Aug. 5–Sixty years past Hiroshima, the debate over the use of the atomic bomb persists.
Here — in vastly abbreviated form — are the arguments of critics, and the rebuttals: The bomb was overkill. Japan was already defeated. The Japanese would have thrown in the towel before long.
Rebuttal: Until the Japanese leadership admitted that they were defeated, they weren’t. And they refused to admit defeat.
The bomb could have been dropped on a deserted island, not a city. That way, the Japanese could see its shattering effect for themselves — and admit that they could no longer fight on against a weapon of such ferocity.
Rebuttal: A demonstration bomb might have been an embarrassing dud. Or the Japanese might have moved American POWs to the island. Or the Japanese might have taken forever to agree on exactly what they had seen.
The bomb was racist. The Japanese were chosen as targets because their skin was yellow, not white.
Rebuttal: Had the Germans still been fighting in August 1945, they would have been Target No. 1.
The bomb was immoral. Most of its victims were civilians, not soldiers, and Hiroshima itself had few targets of military value.
Rebuttal: For five months before Hiroshima, American B-29s had been fire-bombing cities. The issue of killing civilians was already settled.
The bomb was political. The main aim of dropping the atomic bomb was to cow the Soviet Union, not the Japanese. In effect, the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb was the opening shot of the Cold War.
Rebuttal: The United States courted the Soviets as allies against Japan. Only in March 1946 did Winston S. Churchill make his “iron curtain” speech — usually noted as the start of the Cold War.
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