Remembering Hiroshima 60 Years Later
The question of whether dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on
August 6, 1945 shortened the war and saved allied lives is still with us.
Following are some quotes on the subject.
"The Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs did not defeat Japan, nor by the
testimony of the enemy leaders who ended the war did they persuade Japan to
accept unconditional surrender. The Emperor, the lord privy seal, the prime
minister, the foreign minister, and the navy minister had decided as early
as May 1945 that the war should be ended even if it meant acceptance of
defeat on allied terms.... It is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior
to December 1, 1945 and in all probability prior to November 1, 1945, Japan
would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped and
even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."
— Hiroshima's Shadow, the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey report of July 1,
1946
"Military necessity will be our constant cry in answer to criticism, but it
will never erase from our minds the simple truth, that we, of all civilized
nations, though hesitating to use poison gas, did not hesitate to employ the
most destructive weapon of all times indiscriminately against men, women and
children."
— David Lawrence, founder and editor of U.S. News and World Report, August
17, 1945
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a
continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national
emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil to gobble us up if we
did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded.
Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never
to have been quite real."
— General Douglas MacArthur speaking in 1957, as quoted in American Caesar
by William Manchester
"The surprise bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are morally indefensible.
Both bombings must be judged to have been unnecessary for winning the war.
As the power that first used the atomic bomb under these circumstances, we
have sinned grievously against the laws of God and against the people of
Japan."
— Commission on the Relation of the Church to the War in the Light of the
Christian Faith. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America,
March 1946