painted August 6, 2015
Like most Americans of my generation, especially those whose Parents were stationed by the Military in the Pacific during the Second World War, I was taught to believe the Myth that the Bombing of Hiroshima was a Necessary Evil and that it saved the Lives of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Soldiers who would have been forced to capture the Islands of Japan foot by foot from a fanatical Foe. The Correspondence between the Japanese and US Officials prior to this bombing, the attempts on the part of the Japanese Officials to negotiate a Peace, and related Documents which were belatedly released, contradict this still widely believed Myth. One particular piece of Truth is that General MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs of Staff strongly opposed this bombing and it was the Decision of President Harry Truman and Secretary of War Henry Stimson to use this weapon as a way of intimidating the Soviet Union and punishing the Japanese. Truman and Stimson wanted to send a Warning to Stalin, and the Destruction of the People of Hiroshima was meant to serve as the Body of that Message.
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