The big question is will Obama apologize for Truman dropping the bomb on Hiroshima or will he be able to keep his mouth shut over events that happened before he was born. Here's a couple of articles that address that and give good summaries IMHO of why the decision by Truman deserves praise not criticism. Wall Street Journal Article by a well regarded Notre Dame History Prof National Review Article on Obama/Hiroshima
We chose to drop the bomb on Hiroshima. Japan chose not to surrender and therefore was responsible for Nagasaki. And it was only because we told them Tokyo was next that they surrendered.
I personally believe his visit was designated to do just that, apologize for the American atrocity of dropping the bomb as its been what he has done now for 7 1/2 years. But his pattern is so predictable the pundits called him on it and he backed down... Nothing to apologize for, this is what ended the war...
Anyone who knows just a LITTLE bit about the Japanese during WWII and their fanatical will to die for their country/emperor has also seen the estimates of the costs to us if we conventionally invaded Japan. It was widely expected that allied casualties would run into the MILLIONS. Let that number sink in... It was a no-brainer to use the bomb.
It's been estimated that Nagasaki saved more than 6 million Japanese lives; not to mention another 400,000 Americans, Australians and others. It was U.S. Grant who said, "The soonest way to end the killing is to get the war over as soon as possible." He wasn't a great speaker or thinker, but he understood war...
Don't start nothin', won't be nothin.... They did it to themselves. BTW, the Japanese double crossed their 'allies' by not invading Russia during WWII. That move allowed Russia to consolidate their forces along a single front, wait for winter and to promote Zhukov to lead the counter attack. They bombed Pearl Harbor instead choosing the Southern Expansion Doctrine over the Northern Expansion Doctrine. The Japanese had a massive army presence that had struggled against Zhukov's forces along the Manchurian border. It was a more difficult path to be sure, but it would have been the wiser one. Had the Japanese kept the Russian forces split, it most likely would have only been a matter of time until the Germans took Moscow. (IMHO). This also would have put the ball in Roosevelt's hands because he still would not have had an excuse to join the war. Bombing Pearl Harbor enabled the US to join the war. In the short term, it consolidated the Russian forces against the Germans trapped in the harsh winter conditions and opened up a Western front led by the US and GB, which further strained/split German resources. Hitler was a shitty military commander, but he takes too much heat for the 2 front war. A good bit of blame lies at Hitler's feet for trusting the Japanese to honor the plan. Pearl Harbor was a great short term victory for Japan, but it set the table for a long, brutal loss for the Axis.
I just got back from a Baltic Cruise and 2 days in Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad). Amazed at how close the Germans got to the city. One of the most costly sieges in history in terms of both damage and casualties. Many of the areas we toured (Catherine Palace, Peterhof Park) were under control of the Germans. One of the reasons they didn't capture the city was that they didn't try. Occupying it would have meant responsibility for supplying the citizenry and all that would entail; the plan apparently was to starve and bombard the population...and then to raze it to the ground. The Finns helped out by occupying the northern lines but were not as aggressive as the Germans wanted. Jim, it amazes me that a country with Germany's population would even consider trying to conquer a country the size of Russia. To try and take Leningrad and Stalingrad and then Moscow seems crazy, especially when you have to occupy all the lands before you even get to Russia. I figure Berlin is 1100 miles from Moscow, 800 miles from Saint Petersburg, 1400 miles from Volgograd...then factor in 1000 miles from Saint Petersburg to Volgograd. I have no clue how to figure the square mileage but it's gotta be 500,000 or so. THEN you add in the western front, not to mention North Africa. What were they thinking? I wonder if the Third Reich had not bitten off more than they could chew what kind of world power could they have been? What would world history have been like if Hitler hadn't had such grandiose and impossible plans. Maybe it was a good thing that he was so ambitious, or the world would have had to deal with him and his successors for...how long? Worse yet...if he had remained allies with Russia instead of invading...what would the course of the war have been? Scary to think about the possibilities.
By June of 1940 the British had been driven into the sea at Dunkirk and the French has once again waived their white flag. There really wasn't any Western Front to concern Germany. A year later Hitler launched Operation Barbarosa which eventually met the same disastrous end that Napoleon invasion had suffered a century and a quarter earlier. Overstretched supply lines and the bitter cold Russian winter had once again defeated an invader. The Germans had far superior equipment and generalship but they hit the wall at Moscow and Stalingrad.
If not for the winter and the sticky mud that leads up to winter... If not for Japan bailing on their end of the deal... If not for the Western Front... Whenever I've studied this Operation, I often found myself second guessing and wondering why they didn't just adjust expectations while slowing it down to at least stages?! Despite all those things, it's amazing that they came 'this' close to pulling it off. But once winter hit and Georgy Zhukov was transferred over, they were done and didn't know it.
:idea: re: What were they thinking The one doing the thinking was a shell-shocked, mentally ill, Austrian corporal who lived as a homeless hobo for years, before trying politics as a police informer. He was aided by a heroin addict and a chicken farmer who had grand theories about race, religion and history. This motley crew gained national power over the other motley crews in a time of national desperation. Before we laugh, we had better take a long look at our own country in these times. Things have been going down hill for awhile now and our own people are getting desperate. Has anyone else noticed that BOTH major political parties have shattered? Bernie Sanders has won most of the Democratic primaries. So what's wrong with that? Uh...he's not a registered Democrat. He never even looked for a job until he was 40 years-old; then he went into politics, where he has NEVER submitted a single bill to become a law. He just draws his salary and goes home for 35 years now. In his first 40 years, he lived in a dirt-floor cabin out in the woods with no electricity or water...like the Uni-bomber. Compared to the others he almost seems sane. Hillary and her husband have been committing felonies for decades and using their Clinton Foundation to enrich themselves and their friends. Most of the millions of dollars in their bank accounts was accumulated AFTER Bill Clinton left office. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is such a circus clown that even normally sedate foreign press reports in places like Australia refer to him as simply "barking mad." Maybe the Germans just didn't know what to do and they did the best that they could.. Maybe they got so far down the slope that they couldn't stop, or go back. I hesitate to blame them and we had better find the brakes on our own sled before we do...
Thanks, Jim, for a very sane and objective analysis of our current political quandary. It certainly is a mess.
And then I remember how all the foreign press loved Obama when he became president and realize that they're the ones that are "barking mad."
it's a mad world we live in. There's a lot of blame to go around for it. At the global poker table, I see a lot of marks and the only guy who even looks like he knows how to hold his cards is Putin. The Obama Presidency has been a PR campaign at best. He's sold a lot of things, but there's very little substance. If he doesn't manage to close Gitmo, he'll have failed on all of his promises.
haha no dice. He did say he'd overhaul it for the better though. Had he left off that qualifier, he'd be doing great.