Member-only story
Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Justified?
Evidence seems to show the atom bomb wasn’t needed to end World War II.
Hit the Medium paywall? Read on Substack.
On August 6, 1945, the United States became the only country ever to use nuclear weapons in warfare when our military dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Several days later, a second nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
I will be writing a seven-part-series on the bombing.
Was the Bombing of Hiroshima Justified?
The American public was led to believe the bombing of Hiroshima was justified, and that it was needed to end the war with Japan.
But we now know that Japan may have been willing to surrender before the bomb was dropped, if certain terms were met.
In July 1945, Japan contacted the Soviet Union, then a US ally, asking them to negotiate an agreement between Japan and the US to end the war. They expressed a willingness to surrender, but only under certain conditions.
The main condition was allowing Emperor Hirohito to remain in power, at least in some capacity.
Hirohito was not just a political leader, but a spiritual leader to the Japanese people. Forcing him to…
