We dropped two A-bombs on Japan instead of invading the home islands. Was this just war or racism?
War. I'm sorry that we did it and killed so many civilians, but the loss of life from an invasion would have been even worse. I think it is a tribute to humanity, and to organizations like NATO, the UN, etc. that we haven't used a nuclear weapon in 75 years despite the proliferation of the devices.
We dropped two A-bombs on Japan instead of invading the home islands. Was this just war or racism?
I wasn't quite in my mom's tummy when those two bombs were dropped.
Just missed it by a tiny bit.
And my not having gone through what the world was going through then, Truman's decision is not one upon which I can easily make judgement.
We're the only nation in the world to have used nuclear weapons in war and everybody knows it.
We were fighting Europeans and Asians, and we dropped the bombs on the Asians.
Everybody knows that as well.
Whether it was racist or not is something that may be argued forever.
Don't you have anything better to do than ask to be humiliated -- again?
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Americans in general were racist towards Japanese.
I think the bombing was immoral and inhumane.
But without the luxury of hindsight, it can be plausibly also be claimed to have been strategically warranted.
It is possible to believe all these things at the same time, without them being mutually exclusive..
There was little stomach to invade the Japanese home islands. Few Americans realize that the Soviet Army, fresh off their destruction of the Japanese Kwangtung Army in Manchuria, had battle plans to invade and occupy the northern Japanese home island of Hokkaido. That is one reason Truman was keen to coerce Japan into immediate surrender and compel them to submit to American military occupation.
There is no question in my mind that the Soviets would have set up a communist client state in a "People's Republic of Hokkaido", and giving the USSR a key strategic foothold in the north Pacific.
The Japanese were warned in the Pottsdam statement to either surrender or face utter destruction. That was obviously veiled language for a nuclear attack. In an ideal world, I wish the veiled threat we made could have been made more tangible to the Japanese before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima
I believe it was barbaric. The Japanese army was defeated. It was not necessary to kill innocent citizens.
We dropped two A-bombs on Japan instead of invading the home islands. Was this just war or racism?
We're the only nation in the world to have used nuclear weapons in war and everybody knows it.
We were fighting Europeans and Asians, and we dropped the bombs on the Asians.
Everybody knows that as well.
Whether it was racist or not is something that may be argued forever.
It debatable whether the war would have drug on, I guess that is the debate that will continue on this issue.My dad was a bit player as a scientist working on the Manhattan Project. I asked him years later if he felt guilty about that. He said maybe a bit, but it was war and the thinking was that if we didn't do it the war would have dragged on much longer. Then he asked me why I thought that he gave me John Hersey's Hiroshima when I was eight years old.
I believe it was barbaric. The Japanese army was defeated. It was not necessary to kill innocent citizens.
I wasn't quite in my mom's tummy when those two bombs were dropped.
Just missed it by a tiny bit.
And my not having gone through what the world was going through then, Truman's decision is not one upon which I can easily make judgement.
We're the only nation in the world to have used nuclear weapons in war and everybody knows it.
We were fighting Europeans and Asians, and we dropped the bombs on the Asians.
Everybody knows that as well.
Whether it was racist or not is something that may be argued forever.
I believe it was barbaric. The Japanese army was defeated. It was not necessary to kill innocent citizens.
We did horrendous damage and horrific casualty counts in Germany as well. Over 25,000 killed in the Dresden fire bombings, and almost that many in Hamburg. I think the decision to use the devices on Japan was not based on racism as much as it was practicality. Japan was the hold-out; Germany had been crushed months before, and Italy wasn't much of a player either.