1945 - "We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man"

[greyl]

No one will ever know for certain how many died as a result of the attack on Hiroshima. Some 70,000 people probably died as a result of initial blast, heat, and radiation effects. This included about twenty American airmen being held as prisoners in the city. By the end of 1945, because of the lingering effects of radioactive fallout and other after effects, the Hiroshima death toll was probably over 100,000. The five-year death total may have reached or even exceeded 200,000, as cancer and other long-term effects took hold.

At 11:00 a.m., August 6 (Washington D.C. time), radio stations began playing a prepared statement from President Truman informing the American public that the United States had dropped an entirely new type of bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima -- an "atomic bomb." Truman warned that if Japan still refused to surrender unconditionally, as demanded by the Potsdam Declaration of July 26, the United States would attack additional targets with equally devastating results. Two days later, on August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and attacked Japanese forces in Manchuria, ending American hopes that the war would end before Russian entry into the Pacific theater. By August 9th, American aircraft were showering leaflets all over Japan informing its people that "We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2,000 of our giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate. We have just begun to to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city." Meanwhile, Tibbets's bomber group was simply waiting for the weather to clear in order to drop its next bomb, the plutonium weapon nicknamed "Fat Man" that was destined for the city of Nagasaki.

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[The Straight Story]

1. Thought they were talking about my first X for a minute

Talk about explosive!

[Seeking Serenity]

2. Here we go again.

Feh.

[Posteritatis]

4. It's almost as though it's the anniversary of the thing's use or something. (nt)

[godai]

5. Yes, seems to happen every year on August 6th.

This relates to eliminating nuclear weapons. Support that?

[Seeking Serenity]

24. But these discussions rarely evolve into discussions of eliminating nuclear weapons

They almost always are rehashing of the same old arguments and the tit-for-tat, "yes-we-should-have, no-we-shouldn't-have" playground arguments.

On edit: Case in point

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6231995#6232002

[godai]

27. In, Japan, this year, they're doing just that.

The Hiroshima major's talk focused on eliminating nuclear weapons by the "Obamajority" around the world. There's little blame of the US on August 6 in Japan, much more focus on eliminating nuclear weapons.

[JVS]

32. Hell no! Mutually assured destruction has kept us out of full scale war for over 60 years!

Eliminating nuclear weapons would cause millions of deaths and massive destruction

[greyl]

6. You must have quite an imagination. ;) nt

[zipplewrath]

17. Yeah, and Dec 7th

And June 6th, and soon we'll have VE day. It takes a few generations for these things to pass from notice. Most folks don't even know these days what 11-11/11 stand for. Strangely, this day may be remembered much longer than most because of its connection to the larger subject. I can remember thinking after 9/11, I wonder how long before folks "forget" what it was. April 19th has had a series of events, but even that one I suspect most folks have already forgotten. Heck, the number of folks that forget that 9/11 was the SECOND attack on the towers is huge. I notice May 4th every year, but was once shocked how many folks have to be told what happened at Kent State.

I will say, the names last longer than the dates, which is what may make 9/11 last longer than most. Folks remember Pearl because of Roosevelt's speach. Folks know D-day, even if they don't know when it is. But even those pass, I'd bet most folks couldn't give even a cursory description of the Boston Massacre.

[godai]

3. I watched the ceremony in Hiroshima last night, live on NHK

Every year, on August 6th at 8:15 am, there is a minute of silence to commemorate the A-bombing. An interesting aspect this year was the strong support of Obama's new initiatives for lowering the number of nuclear weapons in the world. The mayor of Hiroshima, in his address, referred to the Obamajority, as a worldwide group with the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons. Obama is going to Japan in November and he's been invited to visit Hiroshima. I hope he goes and tours the museum there. I think that it would strength his resolve against nuclear weapons.

[WeDidIt]

7. Fortunately, we beat Japan in the development of a nuclear weapon

Japan was frighteningly close to developing a nuclear weapon when we ended the war.

The were years ahead of the Germans, who were the enemy we were most fearful of developing these weapons.

[godai]

10. I don't think so. Link? n/t

[WeDidIt]

12. Let Me Google That For You

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=japanese+nuclear+weapon+program&l=1

[godai]

14. Japan didn't even have uranium!

"In the historical journal Isis, two historians of science said only of Wilcox's work that his thesis stood "on the flimsiest and most unconvincing of grounds," and surmised that the hidden agenda of such conspiracy theories was "to furnish a new exculpation for America's dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. No, it's the other way around.

The Japanese thought they were close, but were headed down a dead end. The Germans were nearly par with us, and might have beat us if we had not destroyed their heavy water plant which set them back months.

Can you imagine 6/6/44 if the Germans had their bomb by then? Just three bombs off the coast of Normandy and the entire invasion force is wiped out. We'd have lost a half-million men and hundreds of ships.

At least, that is how I've read it. If you have sources that assert otherwise I'd love to see them.

[SoCalDem]

8. Huh?

<0... really?

How incredibly obtuse some people are :(

I guess August only means "Town hall meetings" & Paula Abdul's ouster, to some people.

Perhaps us oldsters are the only ones who remember other things that happened in August.

my r can get this back to at least 0..small consolation for a thoughtful post..

[scheming daemons]

9. And thank God we did...

[godai]

11. For 140,000 civilian deaths? Wow! n/t

[WeDidIt]

13. As opposed to the 2,000,000 Japanese civilians dead from an invasion

and that's the conservative estimate they were using so as to not terrify the brass.

[godai]

15. So, you're OK with 140,000 civilian deaths?

I think that's considered a war crime. Of course, winners don't worry about war crimes.

[WeDidIt]

18. Absolutely okay with it, Not a problem at all with it.

140,000 civilian deaths that stopped 2,000,000 civilian deaths from happening is an acceptable trade off.

There was no choice. The only acceptable solution was unconditional surrender. Nopthing else would suffice.

The United States didn't start the war.

We finished it.

[godai]

20. Geneva Convention: "Indiscriminate" attacks on civilians targets are forbidden.

No rationalizations, such as, well I think a lot more civilians could have been killed, are permitted.

[WeDidIt]

37. Bombing cities had been going on for YEARS.

We fire bombed Tokyo.

As I said, I have not one whit of problem with the bombings of Hiroshima and NBAgasaki. I honor every individual involved.

They saved lives.

[godai]

38. How about torture? Been going on for years. OK with you? n/t

[scheming daemons]

22. You'd rather 2,000,000 Japanese 1,000,000 Americans would have died instead?

Sorry... war sucks.


Killing 140,000 to save 3,000,000 is an acceptable trade off to me.

[godai]

25. That never happened. You can't rationalize this away.

You can't do anything you want to in war. There ARE war crimes. But, yes, if you win, you can conclude that it was OK.

[Seeking Serenity]

26. Then I guess the lesson there is

if one goes to war, one better be prepared to win it.

[Faryn Balyncd]

16. K & R

[Richardo]

19. Time for the annual second-guessing festival!!

You can almost set your calendar by it.

I'm betting that this year each side will convince the other that their interpretation of events are the tenets of the One True Faith. :eyes:

:patriot:

[godai]

23. No, time to work to eliminate nuclear weapons.

August 6 serves as a reminder. There is a big push in Japan this year to work toward this goal. Obama visits Japan in November and he's been invited to Hiroshima.

[Richardo]

29. That's right! I completely forgot about nuclear weapons.

I guess it's a good thing we bombed Hiroshima so we get this annual reminder.

[godai]

30. Do you use the same 'logic' regarding the Holocaust? n/t

[Richardo]

31. It's not 'logic', it's 'irony'...

or 'sarcasm'.

[slackmaster]

21. K&R

:nuke:

[NashVegas]

33. And It Destroyed Our Nation's Soul

Because of the flips and twists we've had to engage in, in the effort to keep it out of the hands of leaders we don't approve of.

[scheming daemons]

34. Russians were already working on it before we used it.... it still would be in existence either way

...and in the hands of those "leaders we don't approve of".


The only difference is.... somebody else would've been first to use it.

[NashVegas]

35. Keep On Rationalizing

[scheming daemons]

36. Not rationalizing anything. Russians had nukes independent of us.

You act like nukes would've never existed if we didn't build them.


That's false.