with
ground and naval forces, I believe the Japanese thought that they could
inflict very heavy casualties on us and possibly as a result get better
surrender terms. On the other hand if they knew or were told that no
invasion would take place [and] that bombing would continue until the
surrender, why I think the surrender would have taken place just about
the same time." (Herbert Feis Papers, Box 103, N.B.C. Interviews, Carl
Spaatz interview by Len Giovannitti, Library of Congress).
~~~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.
