In those circumstances, if there was an opportunity to defeat Japan without causing such immense loss — a loss that would have unpredictable consequences for our own people, much less for Japan — should we not seize it? In deciding to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Harry Truman made perhaps the most critical — and wisest decision — of any American commander-in-chief in our history. He saved lives. He ended the great calamity of World War II. And, ironically enough, he even saved Japan — leaving behind enough of a country and enough of a people to allow them to rebuild and re-imagine themselves as the great nation they are today.
Can anyone say that the same outcome would hold if millions more men and women died? If the Soviet Union ended the war holding vast sections of Japanese territory?
Few things illustrate the moral bankruptcy of modern times more than the fashionable habit of scorning America’s response to Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. We were indispensable in extinguishing two great evils, and when it came time to rebuild, we rebuilt nations that have since become beacons of freedom and prosperity. Only fools believe we could have prevailed in a civilizational conflict without resorting to total war.
It is to our moral credit that we are sobered by the scale of the devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One is reminded of Robert E. Lee’s words, “It is well that war is so terrible — we would grow too fond of it.” Americans have proven that we can fight. We have proven that we can create the world’s most devastating weapons. But we are aware of their horror, and we have restrained ourselves, using our full force only when the cause is most desperate.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member