On August 6, 1945, the United States changed the course of human history by dropping an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The wisdom of that action at the behest of President Harry Truman has become one of the most hotly-debated issues of all time. Many on the left, who are always so quick to condemn historical figures in hindsight, believe that dropping the atomic bomb was one of the greatest moral failings in the history of our nation. Others, like the late conservative matriarch Phyllis Schlafly, have strongly voiced support for our use of the bomb.
Let’s put the politics aside for a second to talk about the facts. It is a fact that the Japanese were prepared to defend their homeland to the last man, woman, and child. In two and a half thousand years of recorded history, there was no record of Japan surrendering to anyone. In the entirety of the Second World War, not one single Japanese unit was ever recorded as having surrendered. The United States had every reason to believe that the island nation of Japan would have fought tooth and nail for every inch of their homeland. In hindsight, we can see that these inferences were valid. Uncovered contemporaneous documents indicate that the Japanese military was prepared to sacrifice up to 28 million civilians in the defense of their homeland, which was roughly one-third of their total population. By shocking Japan into surrender with two atomic bombs, America saved untold millions of Japanese lives in addition to the many American lives that were also spared.
Like so many other politically driven historians, the anti-bomb crowd is far more quick to condemn Truman’s action than they are to suggest an alternative. At the end of the day, leftists just do not want to admit that nukes are safe in the hands of a moral people like 1945 America. We could have used the atom bomb to conquer the globe, but instead we rebuilt the nations of our enemies and started sending billions of dollars in foreign aid. We should thank the Lord every day that He gave the atomic bomb to America. The world is better because of it.
