|
Bright L. Riley
HIST 4000
Dr. Morrill
06-02-08
Ronald Takaki, in his book Hiroshima: Why America Dropped The
Atomic Bomb, contends that United States President Harry S. Truman’s
decision to release atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki was driven by his
personal insecurities, racists attitude towards the “Japs,” and an attempt to flex
his "superpower muscles" at the Soviet Union. Takaki’s book is a short
historiographical debate written to further invoke into the issue of
America’s decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.
Takaki is a Hawaiian-born Japanese American who is a professor of Ethnic
Studies at Berkeley. Takaki received his Ph.D in American Studies in 1967
from the University of California, Berkeley.
In 2005 Takaki received the Asian Pacific Council’s Lifetime Achievement
Award for his lifetime of service to the Asian American community. Takaki
has written many pieces of literature on Hiroshima, war, race, leadership,
reason, as well as the importance of cross-culture understanding.
Takaki argues that military commanders such as General Douglas
MacArthur considered the bomb “completely unnecessary” from a military point
of view, however; Truman and his administration choose to prolong the war by
accepting only unconditional surrender as a means to end the war. Takaki
agrees with expert atomic bomb historians Gar Alperovitz and Martin Sherwin
that the bombs dropped on Japan were more than a means to end the war
quickly, that the bombs were related to post war concerns with the Soviet
Union and a fear of an atomic arms race. Takaki also engages in the idea
that Truman a man born in Missouri in 1911, was able to justify the use of
the bomb against Japan considering the Japanese to be savages and beastly,
less superior than white men.
Takaki also questions the stereotypical answer to why American
dropped the atomic bombs, to save American lives. Truman wanted to avoid an
all out invasion of Japan. Truman had published in his memoirs in 1955 that
General Marshall estimated that it might take half a million American lives
to force the enemy to surrender. Takaki counters that these numbers are
inaccurate. Takaki argues that Truman was reassured that numbers would be
much lighter than previous invasion such as that of Okinawa.
Takaki work offers new ideas and themes to this every prolonging
debate among historians. It is of my opinion, that Takaki a Japanese
American may have a harder time coping with the bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. His experiences as a young man with racist’s attitudes towards
himself and family may alter the way he studies the historical evidence on
the matter. Overall, the book is well written and organized for any reader
scholar or student to enjoy a different approach into such an important part
of world history.
|