Was the USA right to drop the Bomb on Japan to end WW2? Was Harry S Truman (a democrat by the way) right to order the nuking of Nagasaki and Hiroshima?
Was the USA right to drop the Bomb on Japan to end WW2?
by stillajwexelder 131 Replies latest members politics
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bisous
stilla - that was a minimus move! Ya ought to share your view when you solicit others....
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jeanniebeanz
Define *right*...
J
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stillajwexelder
Define *right*... The best move at the time and with hindsight and what would you have done if you had been in the shoes of HST
BTW My answer is an absolute total unequivocal HELL YES
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Heatmiser
YES
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IP_SEC
I thinks he had big balls of stee... Titanium.
It?s an example of a leader doing what he thought was the right thing regardless of the popular feelings of the time. It's easy to judge right from wrong with hindsight. It takes a lot of courage to say the buck stops here and do something that history might frown on or despise. It was a sad consequence of a fight Truman didn?t start but finished.
IPSec
second or third greatest pres of all time
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onacruse
There was a day when I would have said it was wrong.
Now, I say, do it again.
Of all the things I've learned in life (though with no small degree of disappointment), what seems to be the only common denominator of human existence is that "might makes right," including the so-called 'God-factor,' (as the ultimate 'my-almighty-might-makes-me-right' dictator of the universe).
Thus, if one has the power (economically, politically, militarily) to do what he wants, and no one can stop it, then that's life.
And, in so saying, I mean no disrespect whatsoever to those who lost their lives in that tragedy.
Craig
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seven006
There was a lot more to consider in the world wide big picture that was considered before the decision to drop the big one. Japan had been at war with China several years before they attached Pearl Harbor and brought America into the war. They had aspirations of ruling all of Asia while their axis partner Germany would rule Europe. It was the aid both America and Britain gave to China that first pissed the Japanese off. Japan had invaded China in 1938 and continued to freely slaughter tens of thousands of civilians through out mainland China all the way down to Singapore and the Philippines.
The mind set of most Japanese was to fight and die to the end and never give up. They, like the radical Muslims now, considered WWII a holy war and the Americans and British were the infidels. Knowing that the brainwashed Japanese would not give up in a conventional battle it was considered that dropping the bomb in an unconventional manner of war just might save as many Japanese lives as it would Chinese, American, British and most of Asia that had not all ready be invaded by the Japanese.
The show of strength and power in the face of the unpredictable Russians was also a reason to drop it. The Russians went back on their agreement to invade Japan in a conventual manner from the West while the Americans would go in from the East. This left America little choice given the mind set of the Japanese and the volume of people they killed before America even got involved. There is no way to calculate how many millions of lives were ultimately saved by drooping the bomb on a few hundred thousand.
Once again, religion was involved in the deaths of millions. War sucks no matter who is right or wrong.
Dave
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Double Edge
Innocent lives lost at anytime is always tragic. However, estimates by both Japan and America have shown that millions of lives on both sides were "saved" because the War ended aburptly after the bombs fell. I think the most valid opinions are from those people who lived during the War.... sadly, that generation is slowly leaving us at an ever increasing rate.
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the_classicist
One could argue that the ends never justify the means. I really don't know about this one...