Thursday, August 6, 2015

The right decision

Seventy years ago, August 6, 1945, the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the world changed, never to be the same again.  President Truman had to make the decision to drop the bomb, hoping it would persuade Japan to surrender.

Three days later, August 9, an atom bomb was dropped on Nakasaki, and Japan surrendered August 12.

Some historians fault the use of the bomb, insisting Japan could have been defeated by an invasion.  They don't consider that military leaders at the time  predicted American would suffer more than a million casualties. Veterans of Okinawa, including me, who were preparing to invade Japan, are convinced the atom bomb saved their lives.

President Truman had a tough decision to make but he made the right one.

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