The Real Reason America Used Nukes Against Japan

[caraher]

4. I don't think we'd have hesitated to use it in Europe

There was plenty of racism on both sides in the Pacific war, but the fighting in Europe was certainly savage also, with little concern for civilians. The firestorms raised by bombing Hamburg and Dresden rivaled the atomic bombings in bringing indiscriminate death on a population (they just took a lot more planes and bombs to induce). The bombs were not ready until months after Germany surrendered, and I have no doubt we would have used them in Europe had they been available. So I don't think the chief motive was racism, though I'm sure that made it easier. I've read that a Gallup survey of Americans done in August 1945 showed a majority favoring the opinion that we should continue to drop atomic bombs until we ran out of them, such was US sentiment toward the Japanese.

If you're interested in the question of dropping the bomb and whether it was needed to force Japan's surrender Gar Alperovitz' work is the best place to go for criticism of the view that it saved American (and Japanese) lives.