Yalta Conference, February, 1945Churchill, FDR, Stalin

Yalta Conference

Stalin promised to enter the war against Japan 3 months after Germany surrendered.

(Germany surrendered on May 7 –> The S.U. Would declare war on Japan on August 8)

The three also discussed the postwar organization of Europe, agreeing upon the re-establishment of

prewar states and the occupation of postwar Germany.

Manhattan Project

Einstein and Oppenheimer working on developing the Atomic bomb.

The US spent $2 billion on developing the bomb.

First bomb tested in Alamagordo (White Sands) on July16, 1945.

My part in producing the atomic bomb consisted in a single act: I signed a letter to President Roosevelt, pressing the need for experiments on a larger scale in order to explore the possibilities for the production of an atomic bomb.I was fully aware of the terrible danger to mankind in case this attempts succeeded. But the likelihood that the Germans were working on the same problem with a chance of succeeding forced me to this step. I could do nothing else although I have always been a convinced pacifist. To my mind, to kill in war is not a whit better than to commit ordinary murder. (Albert Einstein, 1952)

"If I had known they were going to do this, I would have become a shoemaker."

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Hiroshima: ~140,000 people killed instantlyNagasaki: ~ 70,000

President Truman: “we have used it to sharpen the agony of war.”

UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER?Should Japan be allowed to keep its emperor?

On May 28, 1945, Hoover visited President Truman and suggested a way to end the Pacific war quickly: "I am convinced that if you, as President, will make a shortwave broadcast to the people of Japan - tell them they can have their Emperor if they surrender, that it will not mean unconditional surrender except for the militarists - you'll get a peace in Japan - you'll have both wars over."

POTSDAMAllies agree to demand unconditional surrender of Japan, and to dismantle the Japanese empire in

the Pacific.

At Potsdam,Stalin was informed of the US development of the Atomic bomb. He pretended indifference. A Soviet

project to develop nuclear weapons had been underway since 1942-43.

Truman: Sent message to Japan, telling them to surrender or “face prompt and utter destruction.”

POTSDAMConference – Aug. 2, 1945

General MacArthur:"...the Potsdam declaration in July, demand[ed] that Japan surrender unconditionally or face 'prompt and utter destruction.' MacArthur was appalled. He knew that the Japanese would never renounce their emperor, and that without him an orderly transition to peace would be impossible anyhow, because his people would never submit to Allied occupation unless he ordered it. Ironically, when the surrender did come, it was conditional, and the condition was a continuation of the imperial reign. Had the General's advice been followed, the resort to atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki might have been unnecessary."

US History Textbook … Japanese leaders still talked of winning a

glorious victory.

The Atomic Bomb President Truman made plans for invading Japan in the autumn. His military advisers warned him that the invasion might cost half a million American casualties. In July, Truman learned that a secret weapon – the atomic bomb – had been successfully tested in the NM desert. The new weapon could destroy an entire city. Truman decided to use it and save American lives.

…At last, on August 14, 1945, the emperor … announced that the nation would surrender. … World War II was over at last.

Dwight Eisenhower

"During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face'. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude..."

"...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

General Curtis LeMay (who pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force Chief of Staff):

“The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.”

General Douglas MacArthur

“My staff was unanimous in believing that Japan was on the point of collapse and surrender”

Howard Zinn“The justification for these atrocities was that this

would end the war quickly, making unnecessary an invasion of Japan. Such an invasion would cost a huge number of lives, the government said – a million, according to Secretary of State Byrnes; half a million, Truman claimed was the figure given him by General George Marshall. …

These estimates of invasion losses were not realistic, and seem to have been pulled out of the air to justify [the] bombings.

US Strategic Bombing SurveySet up by the War Department in 1944 to study results of aerial attacks.

“Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that certainly propr to 31 December 1945, and in all probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.

The Japanese code had been broken and the US was aware that Japan had been trying to negotiate the terms of surrender with the Soviet Union. Japan believed the Soviet Union could help broker peace with the US.

January 20, 1945: Roosevelt received a note From MacArthur that the Japanese were offering terms of surrender virtually identical to the ones eventually accepted by the Americans.

Truman:

Almost all of the casualties were civilians.

US Strategic Bombing Survey:“Hiroshima and Nagasaki were chosen as targets

because of their concentration of activities and population.”

“The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians.”