Journal ArticleDOI
Ending the War with Japan: Paul Nitze's Early Surrender Counterfactual
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The most important foundation for attacks on the decision of President Harry S. Truman to use atomic bombs against Japan is the claim that conventional bombing and naval blockade had brought Japan to the point of surrender by the summer of 1945, that Truman knew this, and that he dropped the bombs to intimidate the Soviet Union, not to end the war.Abstract:
The most important foundation for attacks on the decision of President Harry S. Truman to use atomic bombs againstJapan is the claim that conventional bombing and naval blockade had brought Japan to the point of surrender by the summer of 1945, that Truman knew this, and that he dropped the bombs to intimidate the Soviet Union, not to end the war. This "early surrender" counterfactual hypothesis comes from publications of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS). The USSBS was headed in Japan, and its official reports edited and controlled, by Paul H. Nitze. This article examines the evidence on which Nitze claims to have based his "early surrender" hypothesis. The USSBS began as an effort by strategic bombing advocates to establish their craft as the ultimate arbiter of all futureread more
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Journal ArticleDOI
The Shock of the Atomic Bomb and Japan's Decision to Surrender: A Reconsideration
TL;DR: Hiroshima, Japan: Three B-29s flew over Hiroshima at a high altitude at about 08:25 and dropped several bombs as mentioned in this paper, and a terrific explosion accompanied by flame and smoke occurred at an altitude of 500 to 600 meters.
Book
How Effective is Strategic Bombing?: Lessons Learned From World War II to Kosovo
TL;DR: Gentile as mentioned in this paper exposes the survey as largely tautological and thereby throwing into question many of the central tenets of American air power philosophy and strategy, revealing how it reflected to its very foundation the American conceptual approach to strategic bombing.
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Endgame in the Pacific: Complexity, Strategy, and the B-29
TL;DR: The Boeing B-29 Superfortress was the U.S. Army Air Force's technological solution to crossing the vast expanse of ocean to compel the unconditional surrender of Japan with a minimum of American casualties as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Reassessing Truman, the bomb, and revisionism: The burlesque frame and entelechy in the decision to use atomic weapons against Japan
TL;DR: The authors used a Burkean perspective to explore the ongoing debate over Truman's decision to use atomic weapons against Japan, arguing that a burlesque frame and entelechial forces pushed decision makers toward the tragedy of Hiroshima.
Journal ArticleDOI
Advocacy or Assessment? The United States Strategic Bombing Survey of Germany and Japan
TL;DR: It is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior 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.
References
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Just and unjust wars. Michael Walzer. basic books, New York, 1977.
TL;DR: Walzer as discussed by the authors argued that just and unjust wars are not justifiable, but also unjust and just. Basic books, New York, 1977; Australian Outlook: Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 357-363.