Debating the Issues in World War II: Dropping the Atomic Bomb
Question 1: Was the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan justified?
Y/N
Argument
Evidence
There was a high civilian death toll that
resulted from the use of the atomic bomb.
Many in the Japanese government hoped for
a negotiated peace and a conditional
surrender, and the Americans only
demanded for the unconditional surrender
of Japan.
Almost 150,000 civilians were killed as a result of the bombardment of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.1
On July 21, 1945, the Japanese government informed its representative
in Moscow: “We cannot consent to unconditional surrender under any
circumstances. Even if the war drags on and more blood must be shed,
so long as the enemy demands unconditional surrender, we will fight
as one man against the enemy in accordance with the Emperor’s
command.”2
During the Battle of Britain, over 146,700 civilians were killed or
seriously injured.3 The air-raids in Germany cost approximately
600,000 civilian lives.4 During the bombing of Dresden, 135,000
people were killed.5 The firebombing of Tokyo claimed 83,000 lives,
the majority of them being civilians.6
Both sides used mass strategic bombings
and conventional bombings to hinder war
production. This resulted in a large
numbers of civilian casualties, similar to
that of the atomic bombs.
The use of the atomic bomb was unethical
and immoral as it created a new meaning of
total war by destroying thousands of
civilians in a grotesque manner
By 1945, Japan was crippled as a result of
the Allied blockade and bombings and
neared collapse.
The alternative to using the atomic bomb
(bombardments / blockade) would have had
devastating effects on the Japanese
population and would have prolonged the
war and their suffering.
The Allied strategic bombings and blockade
had devastating effects of Japan, yet these
efforts were not enough to compel the
surrender of a Japanese military still bent on
victory.
The Japanese military were preparing a
desperate defense of their homeland that
would inevitably produce high casualties on
both sides.
William D. Leahy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated: “My
own feeling is that in being the first to use it, we had adopted an ethical
standard common to barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to
make war in that fashion, and wars cannot be won by destroying
women and children.”7
A report by the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey following the war
concluded that: “Certainly prior to 31 December 1945, and in all
probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would have surrendered
even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not
entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or
contemplated.”8
Conventional bombardments killed and would have continued to kill
hundreds of thousands of civilians in Japan. Large numbers of
Japanese civilians would have perished through starvation and disease
as a result of the blockade.9
Throughout June 1945, Kyushu was built up as a military stronghold. 10
Commanders ordered soldiers and civilian volunteers to attack
American tanks, asking “all able-bodied Japanese, regardless of sex” to
“be prepared to sacrifice his life in suicide attacks on enemy armored
forces.”11
As a result of the Japanese defensive buildup in July, and the losses
during previous battles in the Pacific, Truman was informed by
General Marshall that an invasion of Japan could result in half a
million American casualties.12 This figure was projected by Pentagon
planners, who estimated 132,000 American casualties for an invasion
of Kyushu, and 90,000 for Honshu. 13
Bragdon, Henry W., McCutchen, Samuel P., Ritchie, Donald A., History of a Free Nation, (Columbus: Glenroe/McGraw-Hill, 1998) 22
James Byrnes, Speaking Frankly (New York: Greenwood Press, 1947) 211.
John R. Elting, “Costs, Casualties and Other Data”, Grolier Online, <http://gi.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_16.html>
4
John Keegan, The Second World War (New York: The Penguin Group, 1990) 426.
5
Roy Jenkins, Truman (New York: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1986) 27.
6
Ronald Takaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb (New York: Little, Brown & Company Limited, 1995) 27.
7
William D. Leahy, I Was There: The Personal Story of the Chief of Staff to Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, Based on his Notes and Diaries Made at
the Time, (New York, 1950) 441.
8
“The United States Strategic Bombing Survey,” The Truman Administration: A Documentary History (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1966) 45.
9
Richard B. Frank, Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire (New York: Random House, 1999) 334.
10
Edward J. Drea, MacArthur’s ULTRA: Codebreaking and the War against Japan 1942-1945 (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1992) 209.
11
Ronald Spector, Eagle Against the Sun (New York: Random House, Inc., 1985) 544.
12
Harry S. Truman, Year of Decisions, (Garden City: Doubleday, 1955)
13
Brian McNulty, “The Great Atomic Bomb Debate” Ohio University, 25 November 2003, <http://www.ohiou.edu/perspectives/9701/bomb2.htm>
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Debating the Issues in World War II: Internment of Japanese Canadians
Question 2: Was the internment of Japanese Canadians justified?
Y/N
Argument
Evidence
Prime Minister Mackenzie King
took necessary precautions to
ensure national security of Canada
and North America, as the US had
also interned Japanese-Americans
-“Japan was aggressively expanding in the Pacific (islands of Attu and Kiska).
Moreover, American and Canadian governments were more alarmed as a
Japanese submarine had fired on telegraph station and lighthouse in British
Columbia”. 14
- Canada’s Undersecretary of State for External Affairs, Norman Robertson, and
American ambassador, Pierre Moffat, agreed to “the importance of pursuing
parallel policies concerning the Japanese living in Canada and the United States
as nearly as possible.”15
-Racist and xenophobic public sentiment felt that Japanese-born Canadians
showed too much sympathy for Japan and that there was a chance that some of
them might form a fifth column (espionage). 16
Japanese Canadians were judged
solely on the basis of their racial
ancestry, and not their citizenship.
The Japanese Canadians were
harshly mistreated, lost all their
property, and the camps had
terrible conditions
During the Pacific War it was
feared that the Japanese Canadians
were spies for Japan, so Canada
took away their fishing vessels to
ensure national security.
The interment, deportation and
relocation of the Japanese
Canadians was for their own safety
and was legal.
There was no proof of acts of
disloyalty by the Japanese
Canadians shown during the war
Canadian public opinion,
especially in British Columbia
called for measures to be taken
against residents and Canadians of
Japanese ancestry
14
-“The fishermen suffered not only loss of income but prices received for their property
was sold without consent and was a fracture of the appraised value.” 17
-“After Pearl Harbour, Japanese Canadian citizens and Japanese Nationals in Canada
were subject to government curfews and personal interrogation…all Japanese language
newspapers were shut down, fishing boats were impounded, and the federal government
liquidated businesses, and sold vehicles, houses, and personal belongings. The proceeds
of the sales were used to pay auctioneers and realtors, as well as to cover the costs of the
internment.” 18
- the living conditions were so poor that the citizens of wartime Japan even sent
supplemental food shipments through the Red Cross. During the period of detention, the
Canadian government spent one-third the per capita amount expended by the U.S. on
Japanese American evacuees. 19
MP Howard Green stated, “At the time there were about twelve hundred fishing
vessels on the coast, ad there were nearly three thousand fishing licences held
by the Japanese. And they were scattered along the coast. Some of them were
powerful enough to cross the Pacific. It was obviously very easy for Japanese
naval men to infiltrate through this fleet.” 20
Anti-Japanese demonstrations were increasing and the Japanese Canadians were
not well integrated or accepted by the local population. The deportation orders
in February 1946, the Supreme Court of Canada indeed ruled that the
government had the legal right, under the War Measures Act, to intern and
deport Japanese Canadians.21.
Prime Minister Mackenzie King, “It is a fact no person of Japanese race born in
Canada has been charged with any act of sabotage or disloyalty during the years
of war.”22 In Ottawa, top RCMP and military officials said fears of disloyalty
and sabotage by Japanese Canadians were unfounded. But the war had offered a
convenient excuse for British Columbians to act on entrenched anti-Asian
sentiments. 23
“Xenophobia in Canada (specifically British Columbia) was very high.
Japanese Canadians, as a race, were seen as ‘disloyal to the core.’ The reason
for the mass evacuation was not because of the Japanese but because of the
whites. The problem was one of mass hysteria and prejudice.” 24
Canadian Military Heritage. Volume III.
Bangarth, Stephanie Mackenzie King and th4 Japanese Canadians. (Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, Inc, 2002.)14
Nolan, Brian. King’s War. (Toronto: Random house of Canada Limited, 1988.) 71
17
Adachi, Ken. The Enemy That Never Was. (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart Inc, 1991.) 46
18
Canadian Military Heritage. Volume III.
19
Canadian Military Heritage. Volume III.
20
Nolan, Brian. King’s War. (Toronto: Random house of Canada Limited, 1988.) 71
21
Miki, R. and Kobayashi, C. Justice in Our Time. (British Columbia: Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data, 1991.)17
22
Miki, R. and Kobayashi, C. Justice in Our Time. (British Columbia: Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data, 1991.)22
23
Canadian Military Heritage. Volume III.
24
Patton, Janice. The Exodus of the Japanese. (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1973.) 52
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