Shared in this article are Hiroshima Nagasaki viewpoints expressed by historical leaders regarding the horrific atomic bombings at the end of World War II. These outlooks, many of them from high -ranking military and government officials, show a marked contrast to the Truman rationale for taking such drastic action against Japan.
Mushroom cloud over Hiroshima
These quotations of Hiroshima Nagasaki viewpoints are offered without comment. The words bluntly, and sometimes eloquently, speak for themselves. And although this article is the last of a 3-part series on the decision to drop atomic weapons on crowded population centers, the statements collected here speak more loudly than all the evidence questioning Truman’s decision offered in the two previous presentations. However, listed below are active links to those other articles should you wish to read them:
Article # 1: Truman’s Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb“ (Examination of the issue and article series rationale)
Article # 2: “Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki“ (Arguements agianst the Truman decision)
Each of these Hiroshima Nagasaki viewpoints has a brief description of the individual’s notoriety, but the person’s name also serves as an active link, permitting further investigation.
NOTE: THe photo at the beginning of this article shows a child’s tricycle that barely survived the bombing of Hiroshima. Its sits today in the Peace Museum located in that city. If you care to know the background story of this haunting object, click here to read a children’s book with that information, perhaps one of the most important Hiroshima Nagasaki viewpoints.
Henry Arnold
General Henry “Hap” Arnold (1886-1950)
Commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces during WWII.
“The Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air.”
Ralph Bard
Ralph Bard (1884-1975)
Under Sec. of the Navy during WWII.
“…it definitely seemed to me that the Japanese were becoming weaker and weaker. They were surrounded by the Navy. They couldn’t get any imports and they couldn’t export anything. Naturally, as time went on and the war developed in our favor it was quite logical to hope and expect that with the proper kind of a warning the Japanese would then be in a position to make peace, which would have made it unnecessary for us to drop the bomb and have had to bring Russia in…”.
Samuel Cavert
Samuel McCrea Cavert (1888-1976)
Near the end of WWII, he was General Secretary of the Federal Council of Churches, later known as the National Council of Churches. This is the telegram he sent to President Truman on August 9, 1945, right after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
“Many Christians deeply disturbed over use of atomic bombs against Japanese cities because of their necessarily indiscriminate destructive efforts and because of their use sets extremely dangerous precedent for the future of mankind . . . Respectfully urge that ample opportunity be given Japan to reconsider ultimatum before any further devastation by atomic bomb is visited upon her people.”
Claire Chennault
General Claire Chennault (1890 – 1958)
A retired U.S. military pilot who, at the invitation of the Chinese government during WWII, went to China to help fight the Japanese and created a volunteer air force called the Flying Tigers. Eventually, the Flying Tigers became part of the U.S. Army Air Corps, commanded by Chennault.
“Russia’s entry into the Japanese war was the decisive factor in speeding its end and would have been so even if no atomic bombs had been dropped. . . .”
ALbert Eisnstein
Albert Einstein (1878 – 1955)
“I made one great mistake in my life… when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification – the danger that the Germans would make them.”
More:Einstein is also quoted in the New York Times as saying, “. . . he was sure that President Roosevelt would have forbidden the atomic bombing of Hiroshima had he been alive and that it was probably carried out to end the Pacific war before Russia could participate.”
Dwight Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)
Eisenhower served as the 34th president from 1953 to 1961. As a five-star general in WWII he was the Supreme Commander of all U.S forces in Europe. In that capacity, it was his responsibility to plan and carry out the invasions of North Africa, France and Germany.
“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 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.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
“So far as I can see, the atomic bomb has deadened the finest feeling that has sustained mankind for ages.”
More Hiroshima Nagasaki viewpoints
William Halsey
Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. (1882-1959)
Initially in WWII, he was Commander of South Pacific operations in the war against Japan. Later in the war he was commander of the Third Fleet that destroyed most of the remaining Japanese naval forces.
“The first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment. . . . It was a mistake to ever drop it. . . . [the scientists] had this toy and they wanted to try it out, so they dropped it. . . . It killed a lot of Japs, but the Japs had put out a lot of peace feelers through Russia long before.”
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964)
31st president of the United States from 1929-1933.
“The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul.”
Robert Lewis
Captain Robert Lewis (1917 – 1983)
Co-pilot of the B-29 Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
“As the bomb fell over Hiroshima and exploded, we saw an entire city disappear. I wrote in my log the words, ‘My God, what have we done?’ “
William Leahey
Admiral William D. Leahey (1875-1959)
Chief of Staff to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.
“It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.
“The lethal possibilities of atomic warfare in the future are frightening. My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying women and children.”
Curtis LeMay
General Curtis LeMay (1906-1990)
LeMay was given command of all air operations against the Japanese in 1944. After WWII he headed the U.S. Strategic Air Command.
Here is part of a press conference he gave:
LeMay: “The war would have been over in two weeks without the Russians entering and without the atomic bomb.”
The Press: “You mean that, sir? Without the Russians and the atomic bomb?”
LeMay: “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all.”
Douglas MacArthur
General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964)
Commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific during WWII.
On the 40th Anniversary of the bombing former President Richard M. Nixon reported that:
President Richard Nixon recalled a conversation between himself and MacArthur
“MacArthur once spoke to me very eloquently about it, pacing the floor of his apartment in the Waldorf. He thought it a tragedy that the Bomb was ever exploded. MacArthur believed that the same restrictions ought to apply to atomic weapons as to conventional weapons, that the military objective should always be limited damage to non-combatants. . . . MacArthur, you see, was a soldier. He believed in using force only against military targets, and that is why the nuclear thing turned him off. . . .”
John McCloy
John McCloy (1880-1989)
Assistant Sec. of War during WWII.
“I believe we missed the opportunity of effecting a Japanese surrender, completely satisfactory to us, without the necessity of dropping the bombs.”
Lise Meitner (1878-1968)
Lise Meitner was an Austrian physicist who contributed to the understanding of nuclear fission and discovered its explosive potential. And when asked to become a part of the U.S. Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, she said:
“I will have nothing to do with a bomb.”
Chester Nimitz
Admiral Chester Nimitz (1885-1996)
Fleet Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet during WWII.
“The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima and before the Russian entry into the war.”
“The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan. . . .”
Paul Nitze
Paul Nitze (1907-2004)
Vice Chairman, U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey
“Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.”
Kensaburo Oe
Kenzaburō Ōe (1935-)
Nobel prize winner in literature. Born in Japan, he was six-years old when WWII started. Born in Japan, he was six-years old when WWII. His father died in the war.
“Hiroshima is like a nakedly exposed wound inflicted on all mankind.”
Carl Spaatz
General Carl “Tooey” Spaatz (1891-1974)
Commanded the Strategic Air Forces in Europe near the end of WWII and in 1947 became Chief of Staff of the newly formed U.Air Force.
“If we were to go ahead with the plans for a conventional invasion with ground and naval forces, I believe the Japanese thought that they could inflict very heavy casualties on us and possibly as a result get better surrender terms. On the other hand, if they knew or were told that no invasion would take place [and] that bombing would continue until the surrender, why I think the surrender would have taken place just about the same time.”
Lewis Strauss
Lewis Strauss (1896-1974)
Special Assistant to the Sec. of the Navy
Strauss recalled a recommendation he gave to Sec. of the Navy James Forrestal before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima:
“I proposed to Secretary Forrestal that the weapon should be demonstrated before it was used. Primarily it was because it was clear to a number of people, myself among them, that the war was very nearly over. The Japanese were nearly ready to capitulate… My proposal to the Secretary was that the weapon should be demonstrated over some area accessible to Japanese observers and where its effects would be dramatic.
“It seemed to me that such a weapon was not necessary to bring the war to a successful conclusion, that once used it would find its way into the armaments of the world…”.
Leo Szilard
Leo Szilard (1898-1964)
Physicist and associate of Albert Einstein, Szilard was the first scientist to understand how an atomic bomb might be made. His work greatly helped in the development of the atomic bomb through the Manhattan project.
“I told Oppenheimer (Director of the Los Alamos Laboratory, who was responsible for the research and design of an atomic bomb) that I thought it would be a very serious mistake to use the bomb against the cities of Japan.”
Stewart Udall
Stewart Udall (1920 – 2010)
U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1961-1969 under presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
“In the first weeks after Hiroshima, extravagant statements by President Truman and other official spokesmen for the U.S. government transformed the inception of the atomic age into the most mythologized event in American history.”
“If the United States would be the first to release this new means of indiscriminate destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public support throughout the world, precipitate the race of armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons.”.
“I submit that it was the wrong decision. It was wrong on strategic grounds. And it was wrong on humanitarian grounds.”
George Wald
George Wald (1906-1997)
1967 Nobel prize winner in physiology or medicine for his work relating to the chemical processes in the eye.
“Dropping those atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime.”
J. Samuel Walker
J. Samuel Walker (1946-)
Former Chief Historian of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“Careful scholarly treatment of the records and manuscripts opened over the past few years has greatly enhanced our understanding of why Truman administration used atomic weapons against Japan. Experts continue to disagree on some issues, but critical questions have been answered. The consensus among scholars is the that the bomb was not needed to avoid an invasion of Japan. It is clear that alternatives to the bomb existed and that Truman and his advisers knew it.”
Ellis Zacharias
Ellis Zacharias (1890–1961)
U.S. Deputy Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence during WWII. After the war, he wrote an article in Look magazine titled, “How We Bungled the Japanese Surrender.”
“Just when the Japanese were ready to capitulate, we went ahead and introduced to the world the most devastating weapon it had ever seen and, in effect, gave the go-ahead to Russia to swarm over Eastern Asia.”
James Franck
The Franck Report (June 11, 1945)
A short time before the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a group of important scientists working on the atomic bomb made their feelings known to the president. They called themselves the Committee on Political and Social Problems. The members were, James Franck (Chairman), Donald Hughes, J.J. Nickson, Eugene Robinowitz, Glenn Sparrow, J.C. Searns and Leo Szilard. The following are the main conclusions of their report:
“The use of nuclear bombs for an early, unannounced attack against Japan [is] inadvisable. If the United States would be the first to release this new means of indiscriminate destruction upon mankind, she would sacrifice public support throughout the world, precipitate the race of armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons.
“Much more favorable conditions for the eventual achievement of such an agreement could be created if nuclear bombs were first revealed to the world by a demonstration in an appropriately selected uninhabited area….
“If the government should decide in favor of an early demonstration of nuclear weapons it will then have the possibility to take into account the public opinion of this country and the other nations before deciding whether these weapons should be used in the war against Japan. In this way, other nations may assume a share of responsibility for such a fateful decision.”
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A REMINDER; In addition to the above article on Hiroshima Nagasaki viewpoints, please use the links below for the first two parts of this 3-part series.
Article # 1: “Truman’s Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb“ (An initial examination of the issue and the article series rationale)
Article # 2: “Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki“ (Counter argumens to the Truman logic)
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