PEARL HARBOR

CHAPTER 19 - THE WAR IS OVER

Harry Truman pondered whether he should use the atomic bomb. It was a decision, in the end, only he could make.

Knowing he would face criticism for using a weapon of terrible mass destruction, Harry Truman did not flinch. His main objective was saving American lives. His decision was supported by the men who would have had to risk death by invading the Japanese home islands. As Professor Paul Fussell, a former U.S. Army infantryman in Europe, said in his essay Thank God for the Atom Bomb:

When the atom bombs were dropped and the news began to circulate that we would not be obligated in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared and shelled we broke down and cried with relief and joy. We were going to live. We were going to grow to adulthood after all.

Japan surrendered on August 14, only 8 days after Hiroshima and 5 days after Nagasaki. The world, especially American troops, celebrated the war’s end. Formal surrender ceremonies took place September 2, 1945 on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay as US planes (F4Us and F6Fs) flew overhead.

As the original Instrument of Surrender (written by the U.S. War Department and approved by President Truman) indicates, Japan’s representatives were acting on behalf of Emperor Hirohito, the Japanese government and the Japanese military.

We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all armed forces under Japanese control wherever situated.

For the first time ever, Hirohito’s, voice was heard by his people as he announced the surrender. People were shocked. Hirohito also told his subjects that he was not a god. That upset them even more. For their whole lives Japanese people had revered their Emperor as a deity. How could he be just a man? 

General MacArthur, in charge of Occupied Japan, helped the Emperor’s subjects understand Hirohito’s post-war status. From the only photograph MacArthur allowed of himself with Hirohito, one can easily tell who’s in charge. By cooperating with the General, Hirohito spared himself a war-crimes trial. The Prime Minister, Tojo, was not as fortunate. He was tried, convicted, and hung in Tokyo.

Blame, of course, was rampant as finger-pointing and scape-goating inevitably ensued after the war. Nowhere was the need for fixing responsibility as great as it was in the Pearl Harbor hearings. There had to be some explanation why At Dawn We Slept. And there had to be some folks who "took the fall." Whether the results of three hearings were fair is a matter that is still questioned (and doubted) by many.

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