General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Hiroshima - quit lying to yourselves [View all]Koios
(154 posts)... because when you only have two of them, wasting one on mind games in hopes the Emperor would come around, is too risky a proposition ... which, too, was considered by the Truman Admin, and quickly dismissed. Here's why:
We'd invaded some outlying islands in the Japanese Archipelago, in bloody fighting to the last man. And we had every indication that the mother island would be even worse. The Japanese People had been fed all manner of fear propaganda, saying that if conquered, they'd be enslaved ... and it would be a fate worse then death. And it appeared, at the cost of 10,000 American lives per month, that indeed the Japanese People believed it and would fight to the death, never surrendering. Anyone can look back, and criticize. But looking forward, from where the Truman Admin was looking, was a far bleaker picture, than we see today.
And I believe wholeheartedly that what ended the war was fear on the part of the Emperor that he'd be vaporized. Nothing indicated to our officials, that he cared a bit about his People. It seemed only likely that he'd preserve his status, for as long as he had people to put between him and the American Military.
And despite MacArthur and Truman being bitter rivals, hating each other, Mac was a remarkable person to be put in charge of the Japanese Occupation, which had a benevolence that astonished the Japanese, proving the fear-mongering was entirely false. So warm relations were created almost overnight, which made the bombs seem barbaric ... in hindsight. Months before, we fear we were fighting a people, whose zealotry was unmitigated, and they'd fight to the last man, woman, child, infant, fetus, house pets ... in a bloodbath of historic proportion.
Fact. They did what they thought most moral, and I believe, within the context of when it was done, was indeed, a moral endeavor.