ATOMIC BOMBINGS AT 75: Scholars Speak Out Against ‘Unnecessary’ Attacks
Japan was ready to surrender, making the atomic bombings
of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki two days later,
totally unnecessary and morally indefensible, say
a panel of scholars in two video discussions.
The debate over the atomic bombings—a controversy that forced the
Smithsonian Institution to abandon its Enola Gay exhibit 25 years ago—
continues unabated in America today as we approach the 75th anniversary
of the incineration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Four historians, each of whom has written extensively on the topic,
discussed the documentary evidence and explored the current state
of knowledge about the bombings in two sessions with TV, print, radio,
and internet journalists from around the world.
Among other points, they argue that the bombings were unnecessary as
Japan was ready to surrender as long as they could keep the emperor
(which the U.S. eventually allowed them to do); that U.S. generals,
including Dwight Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur, were
opposed to the bombings; and that a real aim of the attacks was to send
a message to the Soviet Union and not to avert a U.S. invasion, which
was still months away.
The historians taking part are:
Gar Alperovitz, formerly a Fellow of Kings College Cambridge, the
Institute of Politics at Harvard, and Lionel Bauman Professor of Political
Economy at the University of Maryland, is the author of
Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam and
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb. He is currently a Principal of
The Democracy Collaborative, an independent research institution
in Washington, D.C.
Martin Sherwin, University Professor of History, George Mason University,
is author of A World Destroyed: Hiroshima and Its Legacies winner of the
Society of Historians of American Foreign Relation’s Bernath Book Prize,
co-author with Kai Bird of American Prometheus: The Triumph and
Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize
for biography, and Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from
Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis, forthcoming in September 2020.
Kai Bird, Executive Director, CUNY Graduate Center’s Leon Levy
Center for Biography, co-author (with Martin Sherwin) of Pulitzer Prize-winning
Center for Biography, co-author (with Martin Sherwin) of Pulitzer Prize-winning
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert
Oppenheimer, co-editor (with Lawrence Lifschultz) Hiroshima’s Shadow,
and author The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the
American Establishment.
Oppenheimer, co-editor (with Lawrence Lifschultz) Hiroshima’s Shadow,
and author The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the
American Establishment.
Peter Kuznick, Professor of History, Director, Nuclear Studies Institute,
American University, co-author (with Akira Kimura), Rethinking the Atomic
Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Japanese and American
Perspectives, co-author (with Oliver Stone) of The New York Times best-selling
Perspectives, co-author (with Oliver Stone) of The New York Times best-selling
The Untold History of the United States (books and documentary
film series), and author “The Decision to Risk the Future: Harry Truman,
the Atomic Bomb and the Apocalyptic Narrative.”
Former news executive at NPR, NBC, and CBS and professor emeritus at the
University of Missouri Barbara Cochran moderated both sessions.
The questioning in the first press briefing began with Owen Ullmann, former
world news editor at USA Today, and current executive editor of
International Economy Magazine, followed by former Washington Post
columnist and current John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public
Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland Dana Priest,
Walter Pincus, former reporter/columnist at The Washington Post and
contributing senior national security columnist at the Cipher Brief,
Pablo Pardo of El Mundo, and Yuliya Olhovskaya of Channel One Russia.
The second briefing was kicked off by New York Times Tokyo station chief
Motoko Rich, Masato Tainaka of Asahi Shimbun, and Miya Tanaka of
Kyodo News.
The two press briefings, one for the Western press, and the other for
journalists in Asia, can be seen here:
posted by Satish Sharma at 14:24
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home