Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Justified?
Evidence seems to show the atom bomb wasn’t needed to end World War II.
On August 6, 1945, the United States became the only country ever to use nuclear weapons in warfare when our military dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Several days later, a second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
I will be writing a seven-part-series on the bombing.
Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Justified?
The American public was led to believe the bombing of Hiroshima was justified, and that it was needed to end the war with Japan.
But we now know that Japan may have been willing to surrender before the bomb was dropped, if certain terms were met.
In July 1945, Japan contacted the Soviet Union, then a US ally, asking them to negotiate an agreement between Japan and the US to end the war. They expressed a willingness to surrender, but only under certain conditions.
The main condition was allowing Emperor Hirohito to remain in power, at least in some capacity.
Hirohito was not just a political leader, but a spiritual leader to the Japanese people. Forcing him to step down was roughly analogous to forcing the Pope to step down.
It was very important to the Japanese people that Hirohito not be harmed.
A Desire for Peace
On July 12, Japanese Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo sent the following message to the Japanese ambassador in the USSR, asking him to relay it to the Soviets:
His Majesty the Emperor, mindful of the fact that the present war daily brings greater evil and sacrifice upon the peoples of all the belligerent powers, desires from his heart that it may be quickly terminated.
But so long as England and the United States insist upon unconditional surrender, the Japanese Empire has no alternative but to fight on…
His Majesty is deeply reluctant to have any further blood lost among the people on both sides, and it is his desire, for the welfare of humanity, to restore peace with all possible speed…
The previous message was marked “Very Urgent.”
US Army Intelligence was monitoring Japanese communications. Therefore, our government was aware of this message, and the fact that the Japanese wanted to negotiate for peace.
The Potsdom Declaration
However, Truman and other government officials insisted on an unconditional surrender and weren’t willing to have lengthy negotiations with Japan.
On July 26, the Allies released the Potsdam Declaration, telling Japan to surrender and warning of dire consequences if they did not. The text of the Potsdam declaration, which can be found here, didn’t give any information on what the fate of Emperor Hirohito would be under Allied occupation.
However, it did say that there “must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest,” and that “stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals.”
This may have led Japan to believe that the emperor would be deposed, imprisoned, or even executed.
They were unwilling to surrender without a guarantee of his safety.
Japan Won’t Surrender Unconditionally
Japanese media reported that the Declaration had been rejected.
The media may have reported this information before Prime Minister Suzuki and other officials had made their final decision.
It’s unclear, because communications between Japanese leaders at the time seemed to show that the offer was still being considered when the media began reporting its rejection.
However, on July 27, Prime Minister Suzuki seemed to confirm this rejection in a public statement.
Japan, then, rejected the United States’ offer.
The US Refuses to Negotiate Further
With his knowledge of communications between Japan and the Soviet Union, Truman was aware that Japan wanted an end to the war and was open to more negotiations.
But we never offered Japan that option. Instead, Truman chose to use nuclear weapons against Japan without engaging in any more diplomacy.
In future articles, I will go into more detail about what Japanese men, women, and children endured in Hiroshima.
For now, I want to share the story of one young child who was in Hiroshima that day in August.
The Bomb Through the Eyes of a Small Child
Ruriko Araoka was four years old when the bomb was dropped. Her little brother died in the bombing. She and her mother were visiting a neighbor that morning.
Six years later, when she was in the fifth grade, Ruriko wrote the following account:
While Mother was talking with Mrs. Yamamoto, we heard the sound of an airplane. After a short time, there was a flash like lightning followed by a tremendous boom.
I got trapped under the house. I was shouting ‘Mother’ as loudly as I could, and my mother was calling ‘Ruri-chan! Ruri-chan!’… I crept toward her voice and when I reached her, I was so happy I couldn’t help crying.
Her mother cleared away the debris and freed Ruriko. They went back to their home, only to find it completely destroyed.
A Little Boy Dies
Ruriko says:
Just then a neighbor came by carrying my little brother on her back. He had burns on his face and hands, and his face was very swollen… He was three years old, and such a sweet little boy. He died a week later. When he died, he was crying ‘Mummy, Mummy.’
Right after the bombing, Ruriko and her mother fled, her mother carrying her critically injured brother.
People Burned Black
Ruriko describes what she saw while fleeing from the fires that were spreading throughout Hiroshima. She and her mother climbed up a hill:
The hill was almost covered with people whose clothes had been burned off. Some had burned skin hanging from them and some were all black and had already died.
Ruriko and her mother searched for her grandmother, but never found her. She is believed to have died in the bombing.
Ruriko’s mother became very sick from radiation poisoning, and doctors thought her case was hopeless. However, she managed to recover. Ruriko, then, was spared the fate shared by so many children of Hiroshima- becoming an orphan.
I will be sharing more stories from Hiroshima’s children in the coming days.
Sources:
Richard Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (New York: Random House, 1999) 214–215, 216–218, 222, 223, quote on page 223
Arata Osada, PhD, Children of Hiroshima (1951) translated by Yoichi Fukushima (London: Taylor & French Ltd., 1980) Quotes on 77–78