Dear Everyone;
At various times the use or non-use of nuclear weapons has appeared on the discussion group. References have been made to the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. This article and the paperback book definitely lays to rest the myths surrounding the saving of 500,000 soldiers lives if Japan had to be invaded.
It does paint Truman in a very poor light and the short of it is Truman delibrately massacred several hundred thousand Japanese civilians to show Stalin and the Politburo how tough he was. Too bad Truman did not know Stalin already knew about the bombs Big Boy and Fat Man.
Remember the aiming point in Hiroshima was City Hall and Nagasaki a Catholic Cathedral. Neither Hiroshima or Nagasaki were on the Air Forces strategic bombing list of some 35 Japanese cities. In Hiroshima several dozen US war prisoners were incinerated and in Nagasaki severel hundred Catholics were incinerated. A special note is the Catholics in Japan survived 230 years of oppression by the Japanese government only to be basically wiped out by Democracy.
Ron Getty
SF Libertarian