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What was the purpose of dropping the atomic bombs in Japan?
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:26 am
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:26 am
The Japanese were pushing their eventual surrender terms prior to the dropping of the bombs. Before Nagasaki and Hiroshima it appeared the sticking point was that Japan wanted to retain The Emperor, but after the bombs dropped the US agreed to let him retain his seat anyway.
I've seen it said that the idea was to lead Japan to be more fearful of America than the closely approaching USSR, but the US had already destroyed 60+ Japanese cities through air campaigns.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
William Leahy, Truman's Chief of Staff in July 1945
Leahy in 1950
Major General Curtis Lemay
Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Fleet
Richard Nixon on MacArthur
So why did we use it with such overwhelming military hesitation. Truman didn't consult with any of these individuals. Why didn't he?
I've seen it said that the idea was to lead Japan to be more fearful of America than the closely approaching USSR, but the US had already destroyed 60+ Japanese cities through air campaigns.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
quote:
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
William Leahy, Truman's Chief of Staff in July 1945
quote:
It is my opinion that at the present time a surrender of Japan can be arranged with terms that can be accepted by Japan and that will make fully satisfactory provision for America’s defense against future trans-Pacific aggression
quote:
It is my opinion that at the present time a surrender of Japan can be arranged with terms that can be accepted by Japan and that will make fully satisfactory provision for America’s defense against future trans-Pacific aggression
Leahy in 1950
quote:
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….My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we had adopted 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
Major General Curtis Lemay
quote:
The war would have been over in two weeks without the Russians entering and without the atomic bomb…the atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all
Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Fleet
quote:
The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima and before the Russian entry into the war. The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan
Richard Nixon on MacArthur
quote:
MacArthur once spoke to me very eloquently about it, pacing the floor of his apartment in the Waldorf. He thought it a tragedy that the bomb was ever exploded. MacArthur believed that the same restrictions ought to apply to atomic weapons as to conventional weapons, that the military objective should always be limited damage to noncombatants…MacArthur, you see, was a soldier. He believed in using force only against military targets, and that is why the nuclear thing turned him off
So why did we use it with such overwhelming military hesitation. Truman didn't consult with any of these individuals. Why didn't he?
This post was edited on 2/26/17 at 9:27 am
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:28 am to joshnorris14
Easy we had the foresight to know we had to check Russia and put them in their place.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:28 am to joshnorris14
I was under the assumption they were dug in for the long haul. The bomb saved probably 100k US soldiers.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:29 am to joshnorris14
If they were so ready to surrender, why didn't the do it immediately after Hiroshima?
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:30 am to OleWarSkuleAlum
quote:
Easy we had the foresight to know we had to check Russia and put them in their place.
If this is true, it's pretty horrifying, but why drop two bombs? Did Truman think Stalin didn't get the news of the first bomb?
Also, we didn't have much foresight considering the Russian spies were copying the Manhattan Project so Stalin already knew what we were capable of.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:30 am to Wild Thang
quote:
I was under the assumption they were dug in for the long haul. The bomb saved probably 100k US soldiers
This is factually incorrect. They were trying to surrender
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:31 am to KosmoCramer
quote:
If they were so ready to surrender, why didn't the do it immediately after Hiroshima?
As you read in the OP, they already sued to surrender.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:31 am to joshnorris14
quote:
The war would have been over in two weeks
If I were a nineteen year old American fighting in the pacific I would tell Curtis Lemay what he could do with his two weeks.
This post was edited on 2/26/17 at 9:32 am
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:32 am to joshnorris14
quote:
What was the purpose of dropping the atomic bombs in Japan?
The purpose was to provide a subject for a multi page thread every few months.
Russians like now is the reason.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:33 am to joshnorris14
We didn't put all of that money and scientific effort into that stuff just to tell people we could use it, brah
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:33 am to joshnorris14
Check out present day Hiroshima and Nagasaki and compare it to present day Detroit, MI looks like after 50 years of democrat leadership.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:33 am to Erin Go Bragh
quote:
If I were a nineteen year old American fighting in the pacific I would tell Curtis Lemay what he could do with his two weeks.
Why? They were already trying to surrender. The US wouldn't agree to the same terms they agreed to after the bombs.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:34 am to joshnorris14
Someone had to show the world what the bomb truly means. I don't like it, but the bombing probably saved lives in the long run and established the us as the nation willing to go all in.
The frustrating part was how Truman turned into a giant pussy afterward as the reds were pushing through China and North Korea. We still lost the vast majority of Asia to the communists.
The frustrating part was how Truman turned into a giant pussy afterward as the reds were pushing through China and North Korea. We still lost the vast majority of Asia to the communists.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:34 am to Jbird
quote:
The purpose was to provide a subject for a multi page thread every few months.
It's not talked about enough if people still use 'to prevent us from a land invasion,'
This post was edited on 2/26/17 at 9:37 am
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:35 am to joshnorris14
What was the point of Dresden?
Germany was defeated. The Allies dropped 4,000 tons of explosives using 1,000 bombers.
Germany was defeated. The Allies dropped 4,000 tons of explosives using 1,000 bombers.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:36 am to mizzoubuckeyeiowa
quote:
What was the point of Dresden?
Did Dresden cause multi-generational genetic mutilation?
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:37 am to joshnorris14
quote:Ok, crap the dog lover Rex had at least 3-4 threads on this very subject.
It's not talked about enough
Meh, we had it, used it to send a message to Russia, game over.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:38 am to Jbird
But, we didn't send a message to Russia. The Russian spies in the State Department sent the message to Russia long before.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:40 am to joshnorris14
quote:
But, we didn't send a message to Russia. The Russian spies in the State Department sent the message to Russia long before.
Let's just say that's true as you claim (it's not) we showed them not only do we have the capability, but the stomach to use it as well.
Posted on 2/26/17 at 9:41 am to joshnorris14
They were demonstrations aimed at the Soviets.
They were both dropped on places that had not been bombed so that the devastation of the Bomb could accurately be seen by the Soviets.
I believe that Gen Groves,who was in charge of the Manhattan Project,stated that from the very start,in his mind,the Soviets were our enemy,and thus,the ones our Bombs would ultimately be pointed at.
jmho..
They were both dropped on places that had not been bombed so that the devastation of the Bomb could accurately be seen by the Soviets.
I believe that Gen Groves,who was in charge of the Manhattan Project,stated that from the very start,in his mind,the Soviets were our enemy,and thus,the ones our Bombs would ultimately be pointed at.
jmho..
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