January 22, 2013
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Da Bomb!
I have always been nothing if not obsessed with presidents and all things presidents. So when I discovered that the History Channel was airing “The Ultimate Guide to Presidents” I was all over that shit, cramming in all eight hours between Friday and Sunday of this past weekend. One of the presidents I have always been very conflicted on is Harry Truman. Being a liberal, you would think I would automatically like him, right? But for me it is not that simple. See, what muddles his legacy, at least for me, is the dropping of the bomb on Japan to end World War II. I have got a big problem with killing innocent civilians and those bombs that were dropped killed hundreds of thousands and maimed hundreds of thousands more. In theory this goes against everything I stand for as a human being. I do realize why he did it, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.
There were people that said that Truman acted with courage by dropping bomb. There are people who believe that had he not dropped it he would have been impeached. In spite of my views, I do have to appreciate the anguish he must have had when he was deciding whether to use the bomb or not. That could not have been an easy decision. I know the other option was to not drop it and invade Japan which would have really extended the war and cost many American lives. In that respect, it took a lot of balls to drop the bomb. In dropping the bomb he acted purely in what he saw was the best interest of the United States and Allied Forces, however I don’t think he acted in the best interest of the entire world and all of mankind. The level of death, destruction, and carnage that came from the bomb was unlike anything before it or since. The poor people who managed to survive the blasts lived out their remaining days in agony; in some cases for years. I don’t think I could have made that decision knowing how much it would affect people, even if it was what was best for the U.S. at the time.
Of course since then, Japan has recovered and U.S.-Japan relations have even been fully repaired. But, I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the awesome amount of destruction that we caused the people of Japan. America has always done a lot of preaching about peace but has always had a very hard time living up to that very ideal. And then when you throw in the fact that the most gruesome and powerful act of war ever carried out in the history of mankind was done by our country it makes me wither away from national pride. Which is why I’m left with these mixed feelings about Harry Truman.
