Re: "Fallout" Major Complaint!!

["H.B. Knowles" <hbknowls@ix.netcom.com>]

At 15:02 06/16/1999 Wednesday-0500, Michael Kay wrote>
>
>THERE NEVER WAS GOING TO BE AN INVASION OF JAPAN!!!!!!!!!
>
>Please, Please read "Why the United States Dropped the Bomb" in the
>August/September 1990 edition of Technology Review (Published by MIT). 
>Copies of
>the pertinent pages of Truman's Diaries in his own handwriting are included. 
>The
>war was all but over. Japan was negotiating for a surrender and peace in 
>Geneva.
>The only question was how to allow the Emperor to remain a titular head. 
>Russia,
>under Stalin, was set to attack about August 10th from the Manchuria area
which
>would have had the effect of forcing the surrender post haste.
>
>THE BOMB WAS DROPPED BECAUSE TRUMAN DID NOT WANT TO SHARE POST-WAR HEGEMONY 
>WITH
>STALIN!
>
>I worked for many years at the classified U.S. Naval Defense Laboratory at
>Hunters Point in San Francisco. Part of my work was on Effects of Nuclear
>Weapons. At that time, almost everyone believed the "Invasion Myth" because
the
>diaries had not been released. For many scientists who worked on the Manhattan
>Project, and for many others, the revelations in 1990 created moral problems.
>
>The US was responsible for First Use of Atomic Weapons because of the
political
>(and egotistical) drives of the one person responsible for their deployment.
>
>Therefore, I think it is a travesty of journalism to repeat this fairy tale 
>over
>and over on these programs. It was the failure of the Smithsonian 
>Institution to
>present this information in a straight-forward, no-holds barred manner that
was
>responsible for the ultimate non-opening of a World War II exhibit a couple of
>years ago. How about putting Truman's own handwriting as a full page news
>article in all papers. That would give everyone something to think about.
>
>Please read the article before flaming away.
>
>Michael A. Kay, ScD, CHMM
>makay@teleport.com
 
Radsafers:

This fascinating fable really catches my attentiomn, and I feel I must respond,
even though it it flagrantly off-topic (as M. Woo will soon indicate). First,
as a former EM in the 20th Air Force-Curtis LeMay's own- there was no
implication that we were not going to invade Japan, or that we might not have
to. Training and preparation were carried out exactly as though it would be
occurring. Now of course, in 1944, Roosevelt was president, and not Truman. But
Dr. Kay suggests there was an option for Truman. My thesis advisor Luis
Alvarez, was very deeply involved, especially in delivery of the bomb. (Rode on
the plane following the Enola Gay and carrying the diagnostics.) He pointed out
that even after the Nagasaki bomb had been dropped, some young firebrands in
the Japanese army staged an attack on the Imperial Palace (which was just
barely stopped) with the goal of seizing control of the person of the Emperor
and preventing his surrender. They- and quite a bit of the Japanese military
was prepared to fight it out to the last person. I have a close friend,
Japanese -born and a volunteer Kamikaze pilot at the time- who confirms this
absolutely. Whatever fiddle-diddle was going on through intermediaries is not
known to me, nor do I plan to read the book, because it was of no consequence
in the face of this dedication. It took real nuclear bombs to shake the
determination of the officer clique, and even then, it might not have been
enough. 

This fable ranks alongside the old chestnut about Roosevelt deliberately
ignoring the intercepted messages and allowing (causing! ) Pearl Harbor to
happen, and there is a parallel: the prewar US Army officer corps itself was so
stupid and slow to react to even the strongest warnings that the debacle was
inevitable. And another parrallel: it demonizes Truman (along with Roosevelt),
using a method that is old stuff for the right-wing Republicans. They are still
using it. 

If Dr. May has any counterremarks to make, I am sure we will hear them.

Sincerely,



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H.B. Knowles, PhD, Physics Consulting
4030 Hillcrest Rd, El Sobrante, CA 94803
Phone\Fax (510)758-5449
hbknowls@ix.netcom.com
<www.hbknowles.com>
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