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BarkellWH -> RE: 13 August: An Infamous Anniversary (Aug. 25 2011 21:51:54)
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quote:
A staple of Hiroshima Revisionism has been the contention that the government of Japan was prepared to surrender during the summer of 1945, with the sole proviso that its sacred emperor be retained. President Harry S. Truman and those around him knew this through intercepted Japanese diplomatic messages, the story goes, but refused to extend such an assurance because they wanted the war to continue until atomic bombs became available. The real purpose of using the bombs was not to defeat an already-defeated Japan, but to give the United States a club to use against the Soviet Union. Thus Truman purposely slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Japanese, not to mention untold thousands of other Asians and Allied servicemen who would perish as the war needlessly ground on, primarily to gain diplomatic advantage.
Your quote above is just as you describe it, "A staple of Hiroshima revisionism." There is no evidence whatsoever, in intercepted communications or otherwise, that Japan was ready to surrender in the summer of 1945. In fact, much research during the last ten years reveals just the opposite, that the Japanese War Cabinet and even the Emperor, were ready to fight on, in spite of advances made by the allies. And we just had the examples of the Battles of Iwo Jima (Feb.-Mar. 1945) and Okinawa (April 1945) that demonstrated how fanatical and ready to continue the battle the Japanese were. Japan, ready to surrender in the summer of 1945? Hardly.
I've read my Barton Bernstein and Gar Aperowitz, too, Rain. They try to enhance their case by leaving out significant elements of the historical record that would diminish their case. For one thing, much is made of Japanese Prince Konoye's mission to Moscow to seek an end to the fighting. What they fail to address is the fact that Konoye offered nothing, absolutely nothing. He just wanted the Soviets to engineer an end to the fighting without terms. And another thing, the three days between Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the six days after Nagasaki, were taken up by the War Cabinet, and the preponderence of opinion was to continue fighting. It was only after Nagasaki that the Emperor made the decision himself to surrender. The minutes of these meetings are available to historians, Rain.
So, I want to go back to your original post on the subject, Rain. You stated the Japanese had surrendered two days before the dropping of the Atom bomb. That is your statement: The Japanese had surrendered two days prior to the dropping of the bomb. When did they surrender, in your mind, Rain, on August 4, two days before Hiroshima? Or on August 7, two days before Nagasaki?
Cheers,
Bill
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