HIST 1025 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Henry L. Stimson, Yalta Conference, Massive Assault
March 28
Song Glenn Miller- In the Mood
The Bomb and the Cold War
I. Background: Total War
II. Hiroshima
III. Why the bomb?
I. Background: Total War
Total War: total mobilization of country’s resources
Massive air assaults
Saturation Bombings- mass bombings
Dresden (1945)- massive assault on city, firestorm occurred due to the large
amounts of firebombs dropped, 100,000 died.
II. Hiroshima- comparable in size in 1945 to Denver in 1945. Chosen because it was flat and
had never been bombed before.
Henry Stimson (Sec. of War)-vetoed idea of attacking Kyoto. (Kyoto was the cradle and
capital of the Japanese civilization).
Einstein and Oppenheimer- Einstein had warned the President that the Nazis had been working
on an atomic bomb.
III. Why the Bomb?
Political situation: Roosevelt was dead and V.P. Truman didn’t know about the Manhattan
project. Truman said that a military base (Hiroshima) was bombed, but it was a large civilian
center that had a small military base in it. Bombing Japan prevented the US from invading
Japan. Truman said that invading Japan would have cost the US 1,000,000 casualties-500,000
deaths. ←not true.
Roosevelt would never have used the bomb ←not true. He had always intended to use the
bomb, not just Truman.
There was talk of surrender from Japan long before the bomb. The Allies required unconditional
surrender, but the Japanese wanted their emperor to remain the figurehead of Japan. After the
bombs were dropped, we did allow the emperor to remain the figurehead/ symbolic leader of
Japan.
James Byrnes (Sec. of State)- “use the bomb and end the war before the soviets could get in so
much on the kill”
find more resources at oneclass.com
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Document Summary
Dresden (1945)- massive assault on city, firestorm occurred due to the large amounts of firebombs dropped, 100,000 died. Hiroshima- comparable in size in 1945 to denver in 1945. Chosen because it was flat and had never been bombed before. Henry stimson (sec. of war)-vetoed idea of attacking kyoto. (kyoto was the cradle and capital of the japanese civilization). Einstein and oppenheimer- einstein had warned the president that the nazis had been working on an atomic bomb. Truman said that a military base (hiroshima) was bombed, but it was a large civilian center that had a small military base in it. Truman said that invading japan would have cost the us 1,000,000 casualties-500,000 deaths. Not true. (cid:3247)roosevelt would never have used the bomb(cid:3248) not true. He had always intended to use the bomb, not just truman. There was talk of surrender from japan long before the bomb.
