Eight decades ago today, the United States dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima, marking the beginning of the end of WWII and saving a million American soldiers’ lives.
Yes, the atom bombs absolutely saved lives, not only countless American lives but up to millions of Japanese lives. By ending the war, we prevented unimaginable slaughter. As the granddaughter of an American soldier who would have gone to the Pacific to invade Japan had it not been for the atom bombs, I say with sincerity that I am grateful we had the military miracle that forced Japan to do what had been for them unthinkable: unconditional surrender.
Americans tend toward cultural imperialism—that is, they pretend all cultures have the same basic values as they do. Hence the willful refusal to admit that Gazans are never going to live in peace with Israelis, or the claim that Japan would have surrendered without the atom bombs. The evidence shows amply the latter claim is patently false. Many Japanese military leaders did not want to surrender even after the atom bombs had been deployed. The emperor had to intervene to ensure a surrender.
The whole worldview of Japanese culture, indeed, was opposed to surrender, was trained toward teaching that death—including mass suicides—was preferable to surrender, that war crimes were justifiable if they increased the empire’s power. The imperial Japanese killed more people than the Nazis did during World War II and committed mass atrocities. There are many Asian countries that have yet to forgive Japan for what they suffered during WWII.
On every island the Americans had managed to take after brutal fighting, the imperial Japanese had amply demonstrated their frenzied and single-minded dedication to fighting to the last man, woman, and child. Horrified American soldiers witnessed Japanese mothers throwing their children off cliffs rather than be captured by Americans. And as noted above, the Japanese war council considered surrender an unthinkable option, even after the atom bombs.
A million or more Americans were projected to die in the land invasion of Japan, facing off against this monomaniacal enemy. How could we defeat Japan, especially without sacrificing vast numbers of our own men? The answer was the atom bomb, a life-saving invention, and the path to a necessary and historic victory.
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Author: Catherine Salgado
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