What the Oliver Stone docu says about the nuclear bombing of Japan is...

[zipplewrath]

50. Motivation is the easiest thing to argue

This whole argument always rests in the motivation of those involved. That has to be the easiest thing to argue (and a popular basis of argument on DU). No one can ever really be proven wrong. Heck, we barely understand what truly motivates ourselves, much less anyone else. Whole studies have been done that show often we make decisions, and then rationalize them after the fact.

With an action such as this, where there were so many involved, and now so many that are dead, almost any motivation can be found, and ascribed, to the final decision. There were many different motivations for many different people. And people came into these events with goals and objectives unrelated to the use of the bomb, and yet saw opportunities. Some Japanese had wanted to surrender for years. Some had never wanted the war to begin with. We were already aware of our future conflict with Russia, it predated the war. Many people were already focused on the post war period, both militarily and politically (not to mention economically).

But there is also this, and I don't think many people from boomers to the current generation can really understand the concept of "total war" and how it consumed this nation. By the time of the end of WWII, more than 19 million men had been in uniform in the US alone. Just men. We had no women in uniform. And that was a country that was around 200 million people at the time. Huge numbers of those men had been in for 3 years or so. There were huge disruptions in society and culture. Women going off to full time work in numbers never seen before. Universities and colleges practically closed down for a lack of students (The Navy practically took over Notre Dame. It fiscally saved the college. It is said that Notre Dame will always play Navy in football because of this). When you woke in the morning, you turned on the radio, much as people would later turn on the TV. You heard regular reports from the war. People knew the names of the generals. Then knew the divisions and armies. You went to a movie (which people did weekly) and there would first be the "movietone news" about the war. The papers (many people got 2 in a day) had large sections on the war, with maps and photos and reports. By the end of the war, every street had a "Gold Star Mother", every street had the flags for the killed, injured, captured, and serving. Practically every town of any size would have some military presence with people in uniform everyday. (My father spent the whole war "state side" and wore a uniform everyday. He practically had no wardrobe other than uniforms by wars end).

So by the end, people were very tired of war. They wanted their lives back. They wanted their brothers, fathers, husbands, and friends back. And yes, they wanted and end to rationing. And so, in reality, if they had found out that we had this super special bomb that was really big and could wipe out whole cities at once, they would have clamored loudly for it to be used. They had long past learned of Dresden. They had become "comfortable" with mass bombings of cities and otherwise "civilian" targets. They were learning more each day about the Holocaust in Germany, and about the "rape of Nanking". Men were coming back and telling about what happened in Iwo Jima.

Quite honestly, if they had learned that we had this bomb, and did not use it, you may have seen the first successful impeachment in history, or at least pitch forks and torches. The decision, to many at the time, would have been simple. Yes, there were those with a larger view who may have understood that it might not have been necessary or "worth it". But it is probably a safe bet that they were in the extreme minority.

The bomb was going to be used. The "why" wasn't really an issue.