Bombing of Japan: Post V
Allen, Thomas B. and Norman Polmar. Code-Name Downfall: The Secret Plan to Invade Japan and Why Truman Dropped the Bomb. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995. Pp. 351.
Adopting a stance of justification for using atomic bombs on Japan, Thomas Allen and Norman Polmar reject ideas of possible negotiations being successful to secure surrender. Included in the work are prewar planning strategies, pacific battle descriptions, an overview of the enemy. Allen and Polmar also address possibilities of invasion and the likelihood of chemical and biological weapons use. Authors detail military actions and discuss alternatives to nuclear destruction, including the stumbling block of unconditional surrender. Documentation of the work includes many secondary sources spanning from 1940s to the 1990s offering a variety of postwar analysis. Also included are official reports, articles, and unpublished manuscripts.
Schoenberger, Walter Smith. Decisions of Destiny. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1969. Pp. 330.
Beginning with a discussion of the Manhattan Project, those involved, and issues of concern such as financing the research and continuing development, Walter Schoenberger details American policy and interaction with leaders such as Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill. Schoenberger dedicates a chapter to President Harry Truman, his rise to politics and the transition to the presidency. Schoenberger presents a narrative timeline of events before addressing the decision to drop the bomb, its morality, international influence and consequences. Schoenberger takes the stance that destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by nuclear means was a political decision described in moral terms. He goes on to insinuate the moral bankruptcy of total war, stating the key to peace is accommodation, not an unmoving stance of unconditional surrender and total war.
December 07 2005 10:27 am | History and Ramblings
