President Truman Addresses The Nation After Hiroshima

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 08/06/2015 at 10:04 • Filed to: hiroshima

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On August 6, 1945, our world entered the Nuclear Age when the Allies dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy” on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The following is an excerpt from President Truman’s speech to the American people on August 9, 1945, outlining the progress on the Potsdam Conference, and the Potsdam Declaration which demanded the surrender of Japan. The nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had already occurred (the attack on Nagasaki took place the same day as Truman’s address, though it is not mentioned), resulting in the death of as many as 250,000 civilians. Japan would surrender eight days later. I am particularly struck by the last line of this excerpt. I am not convinced that God really has a purpose for the atomic bomb. You can read the full text of the speech !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

The British, Chinese, and United States Governments have given the Japanese people adequate warning of what is in store for them. We have laid down the general terms on which they can surrender. Our warning went unheeded; our terms were rejected. Since then the Japanese have seen what our atomic bomb can do. They can foresee what it will do in the future.

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. But that attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and save themselves from destruction.

I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb.

Its production and its use were not lightly undertaken by this Government. But we knew that our enemies were on the search for it. We know now how close they were to finding it. And we knew the disaster which would come to this Nation, and to all peace-loving nations, to all civilization, if they had found it first.

That is why we felt compelled to undertake the long and uncertain and costly labor of discovery and production.

We won the race of discovery against the Germans.

Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.

We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan’s power to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us.

The atomic bomb is too dangerous to be loose in a lawless world. That is why Great Britain, Canada, and the United States, who have the secret of its production, do not intend to reveal that secret until means have been found to control the bomb so as to protect ourselves and the rest of the world from the danger of total destruction.

As far back as last May, Secretary of War Stimson, at my suggestion, appointed a committee upon which Secretary of State Byrnes served as my personal representative, to prepare plans for the future control of this bomb. I shall ask the Congress to cooperate to the end that its production and use be controlled, and that its power be made an overwhelming influence towards world peace.

We must constitute ourselves trustees of this new force—to prevent its misuse, and to turn it into the channels of service to mankind.

It is an awful responsibility which has come to us.

We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 10:07

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Even with 70 years of hindsight, I’d have dropped it.

djmt1 > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 10:13

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Didn’t the Emperor have a piece along the lines of “we feel the war has not necessarily turned in our favour”. Talk about understatement.

ttyymmnn > djmt1 08/06/2015 at 10:18

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I hadn’t heard that, but the War hadn’t been going well for them for quite some time. There were some in Japan who would have kept fighting. But there were more bombs on the way, the only argument was whether to use them strategically or tactically.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 10:23

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Okinawa was already really, really ugly and we (and they) started to realize how much exponentially worse it would get the closer we got to their home islands. It’s very hard to argue against the bomb’s usage once you have all the facts and accounts from both sides. Net suffering for everyone was still far lower than if we had avoided it, I just hate that it had to be such an overwhelming strike against so many civilians vs a series of tactical strikes against pure military targets. Hard to say...

X37.9XXS > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 10:33

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Truman did not actually formally approve the strike

ttyymmnn > Ash78, voting early and often 08/06/2015 at 10:35

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The Japanese military industry was, in many ways, a cottage industry and specific tactical targets could be hard to find. Of the casualties in Hiroshima, “only” 20,000 were soldiers. The atomic bombs get all the press, but as many as 4 times the number of civilians were killed in the concentrated bombing and firebombing attacks on Japan. It’s hard to get your head around the death of 250,000 people being called humane, but the alternative, an invasion of Japan, would have been so much worse. I’m not advocating against the use of the bomb to end the war. I think it did. What I lament is where we are today.

Ash78, voting early and often > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 10:50

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I tell people all the time (on both sides of the political spectrum) that if you want to be mad about where America is today in terms of military-industrial complex, blame Pearl Harbor. I think one day history will look back on modern US civilization and power and trace it back to that specific event above all others. There aren’t many domino effects I can think of with such widespread results. Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, maybe. Louisiana Purchase. Columbus’s first landing. Etc.

Justin T. Westbrook > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 11:13

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MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 11:14

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There are many who make the case that the firebombings, such as those that basically leveled Tokyo in the days surrounding the atomic bombings, were in fact much worse, and that the atomic bombs brought about a hasty end to the war as a lesser-of-two-evils alternative to the continuation of the abominable firebombings.

ttyymmnn > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig 08/06/2015 at 11:25

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The thing is, I don’t think anybody back then, and certainly not Curtis LeMay, thought the firebombings were “aboniable.” I think LeMay was thrilled with how effective they were. But you can’t argue with the math of doing so much destruction with one plane and one bomb.

ttyymmnn > Justin T. Westbrook 08/06/2015 at 11:28

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“It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East.”

What could possibly go wrong? While I believe that the bomb did, in fact, hasten the end of the war, the proliferation of nukes since then is what is so terrifying.

Justin T. Westbrook > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 11:35

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The issue is the inevitability of the bomb. The US, Russia, Japan, and later China all were working on it. Like any good game of Monopoly, anytime someone starts to lose they want to flip the board. For centuries nations had to play the game and someone had to lose and someone had to win. The nuclear bomb is the board flip - ending the game for everybody. It’s a selfish sentiment; a deranged desire for everyone to suffer equally.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 11:42

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Thanks for this comment, I was about to vigorously contradict you. The atomic bomb, strange as it may sound, saved hundreds of thousandes (potentially millions) of civillian lives, in addition to the lives of American soldiers.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Justin T. Westbrook 08/06/2015 at 11:46

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When the game is humanity warring, I’d hardly call flipping the board selfish. Unfortunately, it wasn’t permanent. Everyone stayed and began kicking each other under the table in “unofficial” wars

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 08/06/2015 at 11:48

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It was the humane thing to do, oddly. And while looking back thinking “what if” is a largely useless pastime, you can’t help wondering...

If the atomic bomb hadn’t been used on Japan, and the horrible effectiveness been proven, would the cold war have become atomically heated?

ttyymmnn > Justin T. Westbrook 08/06/2015 at 11:49

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When the atom was first split in 1938, a weapon was inevitable. Truman’s statement that we were lucky we got it first is hard to argue with, at least from this side of the Atlantic. It’s also hard to argue that MAD hasn’t worked for many years, but I have trouble imagining that it will work forever, particularly in a world where terrorism is in such an ascendency.

Justin T. Westbrook > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 08/06/2015 at 11:50

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My analogy was meant to show the board flipping as an end to humanity. All the major powers want to be able to end it for everyone if things don’t go their way.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Justin T. Westbrook 08/06/2015 at 11:53

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Humanity being what it is, I see no avoiding this. And frankly, I’d rather both sides were well armed. You know as well as I do both sides won’t disarm, and an uneasy, MAD-driven peace is better than none at all.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 08/06/2015 at 11:57

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Yes. Stalin knew about the bomb before Truman did and Klaus Fuchs was funneling them information from the beginning. The Reds would have gotten the bomb regardless of whether or not we used it against Japan. Even before WWII, the effectiveness of the atomic bomb and its potential was known. The technology required to make it happen didn’t.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > X37.9XXS 08/06/2015 at 12:02

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Which is no indication that he didn’t give the final go-ahead. As is common with touchy situations, it was probably a “I cannot officially sanction this but the back door is unlocked” scenario.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie 08/06/2015 at 12:04

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Klaus Fuchs rings a bell... is he the one who working on the Manhattan Project who was discovered recently to have been leaking information?

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 08/06/2015 at 12:08

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No. Klaus Fuchs was pretty central in the Soviet atomic spy ring and was caught in 1950. The ring was pretty huge at the time due to the popularity of Communist movements on college campuses through the 1930s. There were a ton of others.

f86sabre > ttyymmnn 08/06/2015 at 12:17

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Actually, LeMay understood how bad they were. Prior to the start of the campaign he ordered leaflets be dropped over likely target areas. They read as follows:

“Unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America’s humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives.”

That said, there is this from the NY Times (via Wikipedia):

“Maj. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, commander of the B-29s of the entire Marianas area, declared that if the war is shortened by a single day, the attack will have served its purpose.” The argument was that it was his duty to carry out the attacks in order to end the war as quickly as possible, sparing further loss of life. He also remarked that had the U.S. lost the war, he fully expected to be tried for war crimes .”

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 08/06/2015 at 12:25

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Interesting quotes. It’s also worth noting that the Americans dropped no leaflets over Hiroshima. The intent was to make as much of a psychological impact as possible. I would hope that in spite of being military men, our generals were first human.