The USA's Great Proud Just History.

elektra

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Dec 1, 2013
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Much is said that portrays a false, negative, picture of our great history. In time I will present some facts, some history that we are proud of.

75th Anniversary of the End of World War II
August 9th, 1945
The second Atomic bomb is dropped on Japan bringing about the almost immediate surrender and the end of the war.

As in all we do, even if one can somehow point out something negative, there is a silver lining or a great aspect to our actions in our history. We can be proud that we dropped the bombs.

"In war, as in a boxing match, it is seldom sound for the stronger combatant to moderate his blows whenever his opponent shows signs of weakening. To Stimson, at least, the only road to early victory was to exert maximum fource with maximum speed. It was not the American responsibility to throw in the sponge for the Japanese; that was the one thing they must do for themselves." On Active Service In Peace and War, pg 629

Moderating our blows, lessening our offensive, at the least would cost us more American lives. At the worst who knows.
 
I am presenting facts from Stimson's (secretary of war) Harpers magazine article explaining the use of the bombs. There is a link to download the entire article. It is lengthy.

Furthermore, if we should be the first to develop the weapon, we should have a great new instrument for shortening the war and minimizing destruction. At no time, from 1941 to 1945, did I ever hear it suggested by the President, or by any other responsible member of the government, that atomic energy should not be used in war.

On June 1, after its discussions with the Scientific Panel, the Interim Committee unanimously adopted the following recommendations:
(1) The bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible.
(2) It should be used on a dual target plant surrounded by or adjacent to houses and other buildings most susceptible to damage, and
(3) It should be used without prior warning [of the nature of the weapon]. One member of the
committee, Mr. Bard, later changed his view and dissented from recommendation.
 
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Two great nations were approaching contact in a fight to a finish which would begin on November 1,
1945. Our enemy, Japan, commanded forces of somewhat over 5,000,000 men. Men of these armies had already inflicted upon us, in our breakthrough of the outer perimeter of their defenses, over 300,000 battle casualties. Enemy armies still unbeaten had the strength to cost us a million more. As long as the Japanese government refused to surrender, we should be forced to take and hold the ground, and smash the Japanese ground armies, by close-in fighting of the same desperate and costly kind that we had faced in the Pacific islands for nearly four years.
 
July 26th, 1945 Japan is warned that surrender is their only choice, otherwise they will be completely destroyed. Japan ignored the warning. Part of the Potsdam Declaration follows.

We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.
 
Here is something both sides of the destruction of Japan argument forget or do not know. We warned the Japanese to surrender and to evacuate their cities. Leaflets warning of bombing to come. Leaflets showing the Potsdam declaration warning to surrender or face complete destruction. There was also radio broadcasts stating the same.

After securing the island, US forces remained on Saipan, guarding Japanese prisoners of war, constructing a huge airbase, staging bombing runs, and supporting the civilian OWI psychological warfare effort. From Saipan, OWI bombarded Japan with radio messages through its 50,000-watt standard-wave station on Saipan, Radio KSAI. The station also picked up 100,000-watt shortwave transmissions from the OWI station in Honolulu and relayed them to Japan. Japanese language broadcasts consisted of news on the status of the war, bombing warnings, and messages from Japanese prisoners of war on Saipan urging surrender. KSAI radio transmissions served many purposes: to Japan’s civilian government, they were a vital source of news, received at a time when the fanaticism of the Japanese militarists denied civilian leaders access to information about the status of the war; to hidden Japanese soldiers on occupied Pacific islands, they tempted surrender by promising fair treatment as prisoners of war; and to Allied flight crews, the around-the-clock OWI radio transmissions beamed home the B-29s, saving planes and lives.2


At the same time, newspapers and leaflets in the Japanese language were printed on Saipan. From there, Air Force B-29s flying at 20,000 feet dropped 500-pound M-16 fire bomb containers converted into leaflet casings. These opened at 4,000 feet to deploy millions of leaflets, effectively covering a whole Japanese city with information. In just the last three months of formal psychological warfare, OWIproduced and deployed over 63 million leaflets informing the Japanese people of the true status of the war and providing advance warning to35 cities targeted for destruction.3 Postwar surveys showed that the Japanese people trusted the accuracy of the leaflets and many residents of the targeted cities prepared immediately to leave their homes.
 
There are stories of Japanese children, sent into the mountains to escape the destruction of the cities.


Five short years. Yet in that time, much has changed. I began digging deeper into that war, visiting Hiroshima twice and gathering stories from those who were there.

Mushroom clouds of smoke can be seen filling the sky in two black and white images.

This week marks 75 years since the world's first two nuclear bombs were detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.(Wikipedia)
On one trip, I met a woman who was born in the same year as my dad, Kazuko san. She was spritely and healthy at 84 years old and had travelled two hours by train to meet me.

She, too, spent a few years in the mountains. She never wanted to forget and she was passionate about educating the next generations about evacuated children.

When I returned the following year to film a documentary, hoping to meet her again and get her story on camera, she was dead.

She had moved house, then gotten a mild cold, and that was it. The chance to look into the eyes of someone who had seen it, lived it, gone.
 
Two very important points can be made about the U.S. and history.
One is that the U.S. has done some seriously bad stuff around the world and acted too similarly to all the rest of the world's powers.
The other is what we see if we stand back and look at what the world would have gone through and what it would be like if Russia, Germany, China or Japan had had the place America had.
People might well thank their stars that it was U.S. and not THEM.
 
Much is said that portrays a false, negative, picture of our great history. In time I will present some facts, some history that we are proud of.

75th Anniversary of the End of World War II
August 9th, 1945
The second Atomic bomb is dropped on Japan bringing about the almost immediate surrender and the end of the war.

As in all we do, even if one can somehow point out something negative, there is a silver lining or a great aspect to our actions in our history. We can be proud that we dropped the bombs.

"In war, as in a boxing match, it is seldom sound for the stronger combatant to moderate his blows whenever his opponent shows signs of weakening. To Stimson, at least, the only road to early victory was to exert maximum fource with maximum speed. It was not the American responsibility to throw in the sponge for the Japanese; that was the one thing they must do for themselves." On Active Service In Peace and War, pg 629

Moderating our blows, lessening our offensive, at the least would cost us more American lives. At the worst who knows.
Nice post, thank you.
 
I am presenting facts from Stimson's (secretary of war) Harpers magazine article explaining the use of the bombs. There is a link to download the entire article. It is lengthy.

Furthermore, if we should be the first to develop the
weapon, we should have a great new instrument for shortening the war and minimizing destruction. At no
time, from 1941 to 1945, did I ever hear it suggested by the President, or by any other responsible
member of the government, that atomic energy should not be used in war.

On June 1, after its discussions with the Scientific Panel, the Interim Committee unanimously adopted
the following recommendations:
(1) The bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible.
(2) It should be used on a dual target plant surrounded by or adjacent to houses and other buildings
most susceptible to damage, and
(3) It should be used without prior warning [of the nature of the weapon]. One member of the
committee, Mr. Bard, later changed his view and dissented from recommendation.
Thanks for another fine post.
 
It cannot be serious to suggest a country would believe leaflets from an enemy.
Very true, but after the Dolittle raid on Tokyo, the months of bombing across the entire country of Japan, I am positive that the Japanese people took the leaflets very seriously. Sadly, the food was not up in the mountains where it was safe and there was the fear of arrest or murder if they fled, so many could not or would not heed the warnings.

But you can sleep easy at night, knowing, that after months of bombing, leaflets and warnings were taken seriously.
 
Japan today is a great nation. We can be proud of the future that we gave Japan. Speculating on what might of been, I think is a foolish argument. All we can do is look at Japan today and know that this was the best outcome of any scenario.
 
The atomic bombing of Japan was not necessary.
Your statement is very vague and without any context. You could of just as easily as stated that the United States of America should not of joined the War after Pearl Harbor was bombed.

"Declaring war against Japan was not necessary"
, that statement is just as true as yours.

"Defeating Hitler was not necessary", another statement as true as yours.
 

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