Hiroshima (1946)

When I was young in grade school, and learned about the bomb, and its terrifying aftermath, pictures, scars, I thought that this was clearly a wrong against humanity to have been dropped on anyone. Clearly the visceral kind of "this should never happen" reaction that any average person would have. "How could we put the Enola Gay on a stamp to glorify this?" Then, in college and especially after, learning about the equal horrors of the Japanese war machine, and…

It's funny how war is always glorious from the point of view of the aggressor and always sad from the point of view of the aggressed (sp?), even when they're the same person! How we feel depends on who's story we're reading at the time. "She had not had an easy time. Her husband, Isawa, had gone into the Army just after Myeko was born, and she had heard nothing from or of him for a long time, until, on…

I just finished reading American Caesar[0], a great biography of Douglas MacArthur. I highly recommend it as the story of a fascinating and brilliant man who is too little remembered today. I especially enjoyed and respected MacArthur's place in the rebuilding of Japan; his almost absolute power gave him space to override the more vengeful elements within the United States to implement an extremely conciliatory post-war settlement. I don't think it's unfair to call him the founder of the modern…

If anyone thinks that dropping the bombs was unnecessary, I would recommend reading Barrett's 140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan's Last Chance to Avert Armageddon: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51089656-140-days-to-hir... * https://www.nationalww2museum.org/about-us/notes-museum/140-... It documents, using Japanese source material including interviews with the principals involved, the decision making process leading up to the eventual surrender. What was most surprising to me was the reluctance of…