60 years ago today: Hiroshima The atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki have been controversial in the decades since they
occurred, but it is surprising to note how uncontroversial the
decision to drop the bomb was at the time. The U.S. had been
engaged in a brutal, two-front war for nearly four years. In the
development of the bomb from its very beginnings, there was no
doubt that it would be used as soon as possible. The military
leadership was contemplating a land invasion of Japan in the
fall of 1945, with the planning and approval of Operation
Downfall earlier in the summer. The Japanese had their own
defense plan, designed to go down in a blaze of glory. A
horrific invasion would have been necessary, followed by several
months of fighting, with the possibility of a guerilla war after
that. Casualty estimates ranged from 100,000 to 500,000 American
soldier and as many as millions of Japanese. This was the
thinking that informed the decision. Indeed, as David M. Kennedy
noted in a recent Time op-ed ar