Thursday, May 07, 2009

Truman: War Criminal

I'll join Vox on this one, especially given the citation he posts.

"There is little point in attempting precisely to impute Japan's unconditional surrender to any one of the numerous causes which jointly and cumulatively were responsible for Japan's disaster. The time lapse between military impotence and political acceptance of the inevitable might have been shorter had the political structure of Japan permitted a more rapid and decisive determination of national policies. Nevertheless, it seems clear that, even without the atomic bombing attacks, air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion. Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion 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. "

--the United States Strategic Bombing Survey, July 1, 1946

And there's plenty more at Vox's post. Did you know, for example, that MacArthur passed a memo to FDR containing surrender terms offered by the Japanese?

We do know from other sources that FDR was virtually incapable of governance at the time--that he was 'out of it' for fully half the Yalta discussions--but he DID have the document, at least.

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