WOW! WWII, why we needed to drop 2 A-bombs, facts you did not learn in school.

[Jludo]

You can be as "sickened" as you want. It's your right, and if you want to call President Truman, Curtis LeMay and a slew of other U.S. leaders of that era "sickening" that too is your right to think that.


After you conclude your genuflecting, you may want to Thank them as well. I doubt you will though.

(Lightbulb!) Come to think of it, I have a right to an opinion, too, and my opinion of your logic is that your myopic ideology, cloaked in moral indignation, is what is sickening.

Thank Truman for what? The war was ending either way. He didn't save a single American serviceman's life. He could have waited, could have accepted the Japanese offer of conditional surrender.
You're a saying the opinion of Eisenhower, the soldier, is sickening, yet Truman the politician had it right?

 

[Jludo]

And they would have had very good reason to do so and the politicians would have deserved tarring and feathering if they had.

So the top US brass deserved tarring and feathering as they opposed the bomb? But Truman should be praised for using it?

 

[MPH]

Thank Truman for what? The war was ending either way. He didn't save a single American serviceman's life. He could have waited, could have accepted the Japanese offer of traditional surrender.
You're a saying the opinion of Eisenhower, the soldier, is sickening, yet Truman the politician had it right?

You've obviously never heard of 'Operation Coronet' or 'Operation Olympic'..otherwise you'd have never uttered such an ignorant statement as the first bolded quote.

As for the second bolded quote, Don't put Your adjective of "sickening" in my mouth. And President Truman was the Commander in Chief..the head soldier, if you will.
Is everyone in Putnam County so deficient in social studies? Very sad..

 

[DragonGunner]

They would have, they do what the emperor tells them to do, as proven by the fact that they did surrender.

But you forgot or did not know the Jap high brass plotted to kill the emperor so the war would not be stopped no matter what, and they almost succeeded. My Parents grew up during the war and my dad was over there........wanna guess what their "opnion" of your "opinion" is.

 

[Jludo]

You'[ve obviously never heard of 'Operation Coronet' or 'Operation Olympic'..otherwise you'd have never uttered such an ignorant statement as the first bolded quote.

As for the second bolded quote, Don't put Your adjective of "sickening" in my mouth. And President Truman was the Commander in Chief..the head soldier, if you will.
Is everyone in Putnam County deficient in social studies? Very sad..

Making a plan to invade has nothing to do with whether or not invading is necessary. There have been thousands of plans drawn up for use if necessary, their existence doesn't prove their necessity.

"In 1945 ... , Secretary of War Stimson visited my headquarters in Germany, [and] informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act.... During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that

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dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and second because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face.' The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude, almost angrily refuting the reasons I gave for my quick conclusions." Source: The White House Years: Mandate for Change: 1953-1956: A Personal Account (New York: Doubleday, 1963), pp. 312-313.

 

[Jludo]

But you forgot or did not know the Jap high brass plotted to kill the emperor so the war would not be stopped no matter what, and they almost succeeded. My Parents grew up during the war and my dad was over there........wanna guess what their "opnion" of your "opinion" is.

What does that have to do with anything? They didn't kill him and he had the final say.
Wanna guess how qualified an historian simply growing up during the war makes you?

 

[MPH]

Ah, yes. President-then General Eisenhower. In charge of prosecuting the EUROPEAN Theater of Operations..a war that, while simulaneous with the PTO, was wholly different with strategy, tactics, geography, religion, and culture. Pretty easy for him to posit what was unneccesary in a conflict not his own. General MacArthur was right: Ike was the best clerk he'd ever had. And in that he was a politician when he wrote his account, and Stimson was then dead, I doubt it's veracity, plus Generals aren't in the habit of disagreeing with their superiors, especially the one who promoted him from Major to General within 2 years (Roosevelt/Stimson). And You mentioned the 'politican' thing as a measure of distrust, yet you quote one to bolster your opinion? Bahahahaha!!!

Believe what you will. Opine what you will. Just don't be surprised or "sickened" if your opinion is in a minority.

 

[Jludo]

Ah, yes. President-then General Eisenhower. In charge of prosecuting the EUROPEAN Theater of Operations..a war that, while simulaneous with the PTO, was wholly different with strategy, tactics, geography, religion, and culture. Pretty easy for him to posit what was unneccesary in a conflict not his own. General MacArthur was right: Ike was the best clerk he'd ever had.

Believe what you will. Opine what you will. Just don't be surprised or "sickened" if your opinion is in a minority.

I'm not at all surprised my opinion is in the minority, I went to public schools and know first hand they don't exactly turn out well educated people.
As to your point that Eisenhower wasn't qualified to make a decision, what do you say to the fact that General MacArthur, Chester Nimitz and Carl Spaatz were against using the bomb as well? They were the Supreme allied commander south pacific, Commander in chief pacific ocean areas and commander of US strategic Air forces in the Pacific.
Why were they wrong to oppose the bombing? Were they in position to come to fair opinions on the issue?

 

[MPH]

Don't blame your schools for your lack of knowledge, I've known several people who went to North and South Putnam HS's, and Cascade. None of them showed this sort of astounding ignorance, or ability to cherry-pick quotes and leave out parts that show your inconsistency.

Obviously you never served in the military, otherwise you would know that while an officer may have an opinion, they do not make up policy. They can implement tactics to achieve a policy, in this case, an end to the war, as delegated to them by their Commander in Chief.

I'll take your word..no, actually, I agree with your supposition that Mac, Nimitz and Spaatz were against the Bomb. It was totally outside of their professional experience and training ..20th century technology versus 19th century upbringing.

But I defy you to find anyone of those leaders who may have felt otherwise After the fact.

 

[Jludo]

Don't blame your schools for your lack of knowledge, I've known several people who went to North and South Putnam HS's, and Cascade. None of them showed this sort of astounding ignorance, or ability to cherry-pick quotes and leave out parts that show your inconsistency.

I'm blaming the general public's lack of knowledge on public schools, I know more about the issue than 90+% of the general population. So it's not a place of astounding ignorance, it's a place of having many more of the facts.
Also if you're going to accuse me of cherry picking the quotes, show some proof. I've got plenty of evidence so let's have you not lob empty allegations.

 

[Jludo]

Obviously you never served in the military, otherwise you would know that while an officer may have an opinion, they do not make up policy. They can implement tactics to achieve a policy, in this case, an end to the war, as delegated to them by their Commander in Chief.

No I completely agree, the choice was solely up to the president. I'm telling you that majority of the top brass disagreed with that decision. You can say their objections were ignored, and you'd be correct, but you can't say their opinions are any less valid than say, yours.

 

[Jludo]

I'll take your word..no, actually, I agree with your supposition that Mac, Nimitz and Spaatz were against the Bomb. It was totally outside of their professional experience and training ..20th century technology versus 19th century upbringing.

Had nothing to do with the technology, had everything to do with the fact that the Japanese were already beat and it would be directly targeting civilian centers with the most powerful weapon ever. There aren't any quotes of Ike saying 'I don't want to nuke Nagasaki because that atom stuff is too newfangled for me'

 

[CPT Nervous]

Do you want to know why Japan surrendered to the US? It had absolutely NOTHING to do with the atomic bombs. The USSR was launching an invasion through Manchuria, and was going to go into Japan. Hirohito's primary concern was keeping Japan's Imperialistic system intact, and knew that Stalin would force Socialism on his country if they were to succeed in their attack. He thought that the US would be more lenient on them than the Soviets, and by surrendering to the US, the Soviets stopped their invasion. It just so happened to all kind of take place at the same time. A-bomb or no A-bomb, they were going to surrender because they didn't want Socialism. Japan's plan in the event of a US invasion was to have every citizen become Kamikaze and repel our forces. They didn't care about civilian lives. It was all about the Imperialism and military assets, citizens be damned.

 

[MPH]

I'm blaming the general public's lack of knowledge on public schools, I know more about the issue than 90+% of the general population. So it's not a place of astounding ignorance, it's a place of having many more of the facts.
Also if you're going to accuse me of cherry picking the quotes, show some proof. I've got plenty of evidence so let's have you not lob empty allegations.

You have No knowledge of this decision, the prosecution of that war, or apparently reality in general, only an opinion...one that suspiciously looks like something I scraped off the bottom of my boot from an East Texas truckstop bathroom back in the 70's.

Have fun in that rarified air you breath.

 

[Jludo]

You have No knowledge of this decision, the prosecution of that war, or apparently reality in general, only an opinion...one that suspiciously looks like something I scraped off the bottom of my boot from an East Texas truckstop bathroom back in the 70's.

Have fun in that rarified air you breath.

Very good rebuttal.

 

[Lex Concord]

.

 

[E'villeGunner]

A lot of opinions and "I think" in this thread.

 

[tenring]

We almost used poison gas on Japan. That's how bad we wanted to end the war. American Leaders Planned Poison Gas Attack Against Japan

 

[HenryWallace]

A lot of surface scratching issues here... Emotional issues. Let's get into the meat of the matter.

Untold History: The Coup Against Wallace and What Might Have Been - YouTube

This is why I've chosen Wallace as my Avatar. This was IMO, the first STOLEN election. The change to Blatantly obvious overpowering governmental actions. The beginning of The CIA, NSA, distrust of all other nations... And The change of the face of the Democratic party.
Then...

The Bomb Sends a Message to the World - Untold History - YouTube

 

[DragonGunner]

I watched some of the you tube video posted above. But stopped after Leahy's comments that he made yrs. after the bomb was dropped.....he thought and said it was not ethical.....but he fire bombed civilians throughout the war......? Ya the Japs were defeated, but they had not surrendered and thats the key, no way the Empororer in hearing what the bomb did, could not of had a effect on him. Bombs away.