Bound by the bomb (Tri City Herald article)
"Survivors - and historians -also argue the bomb was dropped because the United States wanted to make a show of force to the Soviet Union in the opening round of the Cold War. And they contend the United States did not want to let a $2 billion project go unused.
Even some Manhattan Project scientists had doubts about dropping the bomb on a city. Some signed a petition requesting a demonstration explosion in water or on an island near Japan to impress the Japanese leaders.
Glenn Seaborg, one of plutonium's discoverers, signed that petition. "It just seemed like a good possibility that Japan would have surrendered without the loss of lives at Hiroshima and Nagasaki."We may have been wrong. They may not have surrendered," Seaborg said. "It was not a clearcut matter. You could argue the other side." But Seaborg said he would sign the petition again today.
U.S. leaders feared a demonstration with a still largely experimental bomb could easily fizzle - and not impress anyone."They argued that the sooner we used it on Japan, the sooner we would end the war," Seaborg said.
Japan appeared determined to continue the war in the summer of 1945.
Struggles were waged among Japan's top military and civilian leaders on whether to fight or surrender, but the pro-war military factions dominated.
Despite the internal debate, Japan's leaders publicly presented a united front of defiance to the outside world.
Because the Allies had broken Japan's codes, the men responsible for making the decision to drop the bomb had some clues about the split among Japan's leaders. But debate continues today on how much the Allies knew.
On July 26, 1945, Allied leaders issued the Potsdam Declaration, calling for Japan to surrender or face destruction.
Japanese Premier Kantaro Suzuki described his reaction to the Potsdam Declaration as "to kill it with silence" - the equivalent of saying, "No comment."
But the Japanese military told newspapers July 28 that Suzuki's reaction was to "treat it with silent contempt." And that was the message received by the Allies.
Some Nagasaki survivors like Uchida blame the military for continuing the war until the bombs dropped. He said he felt "rage, anger and fierce fury" at Japanese military leaders "for not surrendering when they knew we had lost the war."
The first atomic bomb fell Aug. 6, 1945, on Hiroshima. Hirohito and the military knew about that city's destruction later that day, but were paralyzed by indecision. Hirohito did not meet with his supreme war council until about 11 a.m. Aug. 9, within minutes of when the second bomb fell on Nagasaki.
In the first days after the Hiroshima attack, Japan's government tried to keep the awesome destruction a secret from the rest of the nation. "The Japanese military did not want people to know about the atomic bomb," said Tsuia Etchu, founder of Nagasaki's Atomic Bomb museum. Etchu was an army officer in the city of Fukuoka when the bomb fell.
Vague newspaper accounts were published Aug. 8, describing a new bomb inflicting "considerable" damage on Hiroshima. Nagasaki Prefecture's governor learned about the true extent of Hiroshima's devastation Aug. 8 from an eyewitness.
Uchida criticizes the speed of the second bombing. "Three days was not enough time to make the decision to surrender."
But after Hiroshima, the United States wanted to hit Japan with a second bomb quickly to create the illusion it had many atomic bombs ready, instead of just two.
On the afternoon of Aug. 9, after learning of Nagasaki's destruction, Japan's supreme war council remained split 3-3 on surrendering.That evening, Hirohito persuaded the die-hards on the council to accept surrender. "If the bomb was not dropped on Nagasaki, the military would have continued the war," Etchu said. "I think dropping the atomic bomb shortened the war.""
I found this article on the web. (
http://archive.tri-cityherald.com/BOMB/bomb15.html) It brings up every point we've discussed here.
I still have not found any evidence of a Japanese desire to surrender before the bombs were dropped.