Atomic bombs saved American soldiers’ lives

Editor,

I disagree with Don Schrader about the morality of the atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities in World War II. Let’s look at the facts.

The Allies, principally the U.S., had been dramatically increasing the destructive force applied to the Japanese homeland during 1945. By August, vast areas of Japanese cities were nothing but cinders with hundreds of thousands of Japanese deaths. Still, the Japanese military fought on.

American planners had to choose between two nightmares: use the new atomic bombs to try to force a quick surrender, or continue to reduce all of Japan to ash ahead of the inevitable invasion planned for the fall of 1945.

The invasion would have resulted in over a million casualties for the Allies alone but would have killed millions more of the Japanese. In my opinion, Japan may have become uninhabitable for years if the invasion had taken place, unable to grow food or provide shelter for the survivors.

The second bomb on Nagasaki did end the war, but not before the Japanese army attempted a coup against the emperor to prevent the surrender. Imagine having to invade Japan against two million such believers still heavily armed and undeterred by atomic weapons.

Also, functional atomic bombs are not particularly difficult to build. The one dropped on Hiroshima was of a type not even tested before it was used. For such a simple version, the difficulty lay in purifying the radioactive material and developing a delivery system. Given this situation, it would be impossible after the war to prevent the spread of the weapons.

The U.S. adopted the strategy of overwhelming and unstoppable nuclear attack capability anywhere in the world as the means of preventing the use of these weapons. Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories were at the center of this strategy, a strategy that has prevented general war for almost 70 years.

The people of Sandia and Los Alamos, as well as those in the military responsible for these terrible weapons, knew that they would have failed in their mission if these weapons were ever used. They did not fail, an accomplishment that has benefited every person living on the face of the earth today.

Supporting America’s defense in our national laboratories and in our military has always been and remains today a noble effort, one that each student at UNM should consider as a possible path in life.

If you ever meet someone from Sandia or Los Alamos, thank them!

Joe Evans
Daily Lobo reader