Hiroshima, a military base
I came across an interesting quotation this morning:
The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians.
— Harry S. Truman, in a speech from the White House, Aug 9, 1945.
Hiroshima, of course, was not a military base, and rather a lot of civilians were killed.
It seems completely pointless to attempt to lie to the nation and the world that Hiroshima was a military base. When politicians lie, they generally lie about something that’s not so easy to disprove. This was an untruth that was hardly going to stay hidden for long. So I find it hard to believe that Truman was lying.
Yet it is even harder to believe that he didn’t know, when he ordered the use of the bomb, what it was that they were going to drop it on. He couldn’t have really believed that Hiroshima was a military base and that this choice of target “avoided, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians.” Especially since the Nagasaki bomb had been dropped, too, by the time he gave this speech. And he couldn’t have ordered these bombings in an off-hand manner, as in “oh, drop’em wherever you want.” Not for the first use of the atomic bomb. No way.
So what the heck was that remark in his speech all about? Was it a lie, or a sign of monumental incompetence? Or something else?
I don’t know. But reportedly he kept on calling Hiroshima and Nagasaki military bases — and for the rest of his life he maintained that he had no regrets and would not hesitate to order the use of the A-bomb again.
I tend to see some sense in Leo Szilard’s victors-write-the-history-books comment:
Let me say only this much to the moral issue involved: Suppose Germany had developed two bombs before we had any bombs. And suppose Germany had dropped one bomb, say, on Rochester and the other on Buffalo, and then having run out of bombs she would have lost the war. Can anyone doubt that we would then have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and that we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them?
November 20th, 2004 at 4:23 pm
Truman was hardly incompetent… he was from Missouri… He even was from the Kansas City side, which is definitely the more competent side of the state as compared to St. Louis…
Wait… I take that back… Missouri voted for Bush again… and they also voted for a dead guy in the election previous to that although that was one of their more brilliant moments… never mind. Beat up Truman all you want…
But I will explain that the reason (or at least the reason as we are taught in the brain-cell killing institutions they call the American public school system [Stína shudders]) that he dropped the bomb was to try to end the war, thereby saving lives. Figure that one out, Sherlock.
October 12th, 2005 at 2:59 am
Your grossly misinformed. I just recently watched a special on Hiroshima on the History channel (A far more reputable history source than yourself). During that special, a child was rescued from his school by a SOLDIER, who then RETURNED to the military base at Hiroshima. I realize there was a school in that town, but name a town with a military base without a school, or some sort of civilian population. Eglin AFB, Tyndall AFB, CSS all are surrounded by schools and large civilian populations. Please don’t try to make your country look bad, you may just make yourself look bad instead.
October 12th, 2005 at 9:47 am
Are you addressing me or Kristín? It’s not my country, in any case (and you are almost a year late for Kristín to be watching this space for comments :) ) but I’ll readily concede that the History Channel is a more authoritative history source than either me or Kristín (it does not take much) … and I don’t think either of us pretended otherwise.
As for the military base, I don’t doubt that there was a military base in Hiroshima. I assume that there was also a military base in London in WWII, but even so, if Hitler at some point announced to his people that he had bombed “London, a military base,” in order to avoid the killing of civilians, I’m sure you’ll agree that his characterization was a little off.
August 6th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
The population of Hiroshima before the bombing was about 255,000, a little under the size of current-day Tampa, Florida. A pretty broad definition of a military base.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:32 am
Another pathethic fool ! You obviously have a great chip on your shoulder about the greatest nation on earth. Go home and don’t come out until you have copped on.
March 9th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Thanks, Angela, for that cogent critique. It really put me in my place.
:)
April 18th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Heroshima did have a military base but, a warning was not given to civilians that the bombing was to occur. That is simply what made our country seem foolish….not warning. At 11:00 three days later on the radio while another bombing is going on is not the time for a warning.
December 16th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
You’re all idiots – you don’t issue a warning to the enemy “hey, we’re going to bomb you tomorrow”; you don’t feel sorry for the enemy that you bombed and you don’t compare the actions of Truman to any would be actions of a dictator. If you could go back in time, you might just realize that the Japs would not surrender, they simply refused even though our forces in the south pacific had kicked butt (and at the cost of thousands of US GI’s lives to boot). The Japs gave us (that’s Truman and the USA) no other choice but to bomb them and bring them to their knees. It was only after the 2nd bomb that they decided to surrender and end the war. Remember, the Japs struck 1st, they drew 1st blood on Sun. a.m. Dec. 7th, 1941, again killing thousands and taking out an entire naval fleet and air support. It was their decision not to surrender that left our President Truman no other option – he had to take such drastic and fatal action against them. But hey, not all was lost – our government went over there and rebuilt their cities, rendered medical care and treatment, invested millions to their well being and now, they sell more cars in the US than anywhere else in the world, not to mention they are the leaders when it comes to telecom and/or anything else electronic.