In that airplane and work. That was that. Did you this is something i asked other people about who worked on the project did you ever catch any flak afterwards . A lot of people were really upset about the atomic bomb. Did any buddy ever give you about what you did . Not too much. If you are involved like i was and they know it, they are more impressed with that. Besides, its amazing how many people havent the atomic bomb. Nagasaki, thats another time. You dont get too much of that. The thing i get mostly is what we are doing here. People ask about it. For me, theres no question about it. It was a strange series of circumstances. I was just standing at the right place at the right time every damn time, and i ended up in this thing. So. Youre watching American History tv all weekend, every weekend and on holidays to only on cspan 3. Weeknights this month were featuring American History tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on cspan 3. The u. S. Capital has been home to the house and senate since 1800 but its their home districts in states that send members to washington d. C. On tuesday, cspan cities tour takes a look at pivotal politicians as we travel the nation in search of their stories. Watch tuesday night, beginning at 8 00 eastern. Enjoy American History tv, this week and every weekend on cspan 3. August 9th marks 75 years since the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on japan, devastating the city of nagasaki three days after the atomic bomb on hiroshima. The emperor announced Unconditional Surrender on august 15th with the formal ceremonies taking place in september 2nd thereby ending world war ii. American history tv on cspan washington general were live that day to examine Harry Trumans decision to use that women in the legacy those atomic attacks. Up here up next well hear from rich frank the offer of downfall the end of the Imperial Japanese empire. Hes fought on august, sixth 1945 a top u. S. Army air force dropped an atomic bomb on nagasaki, Communications Industrial and center of in credible austin uniform now swiftly learned that man had a new weapon with struck destructiveness a weapon boarding on the absolute. In the blast, thousands died instantly. 70,000 people were killed or listed as missing. 140,000 people were missing. Of these, 43,000 were badly hurt. The city was unbelievably crushed. Over 60,000 buildings were demolished. The desolate domains were described his ashes. Man with his newfound olives at fashion an instrument of annihilation. Implications of this extraordinary new bomber frightening to everybody. When you think that bomb we drop down . Japan oh isnt it terrible all those people killed. Three days later, another b 29th dropped in a prove bomb on the support of nagasaki, and industrialized city posting the best natural harbor and extensive naval facilities. This bomb exploding over the north factory district it destroyed 39 of all the buildings standing. The japanese describe are bleak, mutilated city as a graveyard without a teams own standing. These two terrifying blows were struck japan only after profound consideration of all the humans involved. The atomic bombs were dropped to end the war and they did and the war quickly. Richard frank is author of downfall the end of the Imperial Japanese empire here to talk us talk to us further about the 75th anniversary the dropping of the atomic bomb on japan. To frank thank you for joining us thank you for having me. In that last clip that we just heard military phone from 1946 said pretty definitively that the atomic bombs were dropped to end the war quickly and they did and the war quickly first of all was this right decision to make . And the short answer is yes and yes. But they were dropped overwhelmingly to end the war as quickly as policy possibly save lives a both japanese americans. One thing i think its really critical that we get to in the start is to understand the context of this. Two basic principles that we have to fall. Basically the asia pacific war which ran from 37 to 45 resulted in the death conservative count of 19 million lives. And of that number, the number of japanese people who died was maybe 1. 2 million, about 25 were due to the atomic bomb. More than that were due to solving intervention in 1945 of august. Every japanese non combatant who died between 17 and theyre overwhelmingly other agents about 12 million of them are chinese. By the summer of 1945 most of the 17 or 18 million non combatants or already dead. They were dying at a rate of about eight to 14,000 a day. Thats the context in which all this takes place. Its important that we not overlook, diminish or dehumanizes the japanese its equally important that we in total the total context of this and primarily not japanese. As we look back on the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on here and nagasaki. We will take your calls. After a couple of minutes of conversation will put the phone numbers on the screen now. 2 02 seven four eight 8000 is your number for the eastern time zones. Mountain west to a two seven four eight 8001. We have to separate some lines for this. Richard frank more perspective here. How widespread in 1945 was the support for president truman and his decision to use atomic weapons . Has that changed much overtime . The support for truman in 45 and cities thereafter as was extremely high. Looking at the numbers ive seen punching up over 80 . Its changed over the years because the narratives that have been employed over the narrative over the years have changed. One of the things that really concerns me about this is that its very controversial but i find it is astonishing that this conversation takes place in lieu of the atomic bomb. What is conspicuous about that discussion that we never talk about the other alternatives are. When you actually get down and starting to look at the cost of the alternatives, you understand why mr. Truman in his decision didnt make a good choice, he was looking at choices that were astonishingly awful to horrendously horrific he simply chose the least abhorrent choice of these events. So this is the 75th anniversary of the nagasaki bombing. The second bombing august six the first one in hiroshima. Richard frank, what was the difference between those three days and what the Truman Administration was looking at . Destruction in hiroshima, what made them decide to drop a second bomb three days later . While there was no specific decision for a second. Bomb mr. Truman, and he is the authorization order released ivan tinian to start dropping bombs and keep dropping bombs. There was no father check back. When we talk about the two bombs, this is another aspect of this controversy i think the people dont understand. The problem that the notion on, that one bomb wouldve done it demonstration is this. You have to look at the japanese side of. It their reaction to it, that they had an Atomic Bomb Program that had educated the top levels of japanese leadership and producing visionary materials is stupendous lee difficult. So when news of hiroshima came, and atomic bomb the inter Imperial Army army conceives Imperial Navy took a track that they may have one bomb, they can have that many a copy that powerful. Basically what the japanese leadership was looking at, it was not the fear of one bomb, it was that the arsenal had an arsenal of powerful bombs. And thats exactly what the nagasaki bonded. It convinced the top leadership that the u. S. Didnt simply have one bomb, they had an arsenal of atomic bombs. General a nominee who was the warm minister, he had been animate for considering frictions continuing the war after the hiroshima bomb. He was going around to telling the leadership and thats an amazing argument he had for making a war. How far was the u. S. At the time of dropping the bars for planning invasion of japan . The main island of japan. Thats a very good question and very different from whats usually presented. There had been a plane to start invading japan november 1st operational level. Mr. Truman had approved that on june 18th 1945. At the time, he was quite reluctant but he was presented a scenario that would have overwhelming superiority. Therefore american casualties would be exceptional, acceptable not pleasant but acceptable. What we know now decades after the war the radio intelligence i discovered the japanese had exactly anticipated that the american evasion would take place there there is this huge buildup of ground and air force, about 10,000 air force half of the kamikaze, 7000 troops. So instead of us going into superiority, wed be facing 700,000 japanese. And we now know also the a senior naval officer had never wanted to invade japan and he been biding his time to bring over showdown over whether an invasion should take place, by the 9th of august 1945 with the intelligence he was prepared to bring on this huge showdown over whether should be any invasion of japan. Only the japanese surrender cut that off before reached the level of mr. Toobin having another. Review tom from Richmond Virginia along with were here with Richard Frank talking with the 75th anniversary of the atomic bomb on hiroshima. I tom yeah good morning. Im age 60 and i remember the howards in lectures of my college years. How history is being reridden so much right now with people with agendas. Im hearing on talk radio that the only reason, progressive talk radio that, is the only reason we bombed japan was because they were not europeans. And other words, they were people of color. Thats nonsense because we bomb dresden over in germany. That was a purpose of demoralizing the german people for them to surrender. Its unfortunate what happened with the dropping of the two bombs. It did open up a pandoras box but on the other hand, it saved millions of japanese lives that wouldve been caught in the cross fire as well as american lives and casualties. Am i wrong on that professor . No. Basically have to bear in mind that right up until the end, it was assumed bombs were gonna be used against germany. Turned out from a they didnt have bombs ready to be used against the germans. German surrendered may in the first bomb which was a test bomb detonated in july 1945. Let me come back again to a base point. Its not that the argument against advancing that we dont care about the japanese or the japanese who died. I was very graphic about that in my book. What ive been going over these many years now is the fact that our narratives that weve been using simply talk about japanese deaths, the fact the japanese were asians, they dont mention that we were in the war because we wouldnt abandon china. The American People at that time or reading the New York Times, day by day through the whole war, that they were well aware of how horrific the war was in asia. We completely blotted that out and thats why those narratives are so powerful because people simply dont realize how horrific the Asian Pacific or was. Which you frank how heads japanese textbooks a portrayed the war has had a house that changed over the years . Thats a complex cant question. The larger question, the larger issue i think for japan was the whole period of world war ii was an area that was not really forthrightly discussed and is still not forthrightly discussed. There clearly is a tendency in japan and i can understand this to present them as the greatest victims of the war. Then dealing with historians and people from other asian nations, you really get a full flavor of how infuriating that makes people in china and elsewhere. I was sitting in a conference once, with peoples from the north of china that presentation was made, very much along the typical lines of usual presentation. I see them going from bafflement to fury as he realizes it this narrative entirely omits, does not count it does not treat chinese, vietnamese, indonesians, koreans ensuring a common humanity with japanese civilians in two cities. I may add further to the point i made our alluded to further basically when the soviet union enters the war, according to john our miss classic book about the occupation of japan, they captured between 1. 6 and 1. 7 japanese nationals in manchuria. When the repatriation pipes process was over, they only rip turned 1. 2 million. That says between 400 500,000 japanese either died or disappeared and soviet captivity. We know from soviet archives, about 60,000 of them are soviet soldiers. I mean is it a lot of japanese noncombat and died in soviet captivity after being captured. Those are higher than the to the fatalities from the two atomic bombs combined. Good morning i. Just want to add my voice. Not sure what has been discussed earlier. My father who barely survived the war in europe was being prepared to transfer to japan. Wouldve eliminated my brothers life after that. And many other mens lives as well. It wouldve been criminal when you have everything up here wouldve been criminal for treatment not to drop that bomb. Hundreds of thousands of chinese net massacred in a horrible way. There was the russian threat that wouldve taken japanese territory and greatly complicated the poor post war era. There are so many reasons why truman had to do that. What was the alternative i heard the general sitting in the blockade jen japan until they were gave up. Could you dress those points please . Richard frank thats really excellent point. On the american side, there was basically an unstable compromise between the army and navy over the strategy to end the war and Unconditional Surrender. The army thought the critical issue is time now for they advocated an invasion because they thought invasion was a swift to sway to win the war. The navy one of the fundamental premises of that study was that invading the japanese home islands would in make politically unacceptable casualties. What does it mention in these discussions as it should and this was basically the policy of all the navys policies lined up as the alternative was wrong, its back to the very basic point of counting all the death and army. The blockade was bluntly aimed at ending the war by starving millions of japanese, mostly non combatants. Thats what the blockade was. About interview the limited power of conventional one minutes of what we have today, the blockade was actually the most ruthless strategy. That was the direction we were going in august 1945. Because if the invasion of key issue is off, then we do blockade, then we do try to kill millions of japanese non combatants. By the way, those agents who are not japanese, who are dying every single day, add their deaths on top of the japanese death. The death tolls for these alternatives when you actually sit down and contemplate them is sickening in mindboggling. We have glen from West Virginia on the line. West virginia lowland. Good morning. Cspan mr. Frank. And the son of an okinawa veteran who is trained for the invasion in japan of course they never had a go because president truman are the common sense to do what he did. For those who criticize truman alltime my dads. It every one of those critics go to their families of people, american g eyes were saved from invading japan a certain death and tell them the truman did the wrong thing. I know you dont have the guts to do that. Thank you mr. Frank for ebooks. Its very informative. Thank you for calling. Richard frank has history been fair to president truman regarding his decision . Let me add another dimension to this. Mr. Truman, he famously said he didnt lose any sleep over the decision. Various comments like. That and if you really go through everything, he actually said, in his mind he had in in his into compartments. One compartment was didnt make the best decision of what was presented . He always believed if you really understood all the alternatives, he made what secretary stints in the least abhorrent choice. As bad as the bombs were in, the alternatives were actually worse. At a personal level, truman was knack never indifferent to the deaths of the japanese. In fact very shortly after, hiroshima in intercepted this message when the Japanese Navy reported 140,000 japanese it died out here if seema. Mr. Truman was clearly reading the and he says he she may killed 140,000 people. And all those kids and. His various other comments or a saying it was horrendous, the consequences of his decision. The decision may be unripened the consequences were horrendous. And he realized that he felt very deeply. Once, again when you deal with people from other asian nations who are trapped in the japanese empire, americans were saying were two bombs necessary the common common. Is why only . Two from their perspective, the death rate was so incomparable between the japanese and these other peoples, they find the american struggle to be fascinating. With your frank, a little bit more of the history of the end of the war in the pacific 1945. So here shame shame acts on august six, on august 9th as we talked about the, u. S. Chalked and up tonic bowman nagasaki. Same day, the soviets declare war on japan in nigeria. Six days go by, the impair upper announces japans Unconditional Surrender. What happened . Walk us through those six days to get the emperor to the point of surrender. Well a little context. Hear what you have to understand is a to get japan to surrender was really two steps. Someone with legitimate authority had to decide that japan as a nation with. Surrender and japans armed forces had to comply with that surrender. Neither one of those steps was a certainty through most of 1945. Now the emperor makes a critical decision. August of 1945 talks to the foreign minister nieces the warmest and now. This is before this is after here shown hiroshima because before soviet intervention. He had a lost faith to meet the invasion and the concern about the japanese people reaching revolutionary state sometime in the fall. These all played into his mind. He announces that his decision before the inner circle of leadership in the Early Morning hours of august 10th. We have the dire entry of a general in quality when he learns of the emperors decision and one of the author other officers comes to and says, i dont think the overseas commander will comply with the emperors decision. And right after the, this they send messages to a tokyo saying we will not comply with the order by the emperor. And theres more back and forth between the emperor and tokyo. They first the first serious message about ending the war. It has its language with a precondition that says the prerogatives of the emperor will not be compromised in a surrender. And the american officials immediately realize that this is a demand that the u. S. For the japanese to surrender making the emperor supreme, not only over the japanese government put over the occupation authority. So has a veto over occupational reform. We sent a message back think clearly the emperor will be subordinate to the occupational forces. The emperor process insisting that japan surrender and he gets the government to agree. Whether they ever wouldve agreed with the tamper i dont know. And we saw very fraught period whether its a question of whether theyre gonna get all the arm Japanese Armed forces, but 6 million strong to surrender. One of the inner cabinet members later tells american at the roughest, for fraught for five days it he spent was worrying about whether the armed forces were gonna go with the emperors decision. I described it and another contacts as it was a miraculous deliverance. And we got the armed forces to surrender in august 1945. Steve from West Virginia good morning steve. Good morning my father served in world war ii. Id like to ask first frank if he reads japanese . And second of all, i like to ask him if he has read the numerous overwhelming number of comments just after the war by japanese generals that it was not the two Nuclear Attacks on hiroshima and nagasaki, but the entrance of the soviet union into the war. They had invaded manchuria they were occupying the queen islands would she still occupy to this day. And they were threatening hokkaido and their decision to surrender was based on that much more than it was based on the two Nuclear Attacks. Thank you. Okay. Let me unpack that and several levels. First of all, in terms of the impact of soviet intervention, when the emperor was at that imperial conference nearly hours of august 10th 1945. The general tells the emperor and a classic understatement, the soviet intervention is unfortunate but it doesnt negate their plan to counter the american invasion. And if you go through all these other statements ive been through. All these japanese officers were talking about intervention, as certainly not true in terms of the officers in the inner cabinet making the decision for the government to surrender. Soviet intervention doesnt like an important part. Its very important and getting compliance of all the Japanese Armed forces particularly those who are on the asian continent for whom soviet and prevention is a direct menace, unlike the atomic bomb. The u. S. Did not have a viable target, were not gonna drop a target on a chinese city or singapore to convince japanese to surrender. Soviet intervention is important in order to get compliance with all the Japanese Armed forces. It the key is it does not move the key decision makers, our government or japan to eventually surrender. On a san diego barber in san diego good morning. Good morning. Im very interested in this subject because im australian. I was a child in australia at the time of the Second World War my father was a coast watcher. We will be in north queensland. The japanese have been coming down through the islands and we were terrified. We were set up in the mountains of ready to evacuate. I always say i want to cease america saving austria because we could not have done it alone. We had such a small population. Anyway, thats about all i want to say except its easy to be an armchair quarterback. All these years later they dont remember how it was, how intense the fighting was. Barbara thank you very much for calling. Mr. Frank your reaction to. The australians, we tenant our histories tend to overlook australians. They were valuable allies and fighting a new guinea 1942 and 1943. The other thing about the australians. The Australian Military deaths in the part of the war where the fighting much a pan, numbered about 17,000. Of those 17, 000, about 8000 of those australians died as prisoners of war of the japanese. They were mostly captured in singapore. Thats just one part of the whole thing with japan. Herbert picks, american historian points out that at the end of the war, when the japanese have been fighting in chinese and it killed at least 3 million Chinese Military personnel, they were supposed to turn over all the prisoners of war that held, and according to topics, they turned over 56 individuals. After fighting with the chinese free years, they only turned over 56 people. The savage of the war was driven by the terms that the japanese insisted the war before by. Richard frank the downfall of the japanese imperialist. Empire thank you so much for sharing your time with us. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Next on washington journal peter koch is nick, director of the American University talks about the 75th universe anniversary the dropping the bomb on hiroshima. First we have this excerpt from a film created 1945, 1946 film crews documenting the aftermath of the bombings for scientific purposes. Take a look. Three days after the tragedy of hiroshima. The 9th of august of, 1945. Today was called, bright and winless. The hot summer sun shone upon the city. Since Early Morning, an air raid alarm was on. And it was lifted. But for two hours and a half, the warning continue to prevail. Then exactly at 11 00, two super fortresses appeared over the city, from the northeasterly direction, flying at a high altitude. A first plane dropped three objects, a jaw attached to parachutes. 11 oh 2 00. The second plane dropped an object. Its descent taking about 40 seconds. Then came a blinding flash. Followed by an explosion and a blaze. The destruction was the greatest ever seen by man. They missed the center of the city and that that made it above a canyon above the more north. Let us now view the general view of devastation down one of the hills to the east of the city. On the other side of the hills at the left of the harbor lies the city. These hills on both sides of the hills were the brakes that its intercepted atomic blast and prevented the destruction of the blast from marching on down to the harbor. This lies the area of total devastation, all buildings, say those were the smaller demolished. The whole of this neighborhood, once team the factories and small houses was flat note. Only pebbles and broken tiles remain. I guess now is peter cousin echoes director of the Nuclear Studies institute at the American University. Thank you for joining us dr. Cosmic. Appreciate it. As we look back at the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings on japan, did harry truman make the right decision . No. He made absolutely the wrong decision. He defended it throughout the rest of his life. Said i never lost a minutes sleep over that decision. He said he had no remorse over that decision. But he made the absolute wrong decision. The United States, the official mythology, the official neurotic narrative, is that the United States drop the bombs because that was the only way to force japan surrender without an american invasion. And if the u. S. Invaded, truman says in his memoir that marshall told him a half million american soldiers were getting killed. As years later, they add the to that the fact that many japanese, perhaps millions of japanese wouldve been killed. The reality is, there were two ways to end the war with the use of the atomic bombs. The first was the surrender terms. The main obstacle to japanese surrender was the obstacle to japanese Unconditional Surrender. Which means the emperor would be tried as warm criminal and probably executed. As Douglas Mcarthur said in the summer of 1945, execution of the emperor would be like the crucifixion of christ to us. They would all died of a fight like ants. Secretary stimson the secretary of war, was almost one of thes close advisers urged him to change his surrender terms. The main impediment was jimmy burns and truman relied on burns more than anyone else. From the day he becomes president , first day in office april 13th, until july 3rd when he names burn secretary of state, is relying on burns for advice. Burns told him he would be politically crucified if you let the japanese keep the emperor. Stunts and in the others were doing everything they could do to convince him to change this random. Terms and admiral lay he said there may be no way to get the japanese to surrender if we demand Unconditional Surrender. How do we know that . We had broken the japanese. Cold we were intercepting their telegrams. Telegrams for example, july 13th. The telegrams were from tokyo to ambassador soho. In the middle of may, the japanese decided the best way to get surrender was to get the soviet union to intercede on their behalf. So cables went back and forth and said things like this. Took assistance at a hotel his majesty the emperor, mindful of the fact brings greater of evil between the desires from his heart the it may be quickly terminated. Unconditional surrender is the only obstacle to peace. The two men understand about . That truman asking for peace. Those are trumans words. Aboard the augusta on the way back from japan writes on august 3rd aboard augusta, the president admiral lay and burns agree that the jabs are looking for peace. They knew that i when we got these cables and broke the codes, not only truman but also mccoy and others agreed to that assessment that the japanese knew they were defeated since the battle of tsai pan and july of 1944. And in february of 1945, threetime former Prime Minister sent a memo to the emperor saying i regretfully inform you that defeat is inevitable. Japanese new that and the americans may not. The second way to force the surrender was to wait for the soviet invasion. From the day after pearl harbor, president roosevelt, secretary of state hall have been urging russia to commit to the pacific war. But the russians were busy fighting against the russians throughout most of the war the u. S. And the british are fighting ten k chairman divisions come i will the soviets are facing 200 divisions. But by february 45, stone agrees to come into the pacific war. That was three months after the end of the war in europe. August 8th through august. Not what didnt american intelligence . Say the joint Intelligence Committee reported on august 12th if anytime uss or soon into the war, all japanese will realize that absolute defeat is inevitable. I can give you more cases, july six four intelligence summary from the pot stem meeting make the same point over and over again that once the soviets and to the japanese are finished. What did truman understand . Truman said he went to potsdam in mid july to make sure that the russians were coming in. He had lunch with stalin on july 17th. Afterwards he wrote in his diary, stalin will be in a gap war by august 16th. He wrote home to his wife bests the russians are coming in, we will end the war a year sooner. Think of all the kids who wont kill. So then the question is, why does the United States drop the bomb . And this is what historians really need to debate. Was the bomb absolutely necessary to end the war . Was it the most humane way to do it . Absolutely not. Not only the sufferings of hundreds of thousands of japanese who were killed and hundreds of thousands who would suffer throughout the rest of their lives, but truman knew he was beginning a process that could ultimately and life on the planet. He gets his first real briefing on the balm on april 13th from burns and truman writes in his memoir, burned said this was a weapon grade enough to destroy the whole. World on july 25th, truman gets a full briefing about the bomb. He writes then groves and stimson said that within four months will have a weapon which couldnt destroy an entire city. The way this was this is been handled well and determine the enough youve entire human civilization. Let me jump in. Peter is director of the Nuclear Studies institute at the new american universities. Its Jeffrey Peter cosmic. Thank you for taking my call. Mr. Crews nick i totally agree with everything you said. I actually anticipated entering that last question. Theres also a moral depravity that should be spoken about. With the use of the atomic weapon. Its not just a new weapon. Theres a certain glibness that the way the decision was made. Not only was it understand stud either be a problem with nuclear war Going Forward, it was even thought at the time it could cause a Chain Reaction in the atmosphere of the earth and destroy the earth with just one weapon or just one weapon that was a little more powerful than the one they had tested here in the desert in the United States. To take that type of chance without knowing, that type of glibness, it really speaks to how can people rationally make a decision about using a weapon like this if youre taking a chance to destroy the earth. Not to mention Going Forward and giving license to everyone else to use a weapon which they knew they would as soon as they got it. Its just astounding to me. Jeff thank you for calling peter cause. Nic i was the part that i was starting to. Mick truman knew that this was not a bigger powerful weapon. When he gets the briefing at potsdam about how powerful it is on july 16th he writes in his diary, weve discovered the most powerful bomb in history. This may be the final destruction prophesy in the euphrates valley era after noaa and is fabulous arc. He says this on a number of occasions. But he wasnt the only one. Oppenheim are briefed the interim committee on may 31st, the leaders of the political leaders and warned them that within three years, they would likely have weapons between 707,000 times powerful as a hiroshima bomb. Scientists were warning about this. You have to remember that seven of americans eight five star animals and generals in 1945 were on record as saying that the atomic bombs were either an militarily unnecessarily, moral morally reprehensible or both. And the most outspoken about this was admiral lay. He was trumans first chief of staff. The japanese row they were ready to surrender. Use of this barbarous weapon at hiroshima and nagasaki was of no mature tour this in our war against japan. And being the first to use, it we adopted an ethical standard caught comparable to barbarians of the dark ages. And similar comments by eisenhower, mcarthur, king, they all knew it wasnt necessary and some of them recognized the moral significance of using. It because as you are saying, we knew there was no secret to the bomb and that other countries will be developing. Scientists thought it would take the soviets between three to five years to catch up. So if were setting this example, that we can use the bomb, and the other thing about that, the soviets knew that the bomb was unnecessary because the japanese have been trying to get them to intercede to get better surrender terms. So an early may, japanese former Prime Minister met several times with soviet ambassador to tokyo, malik right back to the kremlin and says the japanese are desperate to surrender. So when the United States drop the bomb, the soviets knew better than anyone that there was no military reason to do it and they interpreted it exactly the way that scientists said they would. That was the reaction of stalin and the others in the kremlin. Lets hear from richard. Richardson verona missouri. Iran with richard cosmic. Yeah you know this is finding good but i was about eight years old when they drop the bomb and i remember our attitude in the United States in school and everywhere. We had a gentleman from a little town doing the death march. I was tickled to death that they had drop that bomb and stop the war. They told us itd itd stop the war and we were happy that it did. The attitude of the American People was the kamikaze pilots and all this we had seen all this. Nothing was too bad to do to the japanese at the time. No i think mcarthur i think mcarthur one time wanted to drop the bomb in korea, whos getting heart up there. The bomb was an awful thing but if we didnt have bombs, will there be more wars now . We know that everybodys got a bomb admiral playing chicken with it, maybe itll stop were somewhere by having bomb that are no. Richard thank you. Peter cosmic. Yes, American Public was told exactly what richard was saying that the bombs ended the war and saved lives. Susan rice might be our next Vice President , writer rhoden oped in the New York Times the truman saved her fathers life, that he was ready to be deployed to the pacific and that dropping the atomic bombs and in the war and force the japanese surrender. That is the mid. Obama basically said the same thing when he was in her seema. World war ii reached its brutal and in hiroshima and nagasaki. 85 of the American People according to gallup poll and 1945 supported dropping the atomic bomb. A roper pull the came out after in 1945, said the 22. 7 of the American People was the mare japanese had not surrenders so quickly so they could drop more atomic bombs on them. So that was the attitude. Racism artifact even a little bit. The japanese were brutal and vicious. The time death march which happened in 1942 doesnt it known in america until 1940. For what the japanese did was horrific. What the japanese did throughout the pacific was horrific. Were not debating about that. Were debating about whether dropping the bomb was the right thing and what the consequences were. Because as the scientists and others say, it did lead to an uncontrollable arms race and were lucky to have survive since then. From that day, its been hanging over the head of all of humanity. Truman was not bloodthirsty, he was not evil. Truman went into this with his eyes wide open knowing he was beginning this process and knowing that the way we did it which weve been warned about triggered the exact response from the soviet union that was predicted at the time. And the soviets and their own crash bomb program, and they tested their bomb in august of 1949, and then in 1952, the United States tests their Hydrogen Bomb, and the soviet union test the prototype Hydrogen Bomb in 53. And it moves the hands of the Doomsday Clock at that 0. 2 minutes before midnight. Now its at 100 seconds before midnight, the closest it is ever been. We are an event very dangerous situation and there were many instances during the cold war and since where we survived by pure applied luck including during the cuban missile crisis. Peter cosmic you have led student groups for roughly 25 years now every summer to japan to attend the annual memorial services. One of you learned from the japanese over that period of time . Whats their perspective and has it changed over the years about the bombing . Well one of the things that makes my student trip so interesting scent we travel with japanese students and professors. So we get to see the war through the american eyes and through the japanese eyes and theres always a lot of other ages on the trip. They have a very different perspective in the japanese the other asians. We either cover other events then awe here shiny hiroshima nagasaki. But we also study the japanese war in the pacific. One of the places i take my students to is the ok nasa Harrow Museum in nagasaki. That museum is entirely dedicated to japanese atrocities some two americans but mostly to other asians. Of people have to keep in their minds is that the japanese were victims, but they were also victimizes. So what americans participate, they have to deal with their guilt about what the u. S. Did in the world war ii, the japanese have to deal with their guilt and their sense of responsibility, and neither the American Government nor the japanese government has dealt well with their history. One country that is taking responsibility for their past much more constable way is germany. But the japanese is not done it, especially not under change you happy and the United States is not done it. At the smithsonian they tried to have it in 1995 maybe now were getting ready to the worlo dangerous for us to have that luxury. Directorer kuznick is of the Nuclear Studies institute at the American University. Thank you for