Does that change the possibility that in private a less hyperbolic calculation was being made?Sure he said that. But was that what happened? .....Yes, who said they didn't? ...... The only thing you can do is try to end it as quickly and painlessly as possible. ......
Wouldn't that approach suggest that any possible surrender of your enemy earlier in the war at least be explored thoroughly?
fdr
Yes, that's what happened. Prior to departing for the Yalta Conference, fdr received a 40-page communique from MacArthur outlining no fewer than five separate overtures to surrender that he had received through various channels. fdr rejected the very notion out of hand, proclaiming MacArthur "our greatest general, but our worst politician." The war was serving fdr's political interests just fine, and he had no intention of stopping until he had a chance to try out his new toy by slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians. If tens of thousands more American servicemen died in the meantime, he was evidently willing to accept that.