Remembering Hiroshima

This is huge and complex subject. One i've debated with people (including history teachers) since i was in Middle school and more than once on social media on different sites.

What many forget is that those who survived had health issues from the radiation for pretty much the rest of their lives however long that was, and as recently as 2017 (so likely still) there are health consequences in new generations descended from survivors. Our scientists and top brass KNEW the potential for radiation illness and should have known the potential for genetic defects. I know because i've read of the precautions they took when top brass witnessed 'tests', precautions not universally extend to enlisted men who often went in to assess damage and retrieve debris for testing, after the blasts. Agent Orange was not the first instance of a US weapon harming our own service people that the government tried to hide from citizens.

As for the much touted argument that it ended the war sooner, thus 'saving more lives on both sides', i'm not sure i believe that. Certainly fewer American/Allied forces died due to the quick end afterward, but the Japanese? i don't think so. There were 70 people 'known' to have survived tho close enough to be effected by both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts. The Japanese government officially recognizes only Yamaguchi Tsutomu, and that only after he became outspoken about the horrors of Nuclear weapons. While he lived to age 94, he was plagued by radiation related illnesses (he had gone bald from radiation sickness immediately after the bombings) later in his life. i sometimes wish someone would fund a study to track down and enumerate the long term effects on his descendants and those of other survivors. Much more relevant to a world where those weapons keep evolving and sooner a later some fool will use them again than some of the studies that get funding.


Then there's the whole issue of whether we should do something just because we can. Nuclear weapons in hands of most human governments is like giving a toddler a loaded gun---not smart. But then while much of humanity thinks of people as the pinnacle of evolution--we seem to the species that is the biggest threat to our own survival, not to mention the threat we pose to the planet and everything else on it.
 

Right or wrong, there's no denying that it happened and history was forever changed. Time will tell if we've learned from history or if we are doomed to repeat it. So far, so good but it's a precarious balance.
 
This has haunted me my whole life. Everyone I've asked, who were adult at the time, told me it was necessary and ended the war.
In fact, They were COMEPLETELY for it! "The best thing that could have happened!"
But, I see it from both sides, all sides, and it shakes my soul!
Wouldn't it have been horrible to have been the President at that time and have had to make that decision?
 
This was not an easy decision for Pres. Truman and he was haunted by it for the rest of his life. However, he listened to his generals and admirals who advised him that over a million or more lives would be lost if we did not use the bomb. Not a decision I would have wanted to make and right or wrong, we cannot change the course of history. It pains me when I hear today's generations shout quite without thought, "nuke 'em." Has no one taught them history?
 
Gaer said:
This has haunted me my whole life. Everyone I've asked, who were adult at the time, told me it was necessary and ended the war.
In fact, They were COMEPLETELY for it! "The best thing that could have happened!"
But, I see it from both sides, all sides, and it shakes my soul!
Wouldn't it have been horrible to have been the President at that time and have had to make that decision?
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i wish they had a hug emoji as a reaction option.đź’” i totally get how you feel.

There have folks that wanted us to use 'it' in later conflicts. Thankfully they have not prevailed so far.

The long term costs too high IMO.

i think it is the only decision or thing about Pres. Truman that i disagreed, disapproved of--tho i respect him because he took full responsibility for that and i suspect it weighed on him when the long term effects became more widely known.
 
feywon said:
Hopefully not, but....i often feel it's a race between slower methods of killing ourselves (intra species violence, polluting of air, water and soil) and our predilection for war leading us into that decision again.
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Our idiocy is a given. The method used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a shame to our species...
 
Anyone read "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain?
BTW: Many American History classes in high schools throughout the United States are cancelled this year.
 
It must have been a many nuanced decision with a lot of unknowns at the time. By 1945 most of Japan's navy and airforce were destroyed but whether intelligence gathering knew the extent is difficult to pin point. Army was heavily involved in china since 1937 with the bulk of its forces. From my limited reading it was militarily a question of how effective the local population on the home islands would be in fighting any invasion.

Tons of politics involved in the decision. Did people feel the need to justify the unheard of billions spent on the Manhattan project? Was it a message to Stalin? Or Mao?

It seems the one certainty is the use of nuclear weapons is an awful thing. As much as the use of agent orange, napalm or the deliberate fire bombing in Dresden or Hamburg. War is a horrible thing nowadays with the technolgy. If two countries get to that point the main politicians on each side should climb into a suit of armour and thrash it out with swords
 
Gaer said:
Anyone read "The War Prayer" by Mark Twain?
BTW: Many American History classes in high schools throughout the United States are cancelled this year.
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Long ago, just refreshed my memory.

When 9/11 happened my Navy son was on his way to 'routine deployment in the Persian Gulf. (i am very grateful for the technology that afforded us more frequent contact than snail mail would have). On of my older sisters called me worried about him. Asked me to tell him she was praying for him. His response: Tell her i'd rather she pray for all the leaders involved to stop and think and for all the rank and file on both sides. One of my proudest moments as a parent. Both my sons are more Dogma oriented than i am (his twin was actually on his Mormon 'mission' in Tennessee having committed to that church at age 24), but i knew what i tried to teach them had an impact when they said things like that.
 
I wish I knew what was inside Truman's mind at that time. I for one do not think FDR would have authorized the bomb.

Still, you can't murder tens of thousands who had no involvement in the War. Killing in War is permitted by International law, but babies and children were killed. There were other alternatives.

So they did not surrender after Hiroshima. So thousands more were killed at Nagasaki. What if Japan did not surrender then? We keep dropping bombs until the Island sinks into the sea?
 
War is now being planned in the minds of men, and not only nuclear weapons.
People don't even know the POWER of the thoughts they send out into the atmosphere!
It's IMPARATIVE mankind lift the quality of their thoughts here on Earth!

Ohio boy? If you were Truman at the time, what decision would you have made?
 
Gaer said:
Ohio boy? If you were Truman at the time, what decision would you have made?
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NO way I would have dropped a bomb. If one believes in heaven and hell, come judgment day there is no chance would I have wanted to answer for that?

Was it murder or justifiable homicide?
 
If Japan had that horrendous bomb, they would have used it. If Germany...........same thing, and they in particular were real close to achieving it. War is Hell. Killing civilians is a given. Only young children are innocent. They are the ones I grieve.
 
Pepper said:
If Japan had that horrendous bomb, they would have used it. If Germany...........same thing, and they in particular were real close to achieving it. War is Hell. Killing civilians is a given. Only young children are innocent. They are the ones I grieve.
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Oh, you can bet if Japan or Germany had the bomb, that would have been the end of the world.
 
Chet said:
It was necessary. Island hopping toward Japan was a costly blood bath and the American public was sick of loosing their sons and fathers. A land invasion of Japan would have prolonged it.
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The Japanese army was absolutely merciless. The atrocities they committed and their complete disregard for human life; men, women, and children; is equal only to the Nazi's (in recent history, that is). They were hell-bent on building an Empire by destroying everything in their path, and they were unstoppable until Aug 6, 1945.

The grotesque, disturbing photos I've seen of what they did to families, to women and babies, to the elderly, and to American soldiers are indelibly stuck in my brain. My dad served in the Pacific and I'm still haunted by the stories he told me.

I hated the Japanese for a long time. I'm over it, and I'm really glad that the US and Japan are now allies and friends.
And, btw; Cheers to Japan for sticking up for Taiwan at the Olympics!
 

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