I read with dismay the op-ed article “Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Truman’s Decision” published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Chimes, which argued that dropping the nuclear bombs on those two cities was the humane thing to do. On humanitarian grounds alone, we Christians should show greater compassion for the horrible deaths of more than 350,000 Japanese, the vast majority of whom were innocent civilians. Tens of thousands of people were burned to death, more than half women and children, while the majority suffered a slow and painful death from injuries or radiation over the five years afterward.
On military grounds, the need to destroy half the population of two major Japanese cities was highly questionable. The justification given for this unprecedented nuclear attack on civilians has always been that it might have spared hundreds of thousands of Japanese and American lives. Seeing the fierce resistance put up by the Japanese army on Okinawa, our government estimated that if we tried to invade the main Japanese islands our troops might suffer as many as a half million casualties. The fact, however, is that by the end of July of 1945 there was no doubt in the minds of Japan’s leaders that their nation had lost the war. Half of Tokyo had been reduced to rubble, as had most other Japanese cities. Japan’s industrial complex had crumbled under aerial assault, Japan could build no more planes due to a lack of aluminum and steel, and as of April of 1945 Japan no longer had a naval fleet. The Japanese government had no choice but to surrender.
On July 26, 1945 the U.S., Great Britain and China signed the Potsdam Declaration. When the Japanese leaders heard of this, their reaction was one of exultation. The terms were far more lenient than they had expected. The Japanese Emperor found the declaration acceptable and asked the full cabinet to approve it. If the U.S. had only given the Japanese cabinet sufficient time to deliberate, it is very likely that Japan would have surrendered without the need to kill those 350,000 unarmed Japanese civilians.
According to some U.S. historians, Truman ordered the bombings against the advice of many of his senior advisers in order to end the war with Japan before Russia had a chance to enter the fray and affect the peace settlement. In any case, Truman’s chief of staff, Admiral William Leahy, stated in his memoirs 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. 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.”
Whether the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki constituted a needless tragedy or an effective military tactic will never be certain. What is certain is that deliberate, massive attacks on civilians violate historic Christian ethical traditions of just warfare. It is incumbent especially upon such a powerful nation as the U.S. to be very cautious in how it wields its power. It is crucial that we do not use force too hastily in the future nor fail to carefully question our use of it in the past.