A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima, Japan Wikipedia image
As a Utah Downwinder, I fight depressing ideas every August 6, and August 9.
The first atomic bomb used in war was dropped by my nation on August 6, 1945. The second, on August 9. Hiroshima, then Nagasaki, were the targets.
I know the arguments, both ways. I feel certain my Uncle Leo B. Stewart’s life was saved by the bombs — and the lives of probably two or three million more Americans, and five or ten million Japanese. And still I am troubled.
I’m troubled that there seems to be so little attention paid to the anniversary in the U.S. Year by year, it gets tougher to get news out of remembrance ceremonies in Japan. Here are some Twitter notes on the day. I may be back with more, later.
http://twitter.com/TimHarford/status/364792998275448835
This comes from a pseudo-Truman, but it’s an accurate reflection of the angst Truman went through; once he made the decision, he did not have doubts that it was the right one.
Fortunately, in 68 years since, no other nuclear device has ever been used in war. May we have a planet that never sees their use in war, again.
More:
- Hiroshima commemorates 68th atomic bombing anniversary (japandailypress.com)
- Japan Marks Hiroshima Bombing Anniversary (voanews.com)
- Song from Hiroshima on the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing (peaceblog.wordpress.com)
- Japan marks 68th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing (panarmenian.net)
- Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub post on the anniversary in 2012; 2011 post, featuring a short, touching film on remembrance and hope for peace
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
[…] <em><strong>More:</strong></em> <ul class=”zemanta-article-ul”> <li class=”zemanta-article-ul-li”><a href=”http://japandailypress.com/hiroshima-commemorates-68th-atomic-bombing-anniversary-0633370/” target=”_blank”>Hiroshima commemorates 68th atomic bombing anniversary</a> (japandailypress.com)</li> <li class=”zemanta-article-ul-li”><a href=”http://www.voanews.com/media/photogallery/1724211.html” target=”_blank”>Japan Marks Hiroshima Bombing Anniversary</a> (voanews.com)</li> <li class=”zemanta-article-ul-li”><a href=”http://peaceblog.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/3925/” target=”_blank”>Song from Hiroshima on the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing</a> (peaceblog.wordpress.com)</li> <li class=”zemanta-article-ul-li”><a href=”http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/167546/” target=”_blank”>Japan marks 68th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing</a> (panarmenian.net)</li> <li class=”zemanta-article-ul-li”><a href=”https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/august-6-1945-hiroshima-felt-atomic-warfare-67-years-ago-today/”>Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub post on the anniversary in 2012</a>; <a href=”https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/august-6-1945-hiroshima-felt-atomic-warfare-66-years-ago-today/”>2011 post, featuring a short, touching film on remembrance and hope for peace</a></li> </ul> <img class=”size-full wp-image-30417″ src=”https://timpanogos.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/encore-post-music-repeat-repeat-bar-lines.jpg” alt=”This is an encore post.” width=”300″ height=”119″ /> This is an encore post. […]
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[…] This is an encore post. […]
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I actually remain ambivalent about the first atomic bombing, though I certainly acknowledge both the horror of it and the international political intentions implicit in the decision. I would have hoped that a demonstration of the bomb’s power in a remote area would have been sufficient to persuade the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. But it’s very hard to say either way. No question about one thing, though. Operations Olympic and Cornet would have resulted in over a million deaths — possibly more if Japanese resistance stiffened and the USSR set its sights on Hokkaido. Plus, the slaughter would have continued in China. No easy answers, for sure.
But Ed, you are doing a great service in reminding us all of the stark horror of these infernal machines. Think of it — Billy Graham, William Sloane Coffin, every Pope since 1945, Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama all agree: Nuclear weapons must be banned forever. How often do you get a fundamentalist Baptist, a liberal mainline Protestant, a Roman Catholic, a Hindu and a Buddhist to agree on anything?
Peace, my friend. And thank you.
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Reading “Hiroshima” by John Hershey in eighth grade was almost more shocking than reading “Anne Frank,” because “we” were responsible for Hiroshima. I think the story slips quietly under the table for the same reason Texans tend to remember the Alamo, the battle we lost, more than San Jacinto, the battle we won, followed by much killing of soldiers trying to flee the onslaught.
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