The 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima has come and gone, prompting Stevens Institute of Technology professor Alex Wellerstein, self-proclaimed “historian of science, secrecy, and nuclear weapons,” to unleash a “debunking the myths” twitterstorm on the subject, prompting me to respond in near-knee-jerk reaction, since I’ve already debunked the debunkers before—mostly here, but also here (though, atom-wise, almost entirely in footnote 6). As A-bomb debunkers go, Professor Wellerstein is not particularly deceitful, but I suppose that only makes him more dangerous. At any rate, I’m not passing up the opportunity to throw a few stones.
After stating the “myth” of the necessity of the bomb’s use, Wellerstein claims “Now what’s maddening about this all-too-typical account is that like many convincing but not quite true things, it has elements of truth in it! It also has elements of falsehood, and, most importantly, essentially lies by MASSIVE omission.” But it is Wellerstein who is the grand omitter, to wit.
“The core component of what the ‘peace’ faction of the Japanese high command definitely wanted was a preservation of the Emperor system, and guarantees that the Emperor wouldn’t be tried as a war criminal.
“When I explain this to US audiences, I emphasize that this is kind of like insisting that the US be able to retain its Constitution: it’s foundational to the concept of the nation. It was seen as absolutely core to Japanese identity, history, and nationhood; i.e., non-negotiable.”
Here’s the thing: when you’re, you know, surrendering, you don’t get to make “non-negotiable” demands. If Hitler hadn’t committed suicide, but rather indicated his willingness to surrender, provided that he remain as Germany’s Führer (and not be tried as a war criminal), how would the Allies have responded? And how would Dr. Wellerstein have responded, had he been around at the time?
Following the Russo-Japanese War, Japan “annexed” Korea into the Japanese Empire in 1910, ending the Joseon Dynasty, which had endured for over 500 years. Korea had its own emperor at the time. What happened to him? Emperor Sunjong was forced to abdicate, and he and his wife, Empress Sunjeong, lived the rest of their lives effectively under house arrest. No non-negotiable demands for Korea.1
Dr. Wellerstein claims that the fact that the U.S. knew that some Japanese officials were floating ideas about terms for a possible surrender “with honor” proves that the U.S. deliberately chose not to make an “acceptable” peace with Japan even though it knew it could get one. But Japan never made an offer of surrender on any terms. These were mere proposals for proposals, never endorsed officially by anyone. If the Japanese wanted to surrender, they should have come to the U.S. They never did so.
Wellerstein also steps on his own argument both by acknowledging that the “peace” faction also discussed other possible “non-negotiable” demands, like holding onto some parts of the existing Japanese Empire (like Korea, for example?) and that the “peace” faction wasn’t even in control of the government, which is a good reason why the Japanese never approached the U.S. until after two atomic bombs and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Instead of debunking the myth, these admissions by the good professor go a long way towards reinforcing it.
- After Japan made Korea part of its empire, it sought, among other things, to eradicate Koreans’ sense of identity by eliminating the Korean language. Koreans were also forced to take Japanese surnames. During World War II, more than a million Korean men were conscripted as laborers into the Janpanse Army, and over 400,000 died. Over 200,000 Korean women were forced to become military prostitutes, the notorious “comfort women”. I wonder if Koreans worried much about the “preservation of the Japanese Emperor system.” Probably not. ↩︎
