Hiroshima: Atomic Bomb Dome and modern buildingsPhoto from Wikipedia
From Reuters:
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Sixty-one percent of Americans believe the United States did the right thing by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 64 years ago, according to a new poll.
Older voters, men and Republicans favored the attacks more than younger people, women and Democrats, the survey of 2,409 registered voters by Quinnipiac University showed.
Asked whether the United States "did the right thing or the wrong thing by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Republicans said it was the right thing to do by a margin of 74 to 13 percent, while Democrats favored it 49 to 29 percent.
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My Comment: I had the good fortune of being in Hiroshima on August 6, 1988 (I was traveling through Japan, visiting China, and going as a spectator to the Seoul Olympics at the time). The atomic bomb ceremony was much smaller then, but the experience of standing there at 8:15 AM and remembering what happened 43 years earlier is a sensation that will stay with me for a lifetime.
Was it a right thing to do .... to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war.
All of my Chinese and Korean friends and colleagues in Asia say yes. It ended almost immediately the brutality and viciousness of the Japanese Army against the civilian populations in their respective countries. If the war was to drag on for another year as the Americans were preparing for a conventional invasion of Japan, the Japanese would have easily killed off hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans civilians during the interim. They were already doing it, and there was no reason to assume that they would stop. Therefore .... from the Asian point of view (non-Japanese) .... I have found that there is almost universal support among these peoples for the bombing of Hiroshima.
Asked whether the United States "did the right thing or the wrong thing by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Republicans said it was the right thing to do by a margin of 74 to 13 percent, while Democrats favored it 49 to 29 percent.
Read more ....
My Comment: I had the good fortune of being in Hiroshima on August 6, 1988 (I was traveling through Japan, visiting China, and going as a spectator to the Seoul Olympics at the time). The atomic bomb ceremony was much smaller then, but the experience of standing there at 8:15 AM and remembering what happened 43 years earlier is a sensation that will stay with me for a lifetime.
Was it a right thing to do .... to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war.
All of my Chinese and Korean friends and colleagues in Asia say yes. It ended almost immediately the brutality and viciousness of the Japanese Army against the civilian populations in their respective countries. If the war was to drag on for another year as the Americans were preparing for a conventional invasion of Japan, the Japanese would have easily killed off hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans civilians during the interim. They were already doing it, and there was no reason to assume that they would stop. Therefore .... from the Asian point of view (non-Japanese) .... I have found that there is almost universal support among these peoples for the bombing of Hiroshima.
My Comment: I had the good fortune of being in Hiroshima on August 6, 1988 (I was traveling through Japan, visiting China, and going as a spectator to the Seoul Olympics at the time). The atomic bomb ceremony was much smaller then, but the experience of standing there at 8:15 AM and remembering what happened 43 years earlier is a sensation that will stay with me for a lifetime.
Was it a right thing to do .... to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war.
All of my Chinese and Korean friends and colleagues in Asia say yes. It ended almost immediately the brutality and viciousness of the Japanese Army against the civilian populations in their respective countries. If the war was to drag on for another year as the Americans were preparing for a conventional invasion of Japan, the Japanese would have easily killed off hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans civilians during the interim. They were already doing it, and there was no reason to assume that they would stop. Therefore .... from the Asian point of view (non-Japanese) .... I have found that there is almost universal support among these peoples for the bombing of Hiroshima.
When I was young I also asked my father this same question .... his comments were most poignant. He was a Soviet officer in occupied East Germany during this time, and when he first heard of the attack he realized two things. (1) The world will never be the same again. (2) Thank God .... this was going to end the Second World War.
The way he said it .... that the war was finally over .... the relief in his voice and eyes .... that clinched it for me.
Thank God these horrible weapons were used. It finally ended a long a bloody war.
Fast forward to today .... we must always be vigilant and assertive in the international arena to make sure that the use of such weapons will never happen again. We have been fortunate that after 64 years nuclear weapons have not been used against human beings .... but this success is no guarantee that the next 64 years will bring the same result.
Was it a right thing to do .... to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima to end the war.
All of my Chinese and Korean friends and colleagues in Asia say yes. It ended almost immediately the brutality and viciousness of the Japanese Army against the civilian populations in their respective countries. If the war was to drag on for another year as the Americans were preparing for a conventional invasion of Japan, the Japanese would have easily killed off hundreds of thousands of Chinese and Koreans civilians during the interim. They were already doing it, and there was no reason to assume that they would stop. Therefore .... from the Asian point of view (non-Japanese) .... I have found that there is almost universal support among these peoples for the bombing of Hiroshima.
When I was young I also asked my father this same question .... his comments were most poignant. He was a Soviet officer in occupied East Germany during this time, and when he first heard of the attack he realized two things. (1) The world will never be the same again. (2) Thank God .... this was going to end the Second World War.
The way he said it .... that the war was finally over .... the relief in his voice and eyes .... that clinched it for me.
Thank God these horrible weapons were used. It finally ended a long a bloody war.
Fast forward to today .... we must always be vigilant and assertive in the international arena to make sure that the use of such weapons will never happen again. We have been fortunate that after 64 years nuclear weapons have not been used against human beings .... but this success is no guarantee that the next 64 years will bring the same result.