atomic bombing of Hiroshima

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is an act that was unnecessary to end the war or to save lives. Rather, it was truman's means of sending a chastening message to the soviet union.

Gar Alperovitz published a book of ferocious revisionism, 'Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam' (1965). While acknowledging the paucity of evidence available at the time, he argued that dropping the atomic bomb 'was not needed to end the war or to save lives' but was Truman's means of sending a chastening message to the Soviet Union.

is, for moderates, a supreme opportunity to turn the tide against the die-hards and to shake the government from the yoke of military oppression.

The bomb had generated tremendous political pressure to force Japan to consider surrendering. Marquis Kido later acknowledged: 'The presence of the atomic bomb made it easier for us, the politicians, to negotiate peace.'103 However, the Russian declaration of war against Japan was also an important factor. Historian Robert Butow argued that the war was brought to an end by the important combination of two events the atomic bomb and the Soviet military entry. Together, they created an imperative need to surrender, as well as 'a supreme opportunity to turn the tide against the die-hards and to shake the government from the yoke of military oppression.

is significant in that after that event on 6 august, 1945, mankind as a whole came to live with the prospect of its extinction as a species.

Arthur Koestler argued that Hiroshima was special, and that's what I thought before I visited the Peace Parks. In Janus: A Summing Up (Hutchinson, 1978), Koestler said: 'If I were asked to name the most important date in the history and prehistory of the human race, I would answer without hesitation 6 August 1945.' His reason: before this time, humans lived in the knowledge of their individual deaths. Since Hiroshima, he claimed, mankind as a whole lives now with the prospect of its extinction as a species.

is a project primarily pursued on the basis that Russia was our enemy.

As the key individual responsible for both the development of the new weapon and its deployment, Manhattan Project director Groves described the atomic bomb's larger purpose more directly: 'There was never from about two weeks from the time I took charge of this Project any illusion on my part but that Russia was our enemy, and the Project was conducted on that basis.'

is a wrongheaded decision. It was a decision not to drop the bomb could actually have bolstered American diplomatic objectives in asia -for example, by helping to create the atmosphere for a more harmonious postwar American-soviet relationship.

Mr. Alperovitz insist that a decision not to drop the bomb could actually have bolstered American diplomatic objectives in Asia -for example, by helping to create the atmosphere for a more harmonious postwar American-Soviet relationship. He criticizes Truman for failing to issue a more explicit warning to Japan about the bomb and for attacking Hiroshima rather than a nonurban target, as his Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George C. Marshall, had suggested.

is an event able to be carried out only because the Japanese were seen as yellow little creatures that needed to be wiped out (while the Nazis were seen as our tall and handsome enemies who needed to be stopped).

We were very patriotic,' recalled Peggy Terry in an interview with Studs Terkel, 'and we understood that the Nazis were someone who would have to be stopped.' In the movies, however, the Germans were portrayed as tall and handsome. 'There'd be one meanie, a little short dumpy bad Nazi,' she said. 'But the main characters were good-lookin' and they looked like us.' On the other hand, Terry noted, 'with the Japanese, that was a whole different thing. We were just ready to wipe them out. They sure as heck didn't look like us. They were yellow little creatures that smiled when they bombed our boys.'

Japan

is an event that was carried out as a result of a set of military, political and cultural needs: The military need to end the war, the political confrontation with Russia, as well as the cultural passions of rage.

Thus, the decision to drop the atomic bomb was made within a context of immense complexity. The military need to end the war, the political confrontation with Russia, and the cultural passions of rage crisscrossed dynamically.

is an action that was carried out because the gigantic federal expenditure for the manhattan project seemed to require justification through its use on the battlefield.

The gigantic federal expenditure for this project seemed to require justification the development of a super bomb for use in the current war. 'I understand that the expenditures for the Manhattan Project are approaching two billion dollars with definite assurance i yet of production,' Byrnes reported to Roosevelt on March 3, 1945. Byrnes warned of a possible investigation: 'We have succeeded to date in obtaining the cooperation of congressional committees in secret hearings. Perhaps we can continue to do so while the war lasts.'

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